Debate over fluoride in Ohio drinking water returns

The issue of whether to ban fluoride in the state’s water system is back before lawmakers, reinserting the Buckeye State into a national conversation that has vocal advocates on both sides.

State Rep. Levi Dean, R-Xenia, introduced House Bill 182 last year to prohibit public water systems from adding fluoride to drinking water. He told NBC 4 last year that he introduced a bill after discovering that other officials and his constituents supported removing fluoride.

The measure is back in the spotlight as the House Natural Resources Committee heard proponent testimony last week on the proposal, with more than a dozen proponents testifying and urging lawmakers to act.

“Numerous studies over many years, including some published in the Journal of the American Dental Association, have confirmed that there is no benefit to teeth from ingesting fluoride,” Griffin Cole, a dentist who previously practiced in Austin, Texas, for 28 years, said in prepared testimony to the committee. “Any anti-cavity effect comes from topical application, not from drinking it.”

Stuart Cooper, executive director of the Fluoride Action Network, told lawmakers that Ohio should remove fluoride from water because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration classifies the mineral as a drug.

“All drugs can have harmful health effects,” he said. “Putting it in the drinking water takes away your right to informed consent. Using the public water supply to administer any drug is unethical. All citizens should be free to hydrate without having to regulate their total fluoride intake. Fluoride ingestion should be a choice, not a mandate.”

At the federal level, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also opposed the presence of fluoride in the water supply.

“On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S​. water systems to remove fluoride from public water. Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease,” he wrote on X.

While lawmakers only heard from proponents during last week’s hearing, the measure has its share of detractors, including Dr. Matthew Messina, an associate professor at The Ohio State College of Dentistry.

“Fluoride helps because it makes tooth enamel harder or stronger, more resistant to the acid, which reduces the risk of decay,” he told NBC 4, adding that controlled amounts of fluoride in drinking water help “build strong teeth for a lifetime.”

Dean previously said states such as Hawaii, Utah, Kentucky, and Georgia have either proposed or adopted policies reflecting a more cautious approach to water fluoridation, using them as examples why the Buckeye State should re-evaluate its use of fluoride.

House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, told The Ohio Capital Journal last year that she doesn’t support the bill and “entirely” supports fluoride in water. Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, took the neutral position by telling NBC 4 last year that he doesn’t know whether fluoride should stay in water.