Columbus leaders committed to keeping fluoride in water despite efforts to remove it
- Columbus officials support continued water fluoridation despite Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s opposition.
- What Columbus does with its water impacts the region as Columbus supplies water for most of Franklin County.
Columbus leaders say they support continuing to add fluoride to the local drinking water as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. takes aim at the practice.
Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther told The Dispatch he trusts Columbus Health Commissioner Dr. Mysheika Roberts over Kennedy on public health decisions.
“We still believe in health and science,” Ginther said.
Roberts told The Dispatch that she supports adding fluoride, a naturally occurring mineral, to drinking water. The decades-old practice is so effective at reducing cavities, Roberts points out, that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) named it one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century.
“Fluoride keeps our teeth strong and reduces cavities by about 25% in both children and adults,” Roberts said. “And as a result of having fewer cavities, there’s less pain, fewer fillings, fewer teeth extractions and fewer missed days of work and school. I don’t think people quite understand, because fluoridation has been around for so long, how beneficial it is because most of us have never been in the world without fluoridation in the water.”
And fluoride is safe at regulated levels, Roberts said.
What Columbus does with its water impacts the region. Columbus supplies water for most suburbs and some unincorporated areas in Franklin County. The largest exception is Westerville.
While Columbus leaders support fluoridation, the question remains whether Ohio, which currently requires fluoridation within a set range, will reverse course and ban it.
Kennedy has called for ending water fluoridation, praised Utah for becoming the first state to ban it in late March and called on more states to follow suit. According to Kennedy, fluoride is an “industrial waste” associated with health problems.
Health experts dispute the claims made by Kennedy, who has also previously espoused other debunked health conspiracy theories, such as that vaccines cause autism. Kennedy has directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reexamine its recommendations on fluoride. The Environmental Protection Agency is following suit.
Ohio Rep. Levi Dean, R-Xenia, introduced a bill in late March that would ban adding fluoride to drinking water. The bill has four cosponsors, all Republicans, including Rep. Beth Lear, R-Galena, and Rep. Mark Johnson, R-Chillicothe. The bill has yet to receive a committee hearing.
Currently, the Ohio Environmental Protection agency requires local water systems to maintain fluoride in the water at between 0.8 and 1.3 parts per million, according to Columbus Division of Water Regulatory Compliance Manager Emilie Eskridge. Columbus started adding fluoride to water in the early 1970s when the state requirement went into effect, Eskridge said.
Columbus’ water source contains naturally occurring fluoride between 0.2 and 0.4 parts per million, so the Division of Water adds fluoride with a target of maintaining 0.9 parts per million, toward the lower end of the required range, according to Eskridge.
The vast majority of Ohio’s public water systems, about 93%, add fluoride to their water. Nearby Lancaster in Fairfield County is a notable exception. Lancaster opted itself out of the Ohio EPA regulation on fluoride through local referendum and never added fluoride to its water. Lancaster’s water does contain some naturally occurring fluoride.
If Ohio lawmakers decide to remove the fluoridation requirement and leave the decition up to local leaders, Roberts recommends Columbus continue the practice.
The return on investment is high, Roberts said, and the practice helps people without dental insurance. Communities with fluoridated water save $32 per person annually on average by avoiding cavity treatments, according to the CDC.
Fluoride at high amounts has been associated with some health issues, but U.S. Public Health Service has established maximum concentrations in drinking water far below that. Fluoride also naturally occurs in many foods, including coffee, potatoes and rice, and is found in most toothpastes.
About 80 years since U.S. communities started adding fluoride to water, research and experience has found fluoridation to be safe, Roberts said.
“Fluoridation of water is valuable. It’s a public health intervention that we all should be proud of,” Roberts said.
Government and Politics Reporter Jordan Laird can be reached at jlaird@dispatch.com. Follow her on X, Instagram and Bluesky at @LairdWrites.
