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SALT LAKE CITY — A Senate committee Thursday moved to advance a controversial fluoride bill after hearing from supporters and opponents and from those who assert systemwide injection of fluoride into drinking water violates bodily autonomy and self-will.
Sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R-Eagle Mountain, the measure would prohibit the introduction of fluoride into public drinking water systems in Utah but allow prescriptions for the substance by pharmacists. Two counties, Salt Lake and Davis, put fluoride in their water, as does Brigham City in Box Elder County.
The 5-1 vote before the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee on SB81 now delivers the bill to the full Senate, with Sen. Dave Hinkins, R-Orangeville, emphasizing the issue has attracted so much attention it should be heard by the full body.
Under her bill, Gricius said those who want fluoride for their dental health would be able to get it from a pharmacy, while those who don't would not have to be exposed to it in their drinking water.
"So this bill is fairly simple. It simply removes the addition of fluoride, hydrofluoric acid, from our public water systems. It also deregulates the prescription so that anyone in the state of Utah who wants to have fluoride can go into a pharmacy and get a prescription from the pharmacist without having to go to a doctor or a dentist," she said.
In her introduction of the bill, Gricius had Max Widmaier, 17, sit by her and explain the medical nightmare he suffered — and still has to cope with to this day — due to what he said was the Sandy overfeed of fluoride that happened in 2019.
"I remember my first snowfall in fourth grade. And in sixth grade, I remember sleepovers with my new best friends. In eighth grade, I remember crafting my first successful speech, one that led me before you today," he said. "But I don't remember fifth grade. That year, it's just a gaping hole where memories should be. That is because I drank the fluoridated water on that day Sandy city broke its line into the public water."
Max went on to describe the other adverse effects he attributes to the overfeed.
"I didn't realize it then, but I later learned that I had come home that day with a sick stomach and had told my parents the water tasted metallic. I was so sick to my stomach that I didn't even want to go to the district science fair — something completely unlike me. I remember a strange soreness in the corners of my eyes. What I don't remember is blacking out, but my parents do. They remember my head dropping over and over, my face seizing up every 45 seconds."
The teenager ended up in the emergency room, subject to a vast number of tests.
"It is something I barely remember because for three months I was gone. When I came back, I wasn't the same," he said.
He said his hands still shake when he holds them up, the corners of his eyes feel strained and the "tick" in his body returns if he drinks any tap water or even food cooked with tap water.
"That glass of water cost my family $26,000. That was the economic cost, but the price of that drink wasn't just physical. It took a mental and spiritual toll on us all. It cost us time as a family. We paid in stress, grief and betrayal. I was 12, and I suffered catastrophic heavy metal poisoning," he said.
Several dentists, joined by the Utah Medical Association, argued against the bill, saying they have witnessed firsthand the positive impact on children who live in communities with fluoridated water.
Dr. Brent Larson, a dentist in Salt Lake City, said the difference he sees in his young patients who drink fluoridated water is astounding.
"The difference in my experience was astronomical. We used to see kids come in with four, six, eight cavities. We almost never saw someone come in with no cavities in their fillings, in their mouth. Once we started fluoridating the water, that all changed. We now see lots of kids with no fillings, no cavities, some will have one or two. This is not a unique experience to me."
Larson asserted the benefits of fluoridated water are "settled."
Dr. Boyd Simkins, another dentist and the public policy advocate for the Utah Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and an oral health advocate for the Utah Academy of Pediatrics, also extolled its benefits.
"The No. 1 reason for missed schools is dental caries. The No. 1 reason for missed hours of work is dental caries (cavities or tooth decay). Anything we can do at a public policy level to reduce this is advantageous, especially when the research shows that it is safe," he said.
But Elaine Oaks, a trustee with the South Davis Water District, said it is a matter of choice.
"I do not refute that fluoride helps strengthen teeth with the appropriate concentration," she said. "It is neither the role of government, nor is it proper for a majority of people to determine that the entire population require medication in publicly provided drinking water. It is incumbent upon each individual and the rights of parents in determining what medical treatment is best for them and their children."
Hydroflurosilicic acid as a concentrate in its undiluted form is classified as a hazardous, poisonous material. While it contains fluoride, it also contains arsenic, lead, copper, manganese, iron and aluminum. It is a byproduct from phosphate mining operations.
Several system operators testified for the bill, with one man asserting he was gassed by the acid in its undiluted form from faulty hoses.
"I spent six hours in the emergency room. I spent weeks after that going to the health department, Davis County and back, trying to figure out what they could do for me, what could be done," said J.D. Watt. "Nothing. As of this day, they don't know what they can do for me. At the site during the accident, the fire department didn't know what to do, the emergency room didn't know what to do. I sat there on oxygen for 6½ hours, and to this day, I still can't go into a public pool because of the chlorine that's high in the area affects my lungs."
Members of the medical community countered that too much of anything can be harmful.
