President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration may try to remove fluoride from drinking water, according to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Kennedy, who campaigned with Trump after abandoning his own presidential bid in August, called fluoride “industrial waste” and linked it to cancer and other diseases and disorders.

“On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems for removing fluoride from public water. Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders and thyroid disease,” Kennedy said. wrote November 2 on X. Kennedy linked to a video from an attorney who recently sued successfully Environmental Protection Agency to take additional steps to regulate fluoride in drinking water.

Kennedy, who advocated for a long time stopping water fluoridation, it persisted with his commitment after Trump’s election victory. Trump, meanwhile, said Kennedy, who previously worked as an environmental lawyer, would have a role in the Trump administration. When asked if his administration would remove fluoride from drinking water, Trump said“Well, I haven’t talked to him about it yet, but it’s OK with me. You know it’s possible.”

Kennedy is an influential vaccine skeptic whose campaign of conspiracy theories won The lie of 2023 from PolitiFact.

Long-standing research has found that adding fluoride to US drinking water is a safe way to improve children’s oral health. As of 2015, the recommended level in the US was 0.7 milligrams per liter. Public health organizations, incl American Dental AssociationTHE American Academy of Pediatrics and the US Centers for Disease Control and Preventionsupports the practice.

However, recent studies have shown possible links between fluoride, bone problems and children’s IQ, especially when fluoride is above US recommended levels.

“There is evidence that fluoride exposure has been associated with the diseases (and) disorders listed by RFK, but with caveats,” said Dr. Ashley Malin, an assistant professor in the University of Florida’s Department of Epidemiology, who studied effects of fluoride in pregnant women.

Malin referred to studies showing that higher exposure to fluoride, particularly during pregnancy, is associated with lower child IQ and that prenatal exposure is also linked to decreased intellectual and executive function. For high exposure during pregnancy, studies have shown symptoms associated with other neurobehavioral problems, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

However, many of these studies were conducted in countries other than the United States and looked at fluoride in drinking water, sometimes at twice the US recommended level. Also, some of the other diseases Kennedy listed, such as the association with bone cancer, have less strong evidence and need more study.

“Beyond the impact of fluoride on neurodevelopment, I think there’s more we don’t know about the health effects of low-level fluoride exposure than we do know, especially for health outcomes in adults,” Malin said.

David Bellinger, professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and professor in the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard School of Public Health, said the risk-benefit calculation of added fluoride differs depending on whether typical exposure levels to fluoride cause health problems or if problems occur only when recommended levels. are outdated.

“In toxicology, ‘the dose makes the poison’ is a long-standing principle,” he said. “So a general statement that fluoride is associated with diseases X, Y and Z is not very helpful unless the dose that might be responsible is specified.”

PolitiFact reached out to Kennedy through his children’s health advocacy organization, but did not hear back. The organization sued PolitiFact and Meta over a 2020 fact-check. That suit was rejected by a federal court. The dismissal was upheld on appeal, and the case is pending a possible appeal to the US Supreme Court.

fluorine it is a mineral found naturally in soil, water and some foods that helps prevent cavities and tooth decay. Strengthens tooth enamel that acid from bacteria, plaque and sugar can wear away.

Water fluoridation has been taking place in the US since 1945.

The federal Public Health Service first recommended fluoridation of tap water in 1962, but the decision still rests with states and municipalities. About 73% of the US population, or about 209 million people, have access to fluoridated water, the CDC reported. Fluoride has also been added to oral care products such as toothpaste and mouthwash.

In 2015, US health officials reduced the recommended amount of fluoride in drinking water at 0.7 milligrams per liter, saying that a higher level is less necessary given other sources of fluoride and that the reduced amount would still help protect teeth without staining them.

Pediatric dentists note that applying fluoride with toothpaste and rinsing is beneficial, but small amounts circulating in the body through drinking water help younger children who still have baby teeth because it can benefit the developing permanent teeth.

The American Dental Association says that studies have shown that fluoride in community water systems prevents at least 25% of tooth decay in children and adults and that “for more than 75 years, the best scientific evidence has consistently shown that fluoridation is safe and efficiency”.

