‘It Raises Larger Issues’: DeSantis Bans Fluoride In Florida Water

Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis made Florida the second state to ban fluoride in public water, following Utah, which banned it in May 2023.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 700, which prohibits “the use of certain additives in a water system which do not meet specified requirements.” The law goes into effect July 1.

“There’s risks associated for pregnant women, for young people, for kids,” DeSantis said as he signed the bill. “Yes, use fluoride for your teeth, that’s fine, but forcing it into the water supply is basically forced medication on people. They don’t have a choice; you’re taking that away from them.”

“It raises a larger issue,” he continued. “I think we saw a lot of this with COVID, that we had to fight back against. They had certain views: you should wear a mask when you’re outside in 95-degree temperatures, (no, thank you) but that’s what they were saying, that kids should get a COVID mRNA shot even though we still don’t have data to this day to justify doing that.”

“They tried to push a lot of policies on people,” he recalled. “I think some of these people think that they know better for you than you do for yourself. They think because they have medical training or they have this that they should just be able to decree how we live our lives. That proved disastrous during COVID. A lot of the things they were advocating not only didn’t work, they caused a lot of harm.  … When we made sure that the schools were open, I got sued by the teachers’ union, saying ‘close the schools’ … Fauci was saying, ‘This is irresponsible.’ … They had these kids locked out for a year to a year-and-a-half … so we fought back against it.”

“I think fluoride is a good example because what they’re basically saying is that they’re ignoring any studies that have shown that there could be issues,” he contended. “They say. ‘Well, it’s good for your teeth so we should just force it.’”

“And you shouldn’t have a choice in that?” he asked incredulously. “We certainly now in our society in 2025 have the ability to deliver fluoride through toothpaste and all these other things. You don’t get to force it and take away people’s choices. The whole crux of the issue is you should be able to make decisions on the basis of informed consent.”