The Trump administration is taking another look at the health risks of fluoride, a key step toward potentially restricting use of the teeth-strengthening substance in millions of Americans’ tap water.
The move evaluating fluoride in drinking water advances a priority of the Make America Healthy Again movement and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose claims about fluoride safety have spurred bans in Utah and Florida.
EPA on Thursday released a preliminary assessment on fluoride’s toxicity, outlining its plans to evaluate potential harms to brain development; children’s IQ; and dental fluorosis, a typically mild condition that can occur in young children. The strategy will be open to public comment, after which point the agency will produce a final toxicity assessment and possibly revise its regulation on fluoride in drinking water.
“Making America Healthy Again is a top priority, especially when it comes to concerns about what is in our water,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a news release. “The Trump EPA is working in lockstep with Secretary Kennedy and following gold standard science to guide our next steps to protect drinking water under the Safe Drinking Water Act.”
