Tuesday's vote could ban fluoride from Miami-Dade drinking water. Will mayor veto?

Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald on Mar 31, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

MIAMI — After decades of adding fluoride to drinking water to promote dental health, Miami-Dade is one vote away from ending the practice when county commissioners are scheduled to take up the issue for the first time on Tuesday.

The commission has yet to hear from a medical expert to defend the science behind the widespread practice of adding tiny amounts of fluoride to drinking water to prevent tooth decay and cavities. A committee hearing on the topic held March 11 by the proposed ban’s Republican sponsor, Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez, only had presentations from fluoridation opponents, including Florida’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo.

But Tuesday will be the first time a vote is called for the Gonzalez legislation ordering the administration of Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, a Democrat, to halt adding fluoride in drinking water within 30 days. The legislation also calls for a public campaign on how residents can get fluoride through toothpaste and other products.

Most commissioners haven’t said how they would vote on a fluoride ban that’s championed by both the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Utah recently banned local governments from adding fluoride to drinking water, and there’s legislation in Tallahassee to take the same action across Florida.

Ladapo and others argue even tiny amounts of fluoride present health risks for developing fetuses when pregnant women drink tap water. At the hearing before Gonzalez’s Health and Safety Committee, Ladapo called fluoridation of drinking water a “harmful” practice that “doesn’t make sense.”

Major medical groups continue to endorse fluoridation as safe and good for public health. The county’s Water and Sewer Department still backs the practice, noting on its website: “Whereas fluoridated drinking water provides only about one-third to one-half the amount of fluoride that an individual should be getting daily, it is a benefit that cuts across socio-economic dividers, offering everyone equal health benefits.”

A majority vote on Tuesday from the 13-member legislation would pass the legislation. If opponents don’t have the votes to block the Gonzalez proposal, they may try to get the legislation deferred to a future vote — a procedural step that also requires a majority vote.

Should the Gonzalez legislation pass the commission, Levine Cava would have 10 days to veto the measure. Overriding a veto requires a two-thirds vote on the commission, meaning Gonzalez would need nine votes to enact his anti-fluoride legislation over the mayor’s objection.

In an interview last week, Levine Cava declined to say whether she would veto the Gonzalez legislation if it got to her desk. But she did say she opposed the idea of ending Miami-Dade’s fluoridation program, which began in the 1950s.

“I support fluoride in the water,” she said.