United States: The addition of fluoride to public drinking water in Utah will end on May 7, 2025, after Gov. Spencer Cox signed a fluoride addition ban on March 27, based on information from The New York Times.
The law will make public drinking water fluoridation illegal beginning on May 7, 2025.
The new law will enter into effect when public scrutiny about fluoride applications intensifies. Since 1945, US drinking water facilities have added this mineral to prevent cavities.
Health vs. Policy: The Debate Continues
The safety debate about fluoridation of drinking water began in the 1940s, but concerns have escalated in recent times. The majority of public debate about fluoride addition in drinking water focuses on its hypothetical impact on child cognitive abilities, US News reported.
Studies analyzed by researchers showed evidence that exposure to high amounts of prenatal and childhood fluoride may cause a decline in child intelligence levels.
With the state of Utah banning water fluoridation this week, 54 communities serving water to nearly 8 million people have now ended or suspended water fluoridation since the court ruling in our favor.
— Fluoride Action Network (@FluorideAction) March 29, 2025
Who's next? pic.twitter.com/WEFEqrLqrS
Public health expert Scott Tomar, M.D. from the University of Illinois Chicago Oral Epidemiology Department, indicated to The Times that cognitive problem-linked fluoride concentrations exceed typical fluoride concentration levels found during community water fluoridation by two times.
The document fails to address any connected medical issues stemming from water fluoridation practice.
Gov. Research conducted by Gov. Cox establishes that water fluoridation has minimal impact on oral health in Utah based on data showing the two groups of residents with fluoridated and non-fluoridated drinking water produced comparable results.
Studies contradict the assertion, as shown by The Times. According to research, fluoridated water leads to better oral health outcomes.
UT becomes 1st state to ban fluoride in drinking water amid concerns it might do more harm than good, but "most of the studies that they looked at had no relevance at all to the levels of fluoride we use in community water fluoridation in the US" says Scott Tomar of @thisisUIC pic.twitter.com/MNytmraxJq
— Kim Brunhuber (@kimbrunhuber) March 30, 2025
Impact on Public Health
The results from 20 research studies that received systematic reviews in 2007 indicated that water fluoridation caused adult cavities to drop by 27 percent, as US News reported.
Tomar expressed worry about the effects of the Utah law, together with other proposed bans that could lead to increased oral problems throughout the nation, especially among underserved areas.
“The benefits of community water fluoridation are most pronounced in low-income communities — communities that often have the least access to dental care and to other sources of fluoride,” Tomar stated.
Fluoride bans, as he mentioned, are “misguided on a number of levels.”