By Sharyl Attkisson | February 28, 2025
The Republican-dominated Utah Senate voted 18-8 to approve a bill that would ban the addition of fluoride to public water systems, with two Republican senators opposing it and one Democrat voting in favor. The measure, which previously passed in the House, now awaits Gov. Spencer Cox’s decision.
If signed into law, the bill will take effect on May 7 and end community water fluoridation. The new law will also allow pharmacists to prescribe fluoride supplement pills, which currently require a dentist or physician.
Rep. Stephanie Gricius, who sponsored the bill, called the vote a victory for individual choice, emphasizing that the law allows people to make their own decisions about fluoride.
“I am a firm believer that the proper role of government is to provide safe, clean drinking water, not medicate the public on a mass scale. Because I also believe in medical freedom, I wanted fluoride to remain available to anyone who wanted it for either themselves or their children — which is why we made the prescription easier to obtain through a pharmacy.”
– Rep. Stephanie Gricius
The bill’s Senate sponsor, Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore, described the measure as a way to protect water quality and ensure personal choice.
“This is about protecting our water, reducing unnecessary costs, and ensuring people have the right to decide what they consume.”
– Sen. Kirk Cullimore
Rick North, a board member of the Fluoride Action Network, which was part of a landmark lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said the Utah fluoridation ban reflects growing public concern.
“Utah’s fluoridation ban bill enjoyed wide support in both the House and Senate, reflecting both concerns over health risks and the firm opposition to adding any drug to drinking water, taking away people’s right to informed consent.”
– Rick North, Fluoride Action Network
Opposition to water fluoridation has been growing across the country, especially since a federal judge ruled that current fluoridation levels pose an unreasonable risk to children’s health. The ruling was based on multiple studies showing fluoride exposure is linked to reduced IQ in children. The EPA has announced plans to appeal.
Fluoride is commonly promoted as a way to prevent cavities, but critics argue that the type used in public water—fluorosilicic acid—is an industrial byproduct. In 2019, a fluoridation system malfunction in Sandy, Utah, exposed residents to fluoride levels 40 times above the recommended limit, affecting 1,500 homes and sickening over 200 people.
“This bill does not prohibit anybody from taking fluoride in whatever fashion they want, it just disallows people who do not want fluoride from having to consume fluoride in their water.”
– Sen. Kirk Cullimore
Florida Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo has urged state officials to stop adding fluoride to public water, citing increased risks of neurological disorders, cognitive impairment, and neuropsychiatric effects, particularly in pregnant women and children.
Other states are considering similar measures. Lawmakers in North Dakota, New Hampshire, and Tennessee have introduced bills to ban water fluoridation. Bills in Arkansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, and South Dakota would either repeal statewide fluoridation programs or set limits on fluoride levels.
Stuart Cooper, executive director of the Fluoride Action Network, believes Utah’s decision could trigger similar moves nationwide.
“We’re watching water fluoridation unravel globally in real time.”
– Stuart Cooper, Executive Director, Fluoride Action Network
While many states move to restrict fluoridation, Connecticut Democrats are pushing to keep it. A new bill would make current fluoride levels state law, citing concerns that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Trump administration may advise all US water systems to remove it.
