Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT) signed a bill into law that bans private and government entities in Utah from adding fluoride, which helps prevent tooth decay, to the state’s water systems.

Utah is the first state to ban the mineral from its water supply. The move follows concerns raised by top Trump administration officials about the negative health effects associated with fluoride’s presence in tap water.

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“You would think you would see drastically different outcomes with half the state not getting it and half the state getting it. I’ve talked to a lot of dentists. We haven’t seen that,” Cox told ABC4. “So it’s got to be a really high bar for me if we’re going to require people to be medicated by their government.”

Despite signing the bill into law, Cox said earlier this month that “it’s not a bill I care that much about.”

Health associations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Dental Association support adding fluoride to the water supply, as it is effective in combating cavities.

However, Health and Human Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. has campaigned against fluoridated water, arguing that the mineral has a negative effect on the mental development of children and associated it with bone disease and thyroid conditions.

In January, researchers concluded after reviewing studies that childhood fluoride exposure was indeed linked with lower IQ levels, but the studies were based on fluoride level exposures more than twice the level people are exposed to in a fluoridated water supply.

An Australian study from last year found no relationship between children drinking fluoridated water and negative cognitive development.

As of 2022, around 44% of the state’s population has access to fluoridated water, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT FLUORIDE IN DRINKING WATER AND WHY RFK JR. WANTS IT REMOVED

The Senate passed the bill on Feb. 21, and it will be enacted on May 7. 

Four other state legislatures have introduced bills seeking to ban adding fluoride to public water systems: Kentucky, Montana, Tennessee, and Florida.