Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announces he will sign fluoridation ban

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday he will sign into law legislation that bans local governments from adding fluoride to public drinking water, ending a decades-old practice that health professionals have long credited with slashing rates of tooth decay, especially in poor communities.

Once DeSantis signs the bill, Florida will become the second state in the country to prohibit the cavity-fighting mineral, following Utah which ended fluoridation this year.

“It’s forced medication when they’re putting fluoride into your water supply,” DeSantis said. “Why should this be forced on people? It really shouldn’t be forced on people.”

Both Orange County and the Orlando Utilities Commission — which combined serve about 370,000 customers and had resisted earlier calls to halt fluoridation — said they would change course once the bill is signed.

In contrast, Seminole County and dozens of other municipalities in Florida in recent months – including Lake Mary, Longwood, Tavares and Leesburg — had moved on their own to ban the mineral from their water, as opposition to fluoride moved from a fringe issue to a mainstream political one.

DeSantis compared fluoridation of public water supplies to government rules during the pandemic, which he disliked. He railed against COVID-19 face mask requirements, the closing of schools and the shuttering of restaurants and other businesses.

“Honestly, because we saw how out of whack many of these medical elites were during COVID, I think people are much more skeptical when these elites are trying to jam anything down our throats,” he said.

DeSantis made the comments during a press conference in Miami while standing next to Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who for months has strongly urged Florida to ban fluoride, citing research that the mineral can be toxic. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also has claimed fluoride is linked to various health problems.

However, the American Dental Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups have disputed those studies, and continue to endorse water fluoridation as one of the simplest, healthiest and most cost effective ways to reduce cavities, especially among young children whose teeth are forming.

But Ladapo said those health professionals are citing old research. He compared them to the Peanuts comic strip character Linus, who clings to a blanket for security.

“We have professionals, doctors, dentists who are holding on to fluoride like that blanket,” Ladapo said.

Fluoride, a mineral naturally found in water and soil, has been added to public water supplies in the United States since 1945. In Florida, utility providers add enough additional fluoride to bring levels to 0.7 parts per million — or about three drops in a 55-gallon barrel of water.

The fluoridation ban is part of a wide-ranging agricultural bill approved by the Legislature last month that prohibits public and private utilities from putting health-related chemicals in drinking water. DeSantis said he would sign the bill as soon as the legislature officially transmits it to his office.

Like DeSantis, state legislators in support of the prohibition called it a matter of personal choice and pointed out that most toothpastes and many mouthwashes contain fluoride.

“This is about your liberty,” state Rep. Danny Alvarez, R-Dover, said before voting for the bill last month.

DeSantis, who acknowledged that fluoridation is beneficial to dental health, said the legislation would not prevent residents from adding fluoride to their own tap water.

But opponents said ending fluoridation would be detrimental to poor families who cannot afford good dental care. They added that most dentists recommend using fluoridated drinking water along with toothpaste as one of the best ways to prevent cavities.

“This is a gift to conspiracy theorists at the expense of common sense and public health,” state Rep. Daryl Campbell, R-Fort Lauderdale said last month. “This bill takes a safe and proven and affordable public health tool and rips it away” from low-income families.

Orlando Utilities Commission, which serves about 150,000 water customers, will stop adding fluoride “pending the governor’s final signature,” spokeswoman Michelle Lynch said Tuesday. The fluoride should then dissipate from OUC’s water system within 72 hours.

Orange County, which delivers drinking water to about 220,000, will stop adding fluoride before July 1, when the ban would take effect, officials said.

Tuesday’s press conference took place just hours after Miami-Dade commissioners voted to override Mayor Daniela Levine-Cava’s veto on a county ordinance banning fluoride in drinking water approved by commissioners last month.

The anti-fluoride bill also would prohibit the labeling of plant-based foods as related to poultry, meat, milk or eggs, such as calling almond or soy milks dairy products. But the labeling prohibition would not take effect until at least 11 other Southeastern states enact similar bans.

Florida Secretary of Agriculture and Consumer Services Wilton Simpson also attended Tuesday’s event at the Rohde Building in Miami.

“Today, we announce that drinking water in Florida will hydrate, not medicate,” Simpson said.

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