Connecticut lawmakers are working to strengthen state fluoride laws as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. heads closer to his confirmation as secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services agency.
Kennedy, who recently won a 14-13 party-line Senate committee vote, has expressed skepticism about fluoride in drinking water.
In response, lawmakers in Connecticut are drafting a bill this legislative session aimed at maintaining the state’s current fluoride levels in water.
The move comes in response to what was once widely considered a matter of settled science. Fluoride in water helps strengthen the tooth's surface, making it more resistant to decay, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For decades it’s been added in small levels to community water supplies – a move that has been hailed by the CDC as one of ten greatest public health achievements of the 20th century.
But across the U.S., it’s the states, not the federal government, that decide whether or not to implement fluoridation in community water supplies.
Connecticut’s fluoridation law was written in such a way that any levels in the state are tied to federal recommendations from the HHS.
Currently, community water systems serving more than 20,000 people must adjust the fluoride level in drinking water to maintain an average monthly fluoride content that is not more or less than 0.15 mg/l than the most recent recommendation by the HSS. That federal recommendation is currently 0.7 mg/l, for optimal fluoride levels in drinking water to prevent tooth decay.
But if the HHS changes the recommendation to 0 mg/l, then Connecticut would have to drop its standard to a dramatically lower level – between -0.15 and 0.15 instead of the current 0.55-0.85.
Kennedy’s looming nomination means state lawmakers are having to revisit existing proven science, said State Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey, a Fairfield Democrat and co-chair of the Public Health Committee.
“The fluoride proposed legislation is one that allows us to make sure that we keep things steady and consistent here in the state, and if that means that we need to spend time creating legislation, we believe that the cost of that is worth it,” McCarthy Vahey said.
1The state laws are being revisited amid proposed federal funding cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The state health department oversees safe drinking water — “whether it's keeping toxins out of water, whether it's keeping infectious pathogens out of water, whether it's keeping lead out of water, there could be any number of things,” Dr. Manisha Juthani, commissioner of the Department of Public Health, said recently on Connecticut Public’s “Where We Live.”
“We rely on EPA funding to be able to help us execute on that mission here in the state, so that when people turn on the tap, they can feel confident that that water is safe,” Juthani said.
As bulwark against federal orders, state officials plead for more resources
Lawmakers in California recently approved $50 million to fight the Trump administration in court. Officials in Connecticut are also looking into the legal cost of challenging President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong and other state attorneys general say many of these orders, like Trump’s birthright citizenship order, are unlawful.
Tong’s office and other states challenged that order shortly after it was released, and it was soon blocked by federal judges.
“I sued immediately on birthright,” Tong said. “That was the most well developed EO [executive order], it was clear what they were going to do. They put a timetable on it. We take each and every EO seriously.”
On Friday afternoon, Tong’s office filed another request in federal court. A judge had previously ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze trillions of dollars of funding, and Tong, along with other attorneys general, asked for that court order to be enforced.
A federal judge in Rhode Island on Monday ruled the Trump administration was not in full compliance with the order to unfreeze funding.
Tong also sued Trump and the secretary of the U.S. Treasury last week to block the newly-formed Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing sensitive payment information of U.S. citizens and residents.
A court then granted a temporary restraining order in response to the lawsuit filedby Tong and a coalition of 19 attorneys general, Tong said in a statement.
Tong has also sued to stop Trump from defunding medical research, including $35 million for the University of Connecticut.
A spokesperson for Tong declined to say how many lawyers the office has working on the legal challenges to the Trump administration. But says that the Attorney General and state Solicitor General “are flat out personally lawyering these issues. We need help — we need more people.”
