More than a dozen local governments in Florida have banned fluoride in their public water drinking systems since state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo’s recommendation in November that they do so.
Miami-Dade County won’t be one of them, though, after Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced Friday that she would veto a resolution approved by the Board of County Commissioners on April 1 directing that fluoridation of the county’s water end within the next 30 days.
“As not only your Mayor, but also as a mother and grandmother, I care deeply about protecting the health, safety, and wellbeing of our community,” Levine Cava said in a statement.
“I have listened to the dentists and medical experts and the message is clear: Water fluoridation is a safe, effective, and efficient way to maintain dental health in our county – and halting it could have long-lasting health consequences, especially for our most vulnerable families.”
At least 14 Florida cities have voted to remove fluoride from the water since Ladapo’s announcement, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Similar efforts are happening at the federal level.
This week, U.S. Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that he intends to tell the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending fluoridation in communities nationwide.
During the same event in Utah (which recently became the first state to ban fluoride), Environmental Protection Agency head Lee Zeldin announced that his agency would review new scientific information on potential health risks of fluoride in drinking water.
Meanwhile, in Tallahassee, the Florida Senate will soon vote on an omnibus Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services bill (SB 700) that would prohibit public water systems from “the use of any additive included primarily for health-related purposes. Its companion in the House (HB 651) has one more stop in that chamber.
” The Florida Dental Association opposes the legislation.
In addition to Miami-Dade, other local governments in Florida that have opted to keep fluoride in their water systems include Clearwater and Hillsborough County.
–Mitch Perry and Christine Sexton, Florida Phoenix