The association says on his website“It is similar to the fortification of other foods and drinks – for example, fortifying salt with iodine, milk with vitamin D, orange juice with calcium and bread with folic acid.”

According to the CDChealth experts and scientists in the US and other countries “so far have found no convincing scientific evidence linking community water fluoridation to any potential adverse health effects or systemic disorders, such as an increased risk of cancer, Down, heart disease, osteoporosis and bones. fractures, immune disorders, low intelligence, kidney disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, or allergic reactions.”

The agency says the risks of water fluoridation are limited to dental fluorosiswhich can alter tooth enamel and cause white spots, stains, lines or brown spots on the teeth when too much fluoride is consumed.

Some studies have said that excess exposure to fluoride, often at levels higher than the U.S. recommended limit, can harm the developing brains of infants and young children, and that higher levels of fluoride exposure during pregnancy have been associated with decreases in children’s IQ.

A study published in May that Malin, led by researchers at the University of Southern California, suggested that exposure to fluoride during pregnancy is linked to an increased risk of neurobehavioral problems in childhood and said more studies were “urgently needed to understand and mitigate the impact on the entire US population.”

Experts noted that prenatal exposure to fluoride is most strongly linked to lower IQ in children and said the timing of fluoride consumption may need to be considered when making recommendations.

A federal review dozens of studies published in August by the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Toxicology Program concluded that higher levels of fluoride exposure were linked to lower IQ in children. But the report was primarily based on studies in countries including Canada, China, India, Iran, Mexico and Pakistan, and involved fluoride levels of 1.5 milligrams per liter or more, twice the recommended US limit. The authors said more research is needed to understand whether lower exposure has adverse effects.

In the report, the researchers said they found no evidence that exposure to fluoride adversely affects cognition in adults.

Harvard’s Bellinger pointed to the review as an example of how the amount of fluoride matters. He noted that researchers have concluded that a very small percentage of people in the US are exposed to levels that correlate with IQ loss.

“Second, the fact that there are now multiple routes of exposure to fluoride besides fluoridated water (toothpaste and other dental products, etc.) makes it really difficult to attribute any particular adverse effect to fluoride added to water,” he wrote him via e-mail. “It is the cumulative exposure from all sources that contributes to any adverse health effects.”

In September, a federal judge orderly The Environmental Protection Agency to further regulate fluoride in drinking water because of the potential risk that higher levels could affect children’s intellectual development.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen wrote that the court’s conclusion did not “definitely conclude that fluoridated water is harmful to public health,” saying it is unclear whether the amount of fluoride commonly added to water causes children’s IQs to drop. But he wrote that there is enough risk to warrant investigation and that the EPA must act to further regulate it. The ruling did not specify what action the agency should take, and the EPA is reviewing the decision.

After the ruling, the American Pediatric Association issued a statement that fluoride in drinking water is safe for children and said the policy is based on a strong evidence base.

In addition to dental fluorosis, experts say exposure to fluoride for years above the recommended amount in the U.S. can cause skeletal fluorosis, a rare condition that causes weaker bones, stiffness and joint pain. Although the Public Health Service recommends a fluoride concentration of 0.7 milligrams per liter for community water systems, the EPA, under the Safe Drinking Water Act, sets applicable standards for drinking water quality. Currently, to prevent skeletal fluorosis, the EPA requires that water systems not exceed 4 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water.

Malin said she and her research team are investigating a potential link between fluoride and bone fractures. She said that while several studies have found high fluoride exposure to be associated with increased risk of bone fractures, and some have linked fluoride to thyroid disease, there have been no rigorous studies in the US.

CDC concluded that recent research has found no link between cancer and high levels of fluoride in drinking water.

American Cancer Society reviewed a possible link between water fluoridation and cancer. A spokesperson for the organization pointed PolitiFact to its review and said it has no data to show a definitive answer.

This fact check was initially published by PolitiFactwhich is part of the Poynter Institute. See the sources for this fact check Here.