Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis praised legislation Tuesday (SB 700) that would make Florida the second state in the country to ban fluoride from its water supply.

He hasn’t actually signed the legislation yet but promised to while in Miami, just hours after the Miami-Dade County Commission voted to override Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava’s veto of an ordinance banning fluoride in drinking water.

“It’s forced medication when they’re jamming fluoride into your water supply, and they did it because you have fluoride [and] ‘it will help with dental.’ And I’m not saying that’s not true, but we have other ways where people can get access to fluoride,” DeSantis said. “When you do this in the water supply, you’re taking away a choice of someone who may not want to have overexposure to fluoride.”

The bill itself never mentions the word “fluoride.” Instead, it bans “the use of any additive in a public water system which does not meet the definition of a water quality additive” as defined in statute.

Joining DeSantis at the press conference were Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson and Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s surgeon general, who issued a recommendation in November against community water fluoridation due to what he called the “neuropsychiatric risk.”

Since then, more than a dozen local governments in Florida have banned fluoride in their public water drinking systems.

Ladapo compared health care professionals still opposed to removing fluoride from the drinking water supply to the comic strip character Linus with his blanket.

“We have doctors, dentists, public health leaders who are holding on to fluoridation like that blanket,” he said.

“I mean, it doesn’t matter what the evidence shows, right? Whatever the studies show about potential harms to children and pregnant women and who knows about the rest of us. They’re just holding on to it. That’s okay when you’re a kid, but we’re grownups here. We’re adults, we’re responsible for the lives of other people who have to make good decisions.”

‘Disappointed’ dentists

The Florida Dental Association said that members were “disappointed” in the decision to end what they said was one of the most “effective, safe and affordable protections against tooth decay.”

“The Florida Dental Association strongly reinforces that fluoridation is a naturally occurring mineral, not a medication, that is already present in the water in many parts of the country, including Florida,” said Dr. Jeff Ottley, the president of the group.

“Water fluoridation has been researched for more than 80 years, and overwhelming, credible scientific evidence consistently indicates that fluoridation of community water supplies is safe and effective at preventing and repairing tooth decay.”

The fluoride provision was just one part of the Florida farm bill pushed by the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Simpson said he looked forward to discussing the many other parts of the legislation that aids the agriculture community in the state but that “today we announce that drinking water will hydrate, not medicate.”

There are similar moves afoot on the national level. U.S. Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month to reconvene an independent panel of health experts to examine the role that fluoride plays in water sources and whether it is detrimental to public health.

Utah became the first state to ban fluoride in drinking water in late March. That measure will go into effect on Wednesday.

Geoengineering legislation

Also joining the governor was Miami-Dade Republican Sen. Ileana Garcia, sponsor of the recently passed bill (SB 56) on geoengineering and water modification activities. The measure would make unapproved cloud seeding and similar activities third-degree felonies, punishable by up to five years in prison and fines up to $100,000.

Again, DeSantis has yet to receive the bill but promised to sign it.

“We are sending a powerful message to the nation and the world that we prioritize our environment and the right of our citizens to clean, unmanipulated skies,” said Garcia. “We are setting an example of responsible governance, demonstrating that we will not allow unchecked experimentation with our atmosphere.”

During an earlier committee stop, Garcia acknowledged “a lot of skepticism” about the proposal in light of conspiracy theories about “chemtrails.” She said her intention was to “try to separate fact from fiction and to start to create a methodology where people feel comfortable by confirming what it is that they’re seeing, creating a system to log, track, investigate if necessary.”

Marla Maples, former wife of President Donald Trump, testified in support of the proposal at its first committee hearing earlier this year and attended Tuesday’s event.

The bill prohibits the “injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of a chemical, a chemical compound, a substance, or an apparatus into the atmosphere within the borders of this state for the express purpose of affecting the temperature, weather, climate, or intensity of sunlight.”

DeSantis said that while no such geoengineering is taking place in Florida, the law is needed because of climate change advocates who want to attempt to “solve global warming by putting stuff into the atmosphere.”

Similar proposals have been heard in other state legislatures this year, including in Arizona and Utah. Tennessee passed such a measure last year.

Once they are signed by the governor, both bills would go into effect on July 1.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.

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