Texas Lawyer Normal Ken Paxton (R) introduced investigations Thursday of main toothpaste firms, accusing them of misusing fluoride of their merchandise.
“I will use every tool available to protect our kids from dangerous levels of fluoride exposure and deceptive advertising,” Paxton, who can also be a Senate candidate, mentioned in a press release.
The investigation — introduced three weeks after Paxton declared his marketing campaign to major Sen. John Cornyn (R) in subsequent yr’s midterm elections — marks an enlargement of the tradition struggle over fluoride from consuming water into toothpaste.
Fluoride is a component that strengthens tooth enamel, partly by bonding with phosphate and calcium in tooth to combat the method that causes cavities to type — and its addition to consuming water and toothpaste has slashed tooth decay within the U.S.
That’s why most mainline physicians group — together with the American Academy of Pediatrics or the American Dental Affiliation — help fluoridation of toothpaste and consuming water.
Analysis from the Nineteen Nineties suggests that fluoride in water cuts cavities by as much as 25 p.c in kids; mid-Twentieth century research discovered reductions of as much as 70 p.c.
However at excessive sufficient doses — that means a lot increased than the quantity in U.S. consuming water or correctly used toothpaste — some federal findings recommend that fluoride can decrease IQ in kids.
Removing of fluoride from consuming water is a precept aim of a motion — whose most well-known member is Well being and Human Companies (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — that sees fluoridation as harmful and pointless.
In March, Utah turned the primary state to ban fluoride in consuming water — a ban one thing polling suggests 80 p.c of the state citizens opposes.
Kennedy and Environmental Safety Company Administrator Lee Zeldin held a press convention final month praising Utah’s determination, and the HHS mentioned the Well being secretary is convening a process drive to develop new Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention steerage on the difficulty, possible eradicating any suggestion for fluoride to be included in consuming water.
And on Wednesday — the day earlier than Paxton introduced his investigation — Florida lawmakers handed a invoice making that state the second to outlaw fluoridation in water.
Paxton’s investigation argues that main firms are inflicting dad and mom to exceed wholesome doses. His press assertion accuses Colgate and Procter & Gamble — producers of Colgate and Crest toothpastes — of utilizing flavoring and advertising to “encourage children to ingest fluoride toothpaste and mislead their dad and mom.”
A 2024 research in Nature discovered that folks are inclined to “significantly” overdose toddlers’ toothbrushes with fluoridated toothpaste. Particularly, the research discovered they tended to overload toothbrushes by an element of six to seven occasions the advisable quantity — a rice-sized quantity for kids underneath 2.
The Hill has reached out to Colgate and Procter & Gamble for remark.
