Secretary of Health and Humanitarian Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Monday he planned to gather a task force and finally change the disease control center and prevention guidance to stop recommending the addition of fluoride.
His comments came during a press conference at Utah, which had just been the first state to ban fluoride from the drinking water system.
Associated Press is the first to report the changes intended by Kennedy in the CDC guide.
CDC currently recommends the use of fluoride to prevent the cavity.
If Kennedy, who has been outspoken in his support to eliminate fluoride from water, direct the CDC to change its guidance, it can cause more cities and states to eliminate fluoride from drinking water, a decision made at the local level.
“Fluoride must not be in the water,” Kennedy said on Monday.
Secretary of Health and Humanitarian Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Arriving before President Donald Trump spoke during the event to announce a new rate at Rose Garden in the White House, April 2, 2025, in Washington.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
But the CDC guide on fluoride cannot be upheld, and the prohibition of fluoride, if it survives the legal challenges, ultimately needs to come from the Environmental Protection Agency.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, also uttered with Kennedy on Monday, announced that EPA too, was reviewing “new science” in Fluoride. EPA sets the maximum level of fluoride in water.
“We are ready to act based on science,” Zeldin said at a press conference.
Overview by EPA will “inform any potential revision of EPA fluoride drinking water standards,” said a press broadcast, specifically quoting reports from the National Toxicology Program, a division managed by the government.
August Report found a lower IQ in children who have a higher level of exposure to fluoride exposure – about double the recommended limits for US drinking water – and say more studies are needed to determine whether the recommended small doses in the US cause damage.
Long Island, NY: Water is poured into a glass from a faucet on Long Island, New York on October 4, 2022. (Photo by Steve Pfost/Newsday RM via Getty Images)
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“Many substances are healthy and useful when taken in small doses but can cause damage to high doses. Further research is needed to better understand if there are health risks associated with low fluoride exposure,” the report said.
The study was also quoted in the Federal Judge’s decision in September which ordered EPA to take steps to reduce the potential risk of fluoride.
US District Judge Edward Chen said more studies were needed to understand if the typical number of fluoride in water in the US caused lower IQ in children.
“I think we need to apply the principle of warnings in this country that we should not be dangerous,” Kennedy said Tuesday. “And that is clearly dangerous, and sacrifice is loss of IQ in children, and we are unable to buy it in this country. We need all the strength of the brain that we can to deal with the challenges of the future.”
In November, shortly before the election, Kennedy promised that Trump’s administration would suggest all US water systems to eliminate fluoride from public water on the first day.
The American Dental Association, responding to Kennedy and Zeldin’s comments on Tuesday, said that fluoride in water is needed for good oral health and at the recommended level “has no negative impact on the IQ level.”
“The greater distrust of credible science, which has been tested, and is based on evidence.
“When government officials, such as Secretary Kennedy, stood behind the comments of the wrong information and did not believe the research reviewed by the peer-review was detrimental to public health.”