Is fluoride in drinking water safe? RFK Jr. says fluoride ‘will disappear’ after election
WASHINGTON- Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took a fresh swipe at fluoride, saying the chemical used to protect teeth is making Americans ‘stupider’ as he touted his plan to scale it back in the country’s drinking water.
”The more you get, the stupider you are, and we need smart kids in this country, and we need healthy kids,” he said during a cabinet meeting on April 30 with President Donald Trump.
Kennedy praised Utah for becoming the first state to prohibit local governments from adding fluoride to public water systems, and said he was working to “change the federal fluoride regulations to change the recommendations.”
Scientists and dental health organizations have warned that Kennedy’s plan is disastrous for public health. The health secretary has said he will tell the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending cities and states add fluoride to public water systems. Adding fluoride to water, a process called fluoridation, is not required by law.
Citing a controversial study
In his remarks, Kennedy highlighted a study by the National Toxicity Program, which is an arm of the National Institutes of Health, which he says shows a ”inverse correlation between fluoride exposure and low IQ in children.” The study cited by Kennedy was criticized by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and the American Dental Association for inadequate statistical rigor and other methodological flaws.
The use of fluoride in the U.S. has been a successful public health initiative for reducing dental cavities and improving general oral health since 1945, according to the National Institutes of Health. Still, the agency acknowledged that there have been concerns that pregnant women and children may be exceeding safe levels of fluoride intake from a variety of sources including “treated public water, water-added foods and beverages, teas, toothpaste, floss, and mouthwash.”
Kennedy, who has faulted the food industry’s additives for the country’s “chronic health epidemic” also talked about his plans to ban nine petroleum-based synthetic dyes within two years. He said he was working to get sodas and candy out of the food stamp programs. He has linked the dyes to many neurological ailments including ADHD among children.
