Ban fluoride or keep it in Miami-Dade drinking water? County is set to vote next week

Miami-Dade County could be one vote away from removing fluoride from its drinking water, a change pushed by the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis and opposed by medical advocacy groups.

County commissioners could pass legislation Tuesday instructing the Water and Sewer Department to discontinue adding fluoride to tap water within 30 days, a directive championed at a Miami hearing this week by Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s surgeon general under DeSantis.

The legislation officially brings the fluoride fight to Miami-Dade, home to the largest county government in Florida and a place where President Donald Trump has reshaped the political landscape. A solidly Democratic county when he lost to Hillary Clinton by 30 points in 2016, Trump won Miami-Dade in November by 11 points — including four of the seven commission districts represented by Democrats. Democrats hold a one-seat majority on the officially nonpartisan board of 13 members.

Ladapo and other advocates for an end to fluoride in drinking water have pointed to studies linking fluoride consumption to early-development issues with children, including lower IQ levels. They contend the practice is based on outdated science and ignores the ready access to toothpaste that will keep teeth healthy without people having to drink tiny amounts of fluoride too. The Miami-Dade legislation calls for a public education campaign on the importance of using toothpaste with fluoride.

Groups representing physicians, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, continue to endorse adding fluoride to drinking water as a way to reduce tooth decay and lessen the prevalence of cavities. They say the research continues to see no risk in the tiny amounts of fluoride added to tap water, a practice declared one of the greatest achievements in public health in the 20th century by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The legislation to end fluoridation of Miami-Dade’s drinking water comes from Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez, a Republican who was elected to a full four-year term in August after DeSantis appointed him to the board two years ago. Gonzalez, who is chair of the county’s Health and Safety Committee, this week presided over a hearing of that committee featuring Ladapo and three other advocates for ridding tap water of fluoride. No advocates for fluoridation were invited to speak.

That means commissioners will go into their March 18 meeting without hearing from any experts who say Miami-Dade residents benefit from fluoride being added to the county’s drinking water. Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, a second-term Democrat who oversees the Water and Sewer Department, released a statement this week praising the use of fluoride but has not said whether she would veto Gonzalez’s legislation if it passes.

If all 13 commissioners attend Tuesday’s meeting, Gonzalez would need seven votes to pass his legislation. The board would need nine votes to override a Levine Cava veto.

Commissioners could also dodge the issue by voting to defer the legislation to a future meeting. That could let commissioners wait to see the fate of a bill in the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature that would ban local governments from adding fluoride to their water supplies.

It’s unlikely a vote on fluoride would break down along party lines. Commissioner Raquel Regalado, a Republican representing Miami and its southern suburbs, praised the county’s water quality during the Ladapo hearing. On Wednesday, Regalado said the Gonzalez legislation, which wasn’t on an agenda until after the Ladapo appearance, should get a committee hearing before facing a full vote by the board. “There’s been no opportunity for commissioners to hear both sides,” she said.

With three working days left before Tuesday’s meeting, two Republicans and one Democrat on the County Commission said Wednesday they didn’t have enough information to make a decision on fluoride.

The office of Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins, a Democrat, said she hasn’t had a chance to see the discussion from the Ladapo hearing at the Health and Safety Committee, where Cohen Higgins isn’t a member. In text messages, Republican commissioners Juan Carlos Bermudez and René Garcia said they needed more research before they could announce their positions on the Gonzalez legislation.

“I need to study the issue,” Bermudez said. Garcia said: “I’m gathering all the information to try and make an educated decision on this very important matter.”