Trump skips Day One fluoride action

By Ellie Borst | 01/21/2025 01:56 PM EST

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the Trump White House would advise against water fluoridation on Jan. 20. That didn’t happen.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's nominee to be secretary of Health and Human Services, walks between meetings with senators.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's pick to be secretary of Health and Human Services, said in November that the Trump administration would advise water systems to stop adding fluoride to public water. Francis Chung/POLITICO

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the Trump administration on Day One would push to stop the controversial practice of adding fluoride to drinking water, but that didn’t happen.

Kennedy, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, said in a Nov. 2, 2024, social media post, “On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water.”

But no announcement related to fluoride was among the slew of actions out of the White House on Monday.

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The Trump administration’s plans on water fluoridation, a practice public health officials have recommended for decades to help protect against tooth decay, are still unclear.

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