Should Louisiana towns get rid of fluoride in their water? This bill would give them the option.

Local governments could hold a vote to stop adding fluoride to their public water systems under a proposal advancing in the Louisiana Legislature, resurfacing a debate that has emerged from the Make America Healthy Again movement.

Last year, an outright ban on fluoridation of public water systems sponsored by Sen. Mike Fesi, R-Houma, failed in the Legislature.

This year, Fesi again pitched the ban, but other senators pushed him to pare it back. Now, his proposal would give towns and parishes that fluoridate their water the option to hold an election to end that practice.

The measure passed the Senate on Wednesday, with a handful of Democrats joining Republicans in a 26-7 vote.

Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that is found in rocks, soil and water. It started being added to public water systems in the mid-1900s to help prevent tooth decay, an intervention that science and health experts widely agree is safe.

Fesi has said it is “hazardous and poisonous.”

Currently, Louisiana’s public water systems with more than 5,000 service connections are required to add fluoride at safe levels determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention if they have the money to do so. Systems without fluoride can opt out of the requirement to add it if 15% of voters in that system petition to hold a vote for an exemption, and the voting public agrees.

Fesi’s proposal, Senate Bill 4, would allow local governments to hold a vote to opt out of a fluoridation program without the need for a petition. With a majority vote, fluoridation would end.

The CDC tracked data in 2025 for 922 public water systems in Louisiana serving 3.9 million people. Only 120 of those systems serving 1.5 million people are fluoridated.

And, of the systems that are fluoridated, half of them have a naturally occurring fluoride concentration that both prevents tooth decay and is deemed safe by the CDC.

Current federal guidelines recommend a fluoride concentration of 0.7 milligrams per liter in drinking water.

State efforts to ban fluoride ramped up after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. early last year became the top official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, gaining a megaphone for his MAHA platform, which has called into question public health interventions like fluoridation and vaccines.

A “MAHA Report” published by the White House says it aims to prevent childhood chronic disease by addressing “root causes” like ultra-processed ingredients, synthetic chemicals and sedentary lifestyles. The report says fluoride is an “environmental chemical” that needs to be studied more to understand how it impacts children.

What do Fesi and health experts say?

Fesi, who owns a pipeline construction business that services oil and gas companies, has said fluoride is harmful to human health and can lower the IQ of children.

But, like last year, he is once again facing widespread opposition from medical and public health professionals.

The Louisiana Dental Association, Louisiana Society of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons, Louisiana State Medical Society, Louisiana Primary Care Association, Louisiana chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Louisiana Academy of Family Physicians all opposed Fesi’s proposed fluoride ban during a public hearing last month.

Dr. Suzanne Fournier, a pediatric dentist who works at a children’s hospital in New Orleans, told lawmakers that fluoride helps teeth repair themselves, and it also stops bacteria growth that causes tooth decay and cavities.

“Community water fluoridation is actually supporting a naturally occurring mineral,” Fournier said.

She noted that other vitamins and minerals — like iodine, calcium, vitamin C and vitamin D — are added to foods and drinks like orange juice, milk and salt “to help make sure that we stay healthy.”