Florida became the second state in the country after Utah to ban local governments from adding fluoride to their public water systems.

Florida became the second state in the country after Utah to ban local governments from adding fluoride to their public water systems.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill at Simpson Lakes in Dade City – about 38 miles northeast of Tampa – on Thursday. The law is set to go into effect on July 1.

“We certainly now, in our society in 2025, we have the ability to deliver fluoride through toothpaste and all these other things,” DeSantis said at an event for the signing of the bill. “You don’t gotta force it and take away people’s choices. But the whole crux of the issue is you should be able to make decisions on the basis of informed consent.”

“Forcing this in the water supply is trying to take that away from people who may want to make a different decision rather than to have this in water,” DeSantis added.

  • palmtrees2309@lemm.eeEnglish
    8·
    3 hours ago

    If we are fighting chemicals and letting our water flow pure, add a ban to forever chemicals or PFAs which literally causes cancer and hold them ( 3M, DU Pont) responsible for it

    • Alexstarfire@lemmy.world
      3·
      2 hours ago

      Hey now, you can choose to live in a place without that in your water. /s

      The argument DeSantis is making is stupid. You can already buy bottles water with no fluoride in it. How does that not satisfy his argument?

  • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.worldEnglish
    39·
    9 hours ago

    90% of the people that agree with this legislation are living off diet soda, lite beer, and energy drinks - not pure water.

  • DominusOfMegadeus@sh.itjust.works
    243·
    9 hours ago

    Because Florida didn’t have enough gap-toothed rednecks already….

    “You don’t gotta force it and take away people’s choices. But the whole crux of the issue is you should be able to make decisions on the basis of informed consent.” “Forcing this in the water supply is trying to take that away from people who may want to make a different decision rather than to have this in water,” DeSantis added.

    Next they should ban Oxygen. Because forcing oxygen into the air is trying to take away the informed consent of people who want to make a different decision than to breathe it in.

  • marine_mustang@sh.itjust.works
    9·
    8 hours ago

    I recently found out my municipality does not add flouride to most of our water, because it’s naturally flouridated enough already to meet the recommended amount.

    • Greyghoster@aussie.zone
      4·
      6 hours ago

      Apparently concrete water tanks, the type on a lot of rural houses, are naturally fluoridated. My kids have really good teeth which was a surprise given the number of fillings I had as a child.

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
    212·
    8 hours ago

    Good. Let all of them suffer.

    Sorry, not sorry, I don’t give a crap anymore about US citizens. Nothing personal, but you guys let this happen, you guys gave the world trump TWICE. He said he’d fuck all of us over, you laughed, even though you already have seen him do that before, and now you’re all leopard faced.

    If you’re an American, then it sucks to be you but you’re getting all that you deserve, enjoy your rotting teeth that you can’t remove because dentists and other healthcare will become unaffordable soon. I don’t care, go suffer in silence

    • unsettlinglymoist@lemmy.world
      2·
      4 hours ago

      Nothing personal

      Sure sounds like it’s personal. But if all of us are to blame then please enlighten us, let’s hear about how you would have prevented Trump from coming to power a second time if you were American.

    • 42Firehawk@lemmy.zipEnglish
      131·
      7 hours ago

      I don’t know the best way of bringing this up, but the Americans complaining about the damage of Trump aren’t the ones who voted for him. They don’t deserve to be doomed to a fate they didn’t choose.

  • Jeena@piefed.jeena.netEnglish
    816·
    9 hours ago

    Most developed countries don’t do it either, like he says you can get enough of it from other sources, especially toothpaste.

    via Fifty reasons to oppose fluoridation (2004)

    In Europe, only Ireland, Poland, Serbia, Spain, and the UK fluoridate their water. However, most developed countries, including Japan and 97% of the European population, do not consume fluoridated water. In Europe, only four countries have optional salt fluoridation (Germany, France, Switzerland, and Austria), while the majority have neither fluoridated water nor fluoridated salt.

    via The Fluoride Debate: The Pros and Cons of Fluoridation

    • dan1101@lemm.ee
      2·
      4 hours ago

      Uh oh better tell the Republicans they are doing something… European! Sounds like closet libs to me!

    • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      291·
      8 hours ago

      You’re assuming this is in good faith. It is not. There is no good reason to stop doing it other than to signal to all the crazies and conspiracy whack jobs that they may be on to something.

      • MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.worldEnglish
        13·
        8 hours ago

        That’s also not considering the lack of healthcare in the US compared to other developed nations. Fluoride in the water supply is doing way more heavy lifting here than in Europe.

    • MysticKetchup@lemmy.world
      7·
      7 hours ago

      Except it seems like every time a major area ceases water fluoridation the caries immediately increases compared to nearby areas. Until we see some hard benefits from removing fluoride from water that exceeds the benefits of fluoridation there’s no point in giving in to the fearmongering of conspiracy theorists