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SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A bill that would prohibit fluoridation in Utah’s water system has passed through committee and will advance to a vote on the House floor.
H.B. 81 — titled Fluoride Amendments — passed in a 10-3 vote late Wednesday afternoon with passionate debate coming from supporters and critics of the bill.
Fluoridation is the process of adding the mineral fluoride to public water supplies in order to raise natural levels of fluoride to recommended levels that are beneficial to oral health. The Centers for Disease Control recommends that levels of fluoride should be at 0.7 milligrams per liter, which is the equivalent of three drops in a 55-gallon barrel of water, to receive the maximum benefit while preventing negative health effects.
Supporters of the bill argued that the current levels of fluoride are harmful, and that people should be able to choose whether or not to take fluoride.
“I do not refute that fluoride helps strengthen, with the appropriate concentration, the enamel of teeth,” Elaine Oaks, member of the South Davis Water District Board of Trustees, said during public comment. “[But] it is neither the role of government, nor is it proper for a majority of people, to determine that the entire population require medication in publicly provided drinking water.”
Critics of the bill warned that the removal of fluoride from drinking water could have negative consequences on people’s oral health. Brent Larson, a retired dentist who had practiced in Utah for 43 years (both before and after Salt Lake County began fluoridating its water), warned about what removing it could mean for children.
“I have seen with my own eyes the astronomical difference [fluoride] makes in people’s oral health,” Larson said during public comment. “I used to see kids coming into my office with 4, 6, 10 cavities. Within a year after our water was fluoridated that ended. We never saw that again.”
The provisions of H.B. 81 specify that those who wish to take fluoride can obtain a prescription from a pharmacist and also describe the terms of how some can be given a prescription.
In her final appeal to the committee, bill sponsor Rep. Stephanie Gricius (R – District 50) said that fluoridation wasn’t the role of government, and that this decision should be with an individual.
“At the end of the day, the role of government is to deliver safe, clean drinking water,” Gricius asserted. “I believe that this bill accomplishes that while still proving everyone the choice to go and take this substance if they so choose.”
The bill still has a way to go before it can become law in the state. It will face a vote on the House Floor, and if it passes there it will go to the Senate to face the same process before being sent to the Governor for signing.
Stay up to date with the 2025 General Session by visiting Inside Utah Politics. To research bills and watch for updates on the legislature, visit the Utah Legislature’s website.