(NewsNation) — A town in Oregon voted this month to remove the fluoride from its water system.
Lebanon Mayor Kenneth Jackola said with a population of 20,000 people, the town did not have the resources to research all the data on each side of the issue.
“We decided to refer to the voters, and the voters spoke,” Jackola said on “NewsNation Live.” “I look at this issue more as a personal choice, that people in Lebanon are deciding what is in their water.”
Supporters of the effort to end the fluoridation program said Lebanon will save about $25,000 a year. Experts and officials say fluoride, which already naturally occurs in drinking water, is healthy and beneficial to people’s dental health. According to the American Dental Association, community water fluoridation prevents at least 25% of tooth decay in children and adults.
Former independent candidate for president Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was recently nominated by Trump to be secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, has said he would advise municipalities in the United States to take fluoride out of their water systems.