Miami-Dade commissioners voted Tuesday to remove fluoride from public drinking water.

However, it’s unclear if Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava will veto the legislation.

According to the Miami Herald, Cava “supports keeping fluoride in tap water.”

With nearly 2.7 million residents, Miami-Dade is the most populated county in the Sunshine State.

Miami Herald reports:

The legislation to end the county’s fluoridation program passed on an 8-2 vote, with a bipartisan coalition of commissioners backing the end of a practice that began in the 1950s.

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Advocates say adding tiny amounts of fluoride to drinking water reduces cavities and oral infections in low-income households where regular use of fluoride toothpaste may be uncommon.

The health secretaries for Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump both oppose adding fluoride to drinking water, with Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo in the front row of the commission chambers Tuesday during the vote.

“Forced mass medication is an outdated concept,” said Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez, who sponsored the legislation set to end the addition of fluoride to county tap water within 30 days. “The choice before us is not about politics. It’s about prudence.”

The legislation ending a fluoridation program that began seven decades ago did not go through the commission’s typical process, making Tuesday’s vote the first time commissioners had a chance to debate the Gonzalez proposal. Normally, proposed legislation is first voted on in one of the County Commission’s committees, which are made up of a smaller group of county commissioners, before going to the full 13-member body.

Per Local 10:

Kionne L. McGhee, the commission’s vice chairman, seconded the item and introduced Ladapo to speak before the commission.

“If you as the leaders of this community make the decision to continue adding fluoride to water here, you have to believe one of two things,” Ladapo said. “You either have to believe that all of those studies … are wrong … or you have to believe that you are comfortable potentially harming some people in your community.”

Ladapo and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, recommended its removal from the public water supplies.

Earlier this month, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would support a statewide ban and compared water fluoridation to “forced medicine.” HHS had previously recommended .7 milligrams of fluoride per liter in community water systems to prevent dental decay.

“Science evolves. In 2015, the EPA under President Barack Obama lowered its recommendation for fluoride,” Gonzalez said.

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The HHS also reported there were concerns that some pregnant women and children “may be getting more fluoride than they need” because of extra exposure because of toothpaste, floss, mouthwash, and other sources.

 

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