Commissioners in Miami-Dade County voted Tuesday to stop adding fluoride in local drinking water.
The measure passed by an 8-2 vote, but County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava could opt to veto the measure in the next 10 days.
The county has added fluoride to the water supply since 1958. The resolution, sponsored by Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez, instructs the county’s water and sewer department to stop the practice within 30 days.
The move follows a hearing in March when the county’s Safety and Health Committee heard testimony from anti-fluoridation proponents, including the state Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, who also attended Tuesday’s commission meeting.
No supporters of fluoridated water were invited to the presentation. However, there has been widespread opposition of the bans from national dental organizations.
Miami-Dade joins the ranks of several local governments across Florida that have opted to stop fluoridating water.
Florida is among a handful of states considering similar statewide bans. A wide-sweeping agriculture bill moving through the Legislature would prohibit “additives,” including fluoride from being used in public water systems.
Last week, Utah became the first state to ban fluoride in public drinking water.
“Ending the use of a potentially harmful additive whose benefit has diminished is not radical,” said Gonzalez. “it’s rational.”
Joining Gonzalez in supporting the resolution: Chair Anthony Rodriguez, Kevin Cabrera, Juan Carlos Bermudez, Rene Garcia, Danielle Cohen Higgins, Kionne McGhee and Oliver Gilbert. The no-votes were Eileen Higgins and Raquel Regalado.
The resolution did not go through the commission’s committee process, so Tuesday's vote was the first time commissioners publicly debated the proposal.
“ I am not gonna support this,” Regalado said. “It is not because I am for or against fluoride. It is because I'm for process.”
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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