Tallahassee, Florida (AP) – Florida is ready to be the second state that forbids fluoride in public drinking water, about the concerns of dentists and supporters of public health, which say that the mineral is a protected and effective way to protect people of all ages from developing cavities.
The legislators in Florida gave the draft law on Tuesday after Utah passed a ban last month. The states conducted by the Republicans pursue a US health minister listed by US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who sets the government’s corridors to stop fluoride water.
The Florida measure now goes to the desk of the Republican governor Ron Desantis, whose administration supports itself against the fluoridation of community water systems and argues that high values could be a risk of the intellectual development of children.
Fluoride strengthens the teeth by replacing them according to the US centers for the control and prevention of diseases by the minerals lost in normal wear. The addition of low fluoride to drinking water is viewed in the greatest achievements of public health of the last century.
“As dentists, we see the direct consequences that fluorine removal has on our patients, and it is a real tragedy if the decisions of political decision -makers violate long -term children and adults,” said Brett Kessler, President of the American Dental Association, in a statement at the beginning of this month. “Blind calling a ban on fluoridated water violates people, costs money and will ultimately harm our economy.”
While Florida’s draft law does not specially refuse to remove fluoride, the mineral and some other additives from the water sources across the state must be removed, said Bill Sponsor Republican State Rep. Kaylee Tuck.
“Everything that refers to water quality, the contamination removes, things like that, we don’t touch that,” said Tuck. “It is all that has to do with health. So fluoride, vitamins, whatever it is.”
Some local officials in Florida have already voted to remove the mineral from their community water systems before the state legislator was pushed after the ban on fluoride.
Daniella Levine Cava, Mayor of Miami-Dade County, said on Tuesday that she was “deeply disappointed” and added that “the overwhelming consensus of dentists, doctors and medical experts will disregard and end a practice that has been present for decades to protect our health.”
Levine Cava said that the end of the fluoridation, which is a protected and inexpensive way to prevent dental decay, will “have long -lasting health consequences, especially for our most endangered families”.
The mayor said the decision should be left to the local communities.
According to an analysis of 2022, about a third of the water systems in the municipality, which serve more than 60% of the US population, fluoridated their water.
___ Associated Press Writer Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report. Payne is a member of the Corps for the “Associated Press/Report” initiative for America Statehouse News. The report for America is a non -profit National Service program that reports journalists in local news editorial offices on hidden topics.
