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By Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will be reconvening an independent panel of health experts to make a new recommendation on putting fluoride in drinking water, a spokesperson said on Monday.
The use of the mineral, which is added to water to strengthen tooth enamel and promote dental health, has been a hot-button political issue in some states for decades.
"HHS is reconvening the Community Preventive Services Task Force to study and make a new recommendation on fluoride," an HHS spokesperson said.
The statement followed an Associated Press report quoting Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. saying at an event in Salt Lake City, Utah, that he plans to tell the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending fluoride in drinking water.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will also review new scientific information on the potential health risks of fluoride in drinking water in coordination with HHS, an initial step toward deciding on standards for its inclusion, Administrator Lee Zeldin said at the same event, according to an EPA statement.
Utah became the first U.S. state to ban the use of fluoride in public water systems after Governor Spencer Cox signed legislation to that effect last month.
The American Dental Association opposed the Utah law and has maintained support for community water fluoridation to help prevent tooth decay.
The U.S. Public Health Service recommends that drinking water levels for fluoride remain below 0.7 milligram per liter.
Levels above 1.5 mg/L, twice the recommended limit, are known to increase health risks such as bone fractures, thyroid disease and nervous system damage.
The enforceable limit as currently set by the EPA is 4.0 mg/L. In September 2024, a federal judge in California ordered the EPA to strengthen its regulations, saying the compound poses an unreasonable potential risk to children at levels that are currently typical nationwide.
Kennedy, who opposes the addition of fluoride to public water systems, has claimed in the absence of conclusive evidence that water fluoridation at U.S. levels is associated with numerous health issues including cancer.
About 63% of all Americans have fluoride in their community water systems, according to CDC statistics as of 2022.
(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington; Additional reporting by Jasper WardEditing by Caitlin Webber and Matthew Lewis)
