A.G. Gancarski
Gov. Ron DeSantis isn’t holding back on fluoride in water supplies, expressing the belief that it’s “forced medication.”
“When you’re forcing it into the water supply, that’s not really giving people the choice. If people want to be able to purchase fluoridated water or do more, then they already have the ability to do it,” DeSantis said Tuesday in Tallahassee.
Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo had previously said putting fluoride in water was “insane,” given the compound’s “caustic” nature and the fact that toothpaste and other consumer products contain it and give people the option to self-administer. He recommended against community water fluoridation last year.
DeSantis said Tuesday that he expects the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to “lean in the direction of Ladapo under Bobby Kennedy,” presumably offering similar guidance.
“People can get fluoride by brushing their teeth,” DeSantis said Tuesday, echoing Ladapo’s belief that “cavities wouldn’t be an issue” for people if sugar weren’t added to food.
Ladapo spoke out against fluoride last year as “health malpractice” in part because of “the neuropsychiatric risk associated with fluoride exposure, particularly in pregnant women and children.”
DeSantis expressed worry Tuesday about the compound’s impact on “younger people than maybe 12” years of age.
State guidance may be coming.
The “Florida Farm Bill,” championed by Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, seeks to remove water additives from municipal supplies.
Pending a change in state law, cities and counties are deciding on fluoride in an example of home rule.
On Monday, Lakeland Commissioners voted to reverse the nearly 45-year-old practice, joining a growing contingent of local governments that have done so.
10 comments
Ron Ogden
March 4, 2025 at 1:11 pm
Correct. DeSantis is right again.
SuzyQ
March 4, 2025 at 1:46 pm
Amen!
GeeWoo
March 4, 2025 at 1:45 pm
100%! Get the neurotoxin (byproduct of aluminum manufacturing) out of our community water systems!
Cavities? Eat and drink less sugar.
John B
March 5, 2025 at 10:33 am
How do you get kids to eat less sugar? How do you get companies to put less sugar in foods? Maybe try to figure that out first.
Ron Ogden
March 5, 2025 at 11:24 am
No cookies, cakes, sugary cereal, soda, poptarts,. candy, ice cream, cans of fruit in sugar water. . .anything that lists sugar as a main ingredient. Parents, show a little backbone. And watch the kids’ behavior improve, too, when they are not jacked up on sugar morning to night.
Scott Kiley
March 4, 2025 at 2:47 pm
Best Governor in the union!
Michael K
March 4, 2025 at 3:44 pm
Yes, the Soviet Union.
John S
March 4, 2025 at 2:48 pm
“…there are a lot of problems with that particular study [2010 Rivka Green], and subsequent studies have not shown that same effect, and in fact, have shown an opposite effect [flouridated water could improve IQ]. There have also been population-based studies, which do a much better job at establishing cause and effect, that have shown absolutely no effect on neurocognitive development or IQ scores…”
“Removing it [fluoride] from the water will cause a lot of vulnerable populations to suffer—it’s not a good thing for us to be contemplating, a. [sic] And we’ve seen that in some studies. Calgary discontinued their fluoridation program in 2011 and over a relatively short period of time, saw dramatic increases in cavities in kids. The number of kids who are requiring IV antibiotics or needing operative dental care under general anesthesia, increased quickly with removal of fluoride from the water.”
https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2024/why-is-fluoride-in-our-water
Tdub772
March 5, 2025 at 10:34 am
This is dumb and will hurt a lot of vulnerable children.
Dr. Janis Jeffers
March 8, 2025 at 2:55 pm
I have been in the practice of dentistry for almost 50 years in Florida. We have seen changes in cavity rates in children change over the years. The age group now 35 to 50 years old exhibits very little decay, many times cavity free if they avoided sugary and acidic beverages and have regular care unlike my retiring age group. This age group had the most consistent benefits of fluoridated water. Those consuming energy drinks, and vaping products have rampant uncontrollably decay.
When bottled water became popular, cavities in children increased 6 %.
When plastic bottle use became unpopular, decay decreased.
Circa 1990, our studies at the University of Florida took place in Polk County Florida because the children did not have fluoridated water in that county and we could find decay easily in those chdren for our studies.
This is the first time I disagree with you Gov. DeSantis but there are concerns I have with your stand on Fluoridation.Toothpaste is not enough.
We will need more dentists if this is changed and treating a 6 year old with a cavity is not easy for the child, parents or the dentist. Dentistry has cured its number one disease with proper fluoridation and preserving beautiful smiles. Unfortunately, it will be the lower income communities suffering the most.
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