Utah becomes the first state that forbade fluoride in public water

Utah became the first state of the USA, which forbade to add fluoride to public drinking water.

The law that was signed by Governor Spencer Cox 27 March And it will enter into force on May 7, appears among the renovated analysis of fluoride, a mineral, which has been widely added to American drinking water from 1945 to prevent cavities. Although the controversy regarding the safety of water fluoridation appeared for the first time in the 1940s, fears have erected in recent years, partly driven by fresh fluoridation research and growing resistance to public health interventions since Pandemic.

In November Robert F. Kennedy Jr., currently the Federal Secretary of Health, He said it Trump’s administration would “advise all American water systems to remove fluoride from public water” due to potential health threats. Fluoridation bills were also introduced Northern Dakota, Tennessee AND Montana.

Many problems focus on possible cognitive effects in children. In the last one Review of researchScientists came to the conclusion that a high level of fluoride exposure in children or childhood was associated with lower IQ in childhood. But fluoride levels related to cognitive problems were more than twice as high as levels, to which people are generally exposed by water fluoridation of the community, said Dr. Scott Tomar, public health dentist and oral epidemiologist at the University of Illinois Chicago.

He said that some Americans are exposed to a high level of fluoride in water through natural pollution of rocks and soil, but not from manual fluoridation. The risk of manual fluoridation “has been dramatically overstated,” said Dr. Tomar.

COX governor did not publicly refer to fluoridation health problems, and the Act does not mention either. Instead, he said earlier that oral benefits of water fluoridation health were conceptual in Utah, where about 44 percent residents who received public drinking water consumed fluorized water in 2022.

Almost half of the state saw fluorized water, while the other half did not. Between these two groups Governor Cox said: “You think you will see drastically different results. No.”

However, this claim is contrary to published research, which suggests that fluoridation improves oral health. The mineral hardens the outer surface of the teeth, and can also reduce the amount of zero acid of enamel, which produce bacteria on the teeth. IN AND Systematic review of 20 studies Scientists, published in 2007 30 percent reduction among children.

“We have sturdy evidence that it works,” said Dr. F. Perry Wilson, an epidemiologist of a doctor and a chronic disease at the Yale School of Medicine.

Dr. Tomar said he was afraid that Utah’s law and other potential bans could lead to more health problems throughout the country, especially in poorer areas.

“The benefits of fluoridation of water community are most clear in low -income communities – communities that often have the least access to dental care and other sources of fluoride,” said Dr. Tomar. He added that fluoride bans “are incorrect at many levels.”