Trump win could mean changes for California water, says RFK Jr.

More than half of Californians and almost 75% of US residents live in communities where fluoride is added to drinking water to prevent tooth decay, an intervention that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control calls one of the efforts of the 20th century. greatest achievements in public health.

However, if Donald Trump is elected to a second term, water systems will be immediately ordered to end the practice, according to a Robert F. Kennedy Jr. supporter.

“On January 20, the Trump White House will recommend that all U.S. water supplies remove fluoride from public water,” Kennedy. published on Saturday on social network X.

Kennedy described the mineral, which occurs naturally in all freshwater sources, as an “industrial waste” associated with a variety of health risks.

On Sunday Trump told NBC News that he had not discussed the fluoride proposal with Kennedy, “but it seems acceptable to me.” A campaign official reached out to The Times on Monday for comment that while Trump “has received a lot of policy ideas, he is focused on Tuesday’s election.”

Kennedy’s announcement follows a September ruling by a federal judge in California that could have major implications for the long-standing public health intervention but that many dentists and pediatricians say is based on a flawed reading of the available science.

In his X-post, Kennedy tagged Michael Connett, the lead attorney representing the plaintiff in the lawsuit, the advocacy group Food & Water Watch.

In late September, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take further unspecified actions to regulate fluoride in drinking water.

In his resolution Chen quoted A review of the literature by the US National Toxicology Program found an association between exposure to high levels of fluoride and lower IQ levels in children.

While he could not “conclude with confidence that fluoridated water is harmful to public health,” Chen wrote, he did determine that it posed an “unreasonable risk” of harm. His ruling did not specify what exactly the EPA should do about it.

American Dental Association. and the American Academy of Pediatrics released joint statement concerns after the ruling, stating that there were serious restrictions in study – Chen quoted. The groups noted that the study found associations with low IQ only at fluoride concentrations more than double the current recommendation of 0.7 milligrams per liter.

“There is nothing in the current decision that changes my confidence in the safety of optimally fluoridated water in the United States,” Dr. Charlotte W. Lewis, a member of the AAP Section on Oral Health, said at the time. “Water fluoridation is a public health policy based on a strong foundation of evidence.”

In California, scientifically shaky skepticism about fluoridated water has existed almost as long as it has been coming out of taps.

In 1952, San Francisco and Antioch became the first communities in California to add natural levels of fluoride to their drinking water after multiple studies showed that the mineral made tooth enamel stronger and more resistant to acid. Over ten years, the number of caries in the permanent teeth of six-year-old children has decreased by 84%.

The US Public Health Service in 1962 recommended fluoridation levels of 0.7 to 1.2 mg per liter of drinking water. (In 2015 the service revised his recommendation up to 0.7 mg per liter is the optimal ratio that maximizes dental health benefits while reducing the risk of tooth discoloration associated with excess fluoride exposure.)

However, as the number of California communities voting to fluoridate their water grew, so did complaints from skeptics who advanced debunked theories linking fluoride to cancer, AIDS and other diseases, according to story Ernest Newbern, professor of oral biology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Despite California’s early leadership in water fluoridation, it now ranks 39th among U.S. states in the percentage of its population covered by fluoridated water systems, with 57.5% of residents living in covered communities, according to United Health Fund. (Kentucky leads the rankings with 99.9% coverage).

research study published this year found an association between prenatal fluoride exposure and an increased risk of neurobehavioral problems at age 3 in a cohort of 229 Los Angeles children.

The American Dental Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and others retracted the study, citing concerns about the methods used to assess children’s IQs and maternal fluoride levels.

“It is irresponsible for the authors to suggest, based on this study, that recommendations on the beneficial use of fluoride to prevent dental problems be changed,” said Howard Pollick, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry. shortly after the study was published.

A larger study Findings published last year following more than 2,000 children in Australia over five years found no link between prenatal fluoride exposure and behavioral development problems.

Both Trump and Kennedy have said publicly that longtime anti-vaccination activist Kennedy is likely to play a prominent role in health care policy in a second Trump administration.

“I’ll let him go crazy for health. I’ll let him go crazy with food. I’ll let him go crazy on the meds.” Trump told his supporters during a rally at Madison Square Garden last month.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.