Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says Trump will seek to remove fluoride from drinking water

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Saturday that among the first acts of a second Trump administration would be to “advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water,” a stunning potential reversal of what is widely considered one of the most important public health interventions of the past century.

The statement, posted on social media, is among the more concrete pledges made by Kennedy – a former independent presidential candidate who is now backing Trump – in his capacity as a top adviser on Trump’s transition team. It also raises the specter of an all-out assault on public health expertise should Trump win Tuesday’s election, a prospect that has already caused significant alarm among experts across the medical and environmental fields.

As president, Trump would not have the power to order states and municipalities to remove fluoride from their water supplies; fluoridation is a matter of local control.

But a presidential pronouncement would inject the White House into a debate that stretches back to the 1950s, when conspiracy theories swirled around fluoridation, with critics claiming it was a communist plot to poison Americans’ brains – a view that was memorably parodied in Stanley Kubrick’s film “Dr. Strangelove.”

More recently, however, there has been scientific debate around the practice, with some studies suggesting that excess exposure to fluoride – at levels twice the amount recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency – could harm infants’ developing brains. But scientists, including those at the federal government’s National Toxicology Program, say more research is needed to understand whether lower exposure to fluoride has an effect.

The process of adding small amounts fluoride to drinking water, or fluoridation, began about 80 years ago to prevent tooth decay. That effort, public health officials say, has been extraordinarily successful. A majority of Americans today live in water systems that are fluoridated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which lists fluoridation as one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.

The American Dental Association has said that studies show that water fluoridation reduces dental decay by at least 25% in children and adults. “Seventy years of research, thousands of studies and the experience of more than 210 million Americans tell us that water fluoridation is effective in preventing cavities and is safe for children and adults,” the association states on its website.

Representatives for Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Trump has repeatedly said in recent public appearances that he would let Kennedy “go wild” on issues of health and the environment. This past week, Kennedy told supporters that Trump had promised him “control” of the nation’s public health agencies, a claim the Trump campaign said was premature.

Kennedy, a prominent skeptic of vaccines who has railed against public health measures and the impact of chemicals on the environment, considers the CDC and medical associations like the ADA to be corrupt. He has pledged to “clean up” the nation’s public health infrastructure, if empowered by Trump.

In his statement on social media, Kennedy said Trump would advise all U.S. water systems on Jan. 20 – Inauguration Day – to remove fluoride.

In September, opponents of fluoridation won a major legal victory when a federal judge in California ordered the EPA to strengthen its regulations for fluoridated water. The judge cited the toxicology program’s study.

In a recent interview, Stuart Cooper, the head of the Fluoride Action Network, the advocacy group behind the case, said that while his organization had “some overlap” with Kennedy’s agenda, it preferred to remain nonpartisan. He steered the conversation away from politics. “We’re already winning with the science,” Cooper said.

In the wake of the court ruling, he said, scores of communities have put a pause on water fluoridation.

Such moves are troubling to dental experts, said Dr. Jayanth Kumar, the former state dental director in California. He said there were limits to the toxicology program’s analysis. “In my view, the benefits of water fluoridation are settled,” Kumar said.

Kennedy has been speaking around the country as part of a “Make America Healthy Again” tour aligned with Trump’s campaign. But he has also used social media to give hints of his priorities, should he be granted power over the nation’s health services.

In a post earlier Saturday, Kennedy responded to a post about the ingredients in a plant-based formula brand, saying: “This regime of child abuse is about to end.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.