Governor Spencer Cox (R) signed a bill making Utah the first state to ban fluoride in public drinking water.
“A person may not add fluoride to water in, or water that will be introduced into, a public water system,” the bill reads. “A political subdivision may not enact or enforce an ordinance that requires or permits the addition of fluoride to water in, or water that will be introduced into, a public water system.”
The bill takes effect on May 7.
The American Dental Association criticized the bill prior to its signing.
“On behalf of the 159,000 members of the American Dental Association, we urge you to veto House Bill 81 that would cease community water fluoridation in Utah. Utah would be the only state to end this preventive health practice that has been in place for over three quarters of a century,” the ADA’s president and interim executive director wrote in February. “House Bill 81 would adopt public policy that is in complete opposition to the mission of the ADA which, along with many other health organizations, endeavors to promote disease prevention in the most effective, efficient and equitable ways.”
Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore (R), the bill’s floor sponsor, said the legislation was about giving residents a choice to take fluoride.
“This bill does not prohibit anybody from taking fluoride in whatever fashion they want,” Cullimore said, as per KSL. “It just disallows people who do not want fluoride from having to consume fluoride in their water.”
A similar effort to remove fluoride from public water was passed in Lee County, Florida.
