The White House has expressed strong disapproval of a report by the New York Times that scrutinizes Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s review of recommendations to encourage states to eliminate fluoride from drinking water.
The Times' report, published on Monday, highlighted Kennedy's nationwide tour advocating for a fluoride ban in drinking water. The liberal-leaning publication described this as a reversal of what some medical experts deem as one of the most significant public health practices in the nation's history.
According to the New York Times, the fluoride debate in the 1950s was riddled with "conspiracy theories" about the practice being a Communist plot to induce brain damage. The report also insinuated that Kennedy was disregarding the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an agency under his supervision, as the CDC has hailed fluoridation as "one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century."
The White House, in a press release, criticized the Times' portrayal of Secretary Kennedy's review of fluoride recommendations as an attempt to falsely depict the Trump Administration as anti-science and anti-health. "In January, The New York Times itself reported that 'fluoride may be linked to lower IQ scores in children.' Why did the Times not note its own prior reporting in its article on Secretary Kennedy?" the White House questioned.
The press release also pointed out other omissions in the Times' report. It noted that fluoride is the only chemical added to drinking water that does not treat the water itself but is added solely for medicinal purposes. It also highlighted that "most industrialized nations, including much of Europe, do not add fluoride to their water and it has had no discernible detriment on their dental health."
The CDC now admits that fluoride's primary dental benefit comes from topical contact with the outside of the teeth, not ingestion, making it unnecessary to ingest fluoride. In August 2024, the HHS National Toxicology Program concluded with "moderate confidence" that fluoride in water at just 1.5 mg/L is "consistently associated with lower IQ in children."
Recent studies of the CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys have found significant associations between low levels of fluoride and various indicators of chronic disease, including reduced testosterone levels in boys, increased inflammation, altered kidney and liver function, and increased sleep problems.
Kennedy initiated the "Make America Healthy Again" tour on Monday in Utah, which recently became the first state to ban fluoride in public drinking water. Kennedy's itinerary also includes visits to Arizona and New Mexico, where he will discuss laws banning ultra-processed foods and dyes in public schools and restricting purchases of candy and soda using Federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.
He will also engage with Navajo Nation leaders on food sovereignty initiatives, wellness programs, and the first junk food tax implemented by a Native American tribe, as well as a charter school that integrates healthy eating and physical fitness into its daily student life.
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