17-03-2025
Additional water fluoridation bills filed with Arkansas legislature
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The 95th General Assembly is not finished debating water fluoridation after two bills were filed on Monday.
The first bill allows voters to be for or against their local water system using fluoride, and the second allows a water board to decline fluoridation treatment in its system.
Fluoride bill fails in Arkansas Legislature committee
Senate Bill 468 allows voters to elect for or against fluoride in the county water system. The bill has slight wording changes from Senate Bill 282, filed in February, which had the same intent but failed in the Senate in a bipartisan vote.
Senate Bill 474 is a relatively simple call to allow a water board to prohibit fluoridation in its system. The legislation contrasts with Senate Bill 2, filed in November, which attempted to eliminate the 2011 law by creating a statewide fluoridation program. That bill is deferred in committee.
Utah close to fully banning fluoride in water, stripping cities' ability to decide
Sen. Clint Penzo (R-Springdale) is the lead sponsor for both bills filed Monday. Penzo was also the lead sponsor in the earlier legislation, alongside primary sponsor Rep. Matt Duffield (R-Russellville) and cosponsors Sen. Bryan King (R-Green Forest) and Rep. Aaron Pilkington (R-Knoxville).
Fluoride in water was first discovered in the 1930s in Bauxite, Arkansas, according to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, when a dentist researched why people's teeth in the town were stained brown. A water sample was tested and found to have a high level of water-borne fluoride, labeled 'fluorine.' While scientists knew about fluoride, they were not aware until the Bauxite tests that it could occur in water.
Bills filed in Arkansas legislature to remove fluoride from drinking water
The first sample was compared with water samples from other locations where brown stain was present and water from those places was also found to have high levels of fluorine. This led to research on water-borne fluoride and its effects.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
