Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is already having an effect on U.S. health policy as he looks to transform Washington’s largest health agency.
Recently nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Kennedy has pledged to overhaul the country’s health bureaucracy, which he argues is riddled with corruption and has set policies that have overseen the chronic disease epidemic.
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While critics have labeled the longtime environmental lawyer as a “fringe conspiracy theorist,” his concerns about fluoride contaminating public drinking water have found a listening ear in a small Florida town. Winter Haven lies in Polk County, which went for Trump by double digits during the 2024 presidential elections.
City commissioners in Winter Haven voted Tuesday to remove fluoride from the city’s water. The 3-2 vote called for the chemical substance to be eliminated from public drinking water by the beginning of January or “as soon as reasonably practical thereafter,” according to a report by local NBC affiliate WFLA.
Commissioner Brad Dantzler pointed to Kennedy to explain Winter Haven’s move.
“I’ll tell you that after the recent election, President Trump has named Mr. Kennedy to be his H-something-something director, and Mr. Kennedy has made it well known and has publicly said that he wants fluoride out of the water around the entire country,” said Dantzler, who voted in favor to remove fluoride, according to WFLA.
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His words come after Kennedy gained attention for declaring the incoming Trump administration “advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water.”
“Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease,” Kennedy wrote in a post to X just days ahead of the election.
Kennedy referred to a recent court decision from California that ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to address potential health risks with fluoride to back up his claims.
“In all, there is substantial and scientifically credible evidence establishing that fluoride poses a risk to human health; it is associated with a reduction in the IQ of children and is hazardous at dosages that are far too close to fluoride levels in the drinking water of the United States,” District Court Judge Edward Chen wrote in his September ruling.
The CDC has been adamant in its defense of fluoride, hailing “community water fluoridation 1 of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.”
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However, Kennedy has argued the health agency won’t recant because “they do not wanna admit that they made a mistake.”
“They do this with a lot of products,” Kennedy claimed during an interview last year with conservative media host Tucker Carlson. “Once they approve them, they’re gonna fight to keep them there.”