Speaker Johnson says fluoride in water deserves another look

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Tuesday he thinks fluoride in the public water supply deserves “real evaluation,” a day after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicated new recommendations and potential limits would be coming. 

“I think it deserves, from what I’ve read and from what I understand, it deserves real evaluation,” Johnson said during a press conference. “There’s a concern that it may be having a negative effect on the health of children.” 

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin held a press conference Monday praising Utah for being the first state to ban the addition of fluoride in its public water supply. 

Following the press conference, the HHS said Kennedy is convening a task force to develop new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations, likely with the intent of stopping any recommended level of fluoride in water.

The agency currently recommends 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water, but Kennedy has been a vocal opponent of the practice. 

Fluoride is intentionally added to drinking water to prevent tooth decay. Nearly two-thirds of the U.S. population gets fluoridated drinking water, according to the CDC.  

The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered to be one of the greatest public health achievements of the past century. However, some recent studies have linked it to lower IQ.  

Notably, the HHS’s National Toxicology Program found in August that higher levels of fluoride exposure are linked to lower IQs in children. But the levels cited by the analysis were nearly twice that recommended by the CDC. 

The EPA is also initiating a review of the health impacts of fluoride.