Manatee County on Tuesday joined the parade of Florida communities that decided to not add fluoride to public drinking water.
But the county commission’s 5-1 decision wasn’t based completely on the same reasoning used by the estimated two dozen boards that ended the practice over the past year.
Yes, there was agreement after learning of studies showing the potential of fluoride in higher-than-recommended amounts could affect the cognitive health of children. Also, concerns over proven dental health benefits were outweighed by a desire for citizens to make personal choices over what is ingested.
But in Manatee, there were other factors:
- A fluoridation facility that has been broken since 2021 and the estimated $1.5 million to $2 million required to repair by 2026. This was on top of a $52 million system upgrade scheduled for 2027, according to county utility director Patrick Shea.
- The expectation that a local ordinance would be trumped by a bill in the Legislature calling for a Florida-wide ban on “additives” to water supplies.
“I don’t care if we have fluoride or not, honestly,” Commissioner George Kruse said before the vote. “This is performative at the end of the day. The state’s about to ban fluoride additives statewide. We, with every other preemption bill, have our hands tied.
"I am not going to authorize our utilities department to start spending millions of dollars of your money to fix a machine to start putting fluoride in, a few months before the state bans me from putting fluoride in. That is bad use of taxpayer funds."
The measure ended a 1991 ordinance that required the county to add fluoride.
The board was planning to vote on the proposal in January, but the decision was postponed after it learned about the out-of-service fluoridation system.
Commission Amanda Ballard brought the issue to the board’s attention.
She also cited recent guidance by Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, who has discouraged local governments from fluoridating.
While fluoridation has been done globally for decades to benefit dental health, some new studies show the mineral at higher-than-recommended levels can negatively affect children’s cognitive ability. The recommended level is 0.7 parts per million.
National debate began last year after the National Toxicology Program concluded in a report that higher levels of fluoride exposure are associated with lower IQ in children. The cognitive issues were associated with levels starting at 1.5 ppm.
Many prominent dental researchers have said that research was flawed. Organizations such as the American Dental Association and American Academy of Pediatrics continue to support the practice to prevent tooth decay.
“There is no legitimate study to show that 0.7 parts per million poses a health risk at all,” Manatee County dentist Dr. Robert Klement told the commission. “Although fluoridation helps everyone, the biggest effect it has is on the lower social economic population. Dental decay is the No. 1 chronic disease in the world.”
Klement claimed those pushing to end fluoridation lacked credibility.
“It is a small minority you are hearing from,” he said. “The majority of people really support fluoridation and realize the benefits it gives our children and adults for their lifetime.”
In the end, commissioners opted to stick with the natural levels of fluoride in its water, as it unknowingly has for the past four years.
Commissioner Bob McCann was the only no vote.
