DANIELLA LEVINE CAVA: Miami-Dade mayor overrides county commissioners’ April 1 decision, even as state and federal officials are taking steps to end fluoridation in the nation’s drinking water supply. PHOTO COURTESY OF FACEBOOK

By David L. Snelling

Miami – Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava vetoed county commissioners’ vote to remove fluoride from the county’s water supply system, pushing back a national warning that it causes serious health problems for children and adults.

After hosting several roundtable discussions with medical experts, Levine Cava decided the county should continue to use fluoride and override commissioners’ April 1 decision.

Fluoridation supporters said it’s critical for oral health including preventing tooth decay but critics suggested the mineral added in drinking water possibly affects cognitive development in children including lowering their IQ.

Levine Cava said she weighed both sides of the issue and was assured by medical experts fluoride is safe for children.

“I care deeply about protecting the health, safety, and wellbeing of our community,” Levine Cava said during a news conference flanked by a group of doctors and dentists.

“I have listened to the dentists and medical experts and the message is clear: Water fluoridation is a safe, effective, and efficient way to maintain dental health in our county, and halting it could have long lasting health consequences, especially for our most vulnerable families.”

Miami-Dade County Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez, who sponsored the resolution to end water fluoridation, accused the mayor of playing politics with people’s health.

“By vetoing this bipartisan resolution, our mayor is acting like a typical politician, relying on partisan pollsters and tired talking points while putting people’s health at risk,” Gonzalez said. “Especially pregnant women, infants and children and other vulnerable groups.”

County commissioners can override the mayor’s veto with a super majority vote at their next meeting which is May 6.

Also, on the same day, commissioners will decide to appoint or call a special election to fill the seat of Commissioner Kevin Cabrera who recently resigned after the U.S. Senate confirmed his nomination as the ambassador to Panama.

Cabrera was among the eight commissioners who voted to discontinue a water fluoridation program for the first time since 1958.

Eileen Higgins and Regalado were the two dissenting votes.

Commissioners Marleine Bastien, Keon Hardemon and Micky Steinberg were all absent.

Since they are the mayor’s biggest supporters, they are most likely to vote not to override the veto.

Levine Cava’s veto pushed back a national campaign to ban water fluoridation, as Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis urged all counties officials to discontinue the mineral system.

Ladapo testified about the health effects of fluoride during the hours-long April 1 meeting.

“Those are some of the most beautiful words I’ve heard from commissioners. Very heartfelt, very genuine, very wise and very grounded. And they definitely made the right decision today based on the available evidence,” said Ladapo after the vote.

Ladapo said 22 cities and counties around the state have stopped fluoridating since November 2024, making Florida the national leader on the issue.

Regardless of the mayor’s veto or commissioners voting to override it, the state has already taken steps to ban water fluoridation in the state which is gaining momentum in the Florida House and Senate.

Both chambers in the Republicancontrolled Legislature are expected to approve the bill and DeSantis most likely will sign it into law.

The President Trump administration is also pushing to end fluoride in the nation’s drinking water supply.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is urging all states to remove fluoride in public drinking water and visited states to personally deliver his message.

In a post on X, he said fluoride will be removed from America’s drinking water under a Trump presidency, citing its link to health conditions like arthritis, IQ loss, and bone cancer.

So far, Utah is the only state to ban water fluoridation.

“Fluoride should not be in our water,” Kennedy said during a visit to Salt Lake City, praising Utah for passing a firstever ban on fluoride in public water, which will go into effect next month.

Dentist Nathan Janowicz, DMD, said the arguments against fluoride are rooted in a fear of how it was first discovered and later introduced into the United States’ water supply.

“Coupled with the fact that fluoride is most beneficial during a child’s early and adolescent developmental stages, the question of whether or not fluoride is good for you and your kids comes up quite often,” Janowicz said. “Some people request not to have fluoride treatments when they come in for their routine dental care out of fear that fluoride is going to cause harm to their body. But like anything, even things that are made naturally in your body, fluoride is fine, good and recommended in small quantities.”

According to the American Dental Association, for someone to experience fluoride toxicity with serious or life threatening illness, it would take drinking 5 liters of water for every kilogram of body weight.

For adults at 155 pounds, that means they would have to drink roughly 120 gallons of water at once.

“You would have to drink so much water, you would die of drinking too much water before you would die of over-fluoridation,” the organization said.