Fluoride

Local governments will be no longer be allowed to put fluoride in tap water starting July 1. The provision part of a wide-ranging “Florida Farm Bill,” which includes a number of provisions geared toward helping farmers.

Florida's regular legislative session was scheduled to finish on May 2. But lawmakers extended it to finish the budget and address certain proposals. Your Florida talked with people across the state about how they think the first 60 days went.

In announcing his plan for the legislation, Gov. Ron DeSantis described the addition of fluoride to public water as "forced medication" and "taking away a choice."

Florida lawmakers voted to extend the regular session to June 6 in order to complete the budget and related items. But they will take at least a week off before returning to Tallahassee.

The bill, heading to the governor after House passage, doesn't specifically reference fluoride, but it will require the mineral and some other health additives be removed from public drinking water.

The proposed ban, included in a broad bill dealing with the Agriculture Department, comes after decades of communities adding fluoride to water to help prevent dental problems.

The county commission's 5-1 vote comes after it learned its fluoridation system has been broken since 2021, and no fluoride has been actively added since then.

At least 22 communities in the state have elected to end fluoridating public water supplies since November. The Seminole County Commission voted 4-1 to follow suit.

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava's veto comes after she hosted a roundtable with dentists and parents on the issue. The bill had passed, 8-2, and an override requires two-thirds of the county commission.

The wide-ranging agriculture legislation would ban fluoride in Florida's public water systems and prohibit plant-based products from being labeled as meat or milk.

The measure passed by an 8-2 vote, but County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava could opt to veto the measure in the next 10 days.