Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin says the agency will be reviewing its standards for fluoride levels in drinking water.
This week, Zeldin and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. said the government would revisit fluoride guidance based on a study from the National Toxicology Program last year.
That study, which summarized several international studies, concluded "with moderate confidence" that drinking water with fluoride concentrations exceeding 1.5 milligrams per liter was linked to lower IQ levels in children.
This concentration is more than double the CDC's recommended level of 0.7 milligrams per liter, while the EPA allows a maximum of 4 milligrams per liter.
"What the EPA announced this week is that we're going to review the new science. Last July 2024 was the last time the EPA had finished reviewing science and put out standards. They were set at 4 milligrams per liter and higher," Zeldin told Scripps News on Thursday.
"The National Toxicology Program report came out in August of 2024. They found with moderate confidence that 1.5 milligrams and above causes a lower IQ in children. What EPA announced this week is that we're going to look at that study. We haven't done that yet. And some of the other peer reviewed studies that are out there."
The EPA would factor "all of the different science that's out there," as it works to update its recommendations, Zeldin said.
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