Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has sent a letter pressing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for answers about how potentially ending fluoride use in drinking water, as recently championed by the Trump administration’s health care chief, could undermine military readiness.
Warren’s Thursday letter comes as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he plans to direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending fluoride be added to drinking water in communities nationwide. Kennedy said he’s assembling a task force of health experts to study the issue and make new recommendations. Kennedy, who has called fluoride a “dangerous neurotoxin,” has blamed the fluoridation of drinking water on health issues, including arthritis, bone breaks and thyroid disease, according to The Associated Press.
“These attacks on the use of fluoride for dental health present a serious readiness problem,” Warren wrote in her letter, adding that Sean O’Keefe, the administration’s nominee to be deputy under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, has said “dental health issues are often the largest cause of non-deployability within a military unit.”
The potential reversal of the CDC’s recommendations on fluoridated water “will exacerbate these readiness concerns,” Warren wrote.
State and local governments have the authority to add fluoride to water sources, but the CDC’s recommendation to fluoridate water is widely followed.
“The safety and benefits of fluoride are well documented and have been reviewed comprehensively by several scientific and public health organizations,” according to the CDC.
The CDC notes that water fluoridation helps reduce and control tooth decay and promote oral health across the lifespan. Evidence shows that water fluoridation prevents tooth decay by providing frequent and consistent contact with low levels of fluoride, ultimately reducing tooth decay by about 25% in children and adults, according to the CDC.
In 2011, defense officials mandated all installations in the U.S. and territories that own or operate a potable water treatment facility serving 3,300 people or more fluoridate their drinking water by 2016. Providing fluoridated water for junior-enlisted personnel living in on-base housing was especially critical since that population was at the highest risk of dental issues, officials stated at the time.
But since the majority of service members and their families live outside of military bases, as well as members of the Guard and reserves, all communities, civilian and military, should have fluoridated water, Warren noted. Utah and Florida have both recently banned the addition of fluoride to drinking water.
Warren has asked Hegseth to provide information about whether the fluoridation of water on military bases has improved military dental readiness. Warren also requested the number of service members who couldn’t deploy because of dental problems between 2005 and 2025, in addition to the percentage of service members who are currently nondeployable because of dental issues.
Warren has also requested information on whether the Pentagon has estimated how many service members would be nondeployable or ineligible for service because of dental problems, should the CDC reverse its fluoride recommendations.
“As the Secretary of Defense, you are responsible for ensuring the readiness of American troops to maintain a capable and lethal military,” Warren wrote. “Secretary Kennedy’s disregard for science-based public health policies is a palpable danger to the readiness of service members and national security.”
In an April 15 letter addressed to lawmakers, hundreds of dental associations expressed their opposition to removing the water fluoride recommendation.
“Most people in the U.S. today have never seen nor personally experienced the severity of tooth decay that exists without fluoride. With an abrupt departure from water fluoridation, our nation would undoubtedly experience a rapidly rising incidence of decay,” they wrote.
“The U.S. does not have capacity in the oral health workforce to support the emergency, surgical, and restorative dental needs that would result,” they wrote. “There would be increased pain and suffering, and more missed school and work. None of this is necessary.”
Warren has also requested information on whether the DOD has been consulted — or plans to provide information to the Department of Health and Human Services — on the plan to change the CDC’s recommendations.
Warren has requested answers by June 5.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book "A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families." She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
