The Riverton City Council passed a unanimous resolution Wednesday urging fluoride be removed from its drinking water in a nod to legislation pending at the Capitol that would require its banishment from all public drinking water supplies in the state.
“I am pleased Riverton City is the first to support HB81, Fluoride Amendments, and I encourage all Utah state representatives and senators to vote in favor of passage. The Riverton City Council unanimously passed a resolution in support of the legislation prohibiting the addition of fluoride in public water systems,” said Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs.
“I believe it reflects the sentiments of Riverton residents and the concerns over continuing to add fluoride. Upon passage by the state legislature, I have instructed Riverton City Public Works Department to immediately suspend fluoridating culinary water in city owned water systems.”
The resolution is a nod to HB81, or Fluoride Amendments, by Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R-Eagle Mountain, passed the House Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee on a 10-3 vote last week, with the majority of those in attendance testifying in favor of individual choice rather than mass “medication” of drinking water.
The bill would prohibit the introduction of the chemical in public drinking water systems by the end of May and upends current systems that practice fluoridation of their water, including Box Elder, Salt Lake and Davis counties.
Stagg is joined by the two large water districts tasked with infusing drinking water with fluoride for Davis and Weber counties after voter-approved initiatives.
Scott Paxman, general manager of the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District, said it cost the district millions of dollars to install the necessary equipment to infuse fluoride into its multicounty system that also serves Weber and Summit counties.
Over protests by dentists and fluoride supporters about its benefits to oral health, the move for Utah to eliminate it from public drinking water supplies is gaining traction.
“Regardless of fluoride’s purported health benefits, Utahns and their families should be able to choose for themselves whether and how to apply it. Riverton residents, living under Salt Lake County’s fluoridation ordinances, have been denied that freedom to decide for themselves for nearly a quarter century. It’s time to change that!” Stagg said, adding: “Let’s empower Utahns with independence to make their own individual health risk assessments pertaining to fluoride.”
The bill stems from a federal district court ruling in September which said that .7 milligrams per liter of fluoride introduced into drinking water systems causes unreasonable risk. The ruling directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to issue guidance.
The California-based judge said, “The ‘optimal’ water fluoridation level in the United States of 0.7 milligrams per liter is nearly double that safe level of 0.4 milligram per liter for pregnant women and their offspring. In all, there is substantial and scientifically credible evidence establishing that fluoride poses a risk to human health.”
Fluoride, while a naturally occurring substance comes from hydroflurosilicic acid that as a concentrate in its undiluted form is classified as a hazardous, poisonous material that, while it contains fluoride, also contains arsenic, lead, copper, manganese, iron and aluminum. It is a byproduct from phosphate mining operations.
In 2019, a Sandy overfeed of fluoride that sickened dozens.
An independent investigation found failure at all government levels for the accidental overfeed that was not publicly acknowledged for days. In some instances, residents were told there was a problem with their water heater that was causing the ill health effects.