Peshtigo mom calls DHS “reckless” for failing to cite fluoride risks for kids

NORTHEAST WIS. – In light of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) announcement this month that it plans to remove children’s fluoride supplements from the market, Peshtigo resident Brenda Staudenmaier is asking the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to halt its communications promoting the fluoride products.

Staudenmaier criticized Wisconsin state and local agencies for suppressing public awareness of fluoride’s health risks, calling it “willful neglect” because the Wisconsin Department of Health Services was informed of research associating fluoride to neurotoxicity, behavior issues, fluorosis and other health issues. She wants the state agency to retract and correct its material contradicting the FDA’s position on fluoride supplements.

The FDA’s May 13 announcement about the risks of fluoride supplements for children follows news of more communities imposing fluoridation moratoriums on public water supplies. As communities halt fluoridation, some dentists, including Wisconsin Dental Association President Thomas Reid, are advising residents of non-fluoridated communities to use fluoride supplements.

In contrast to Reid’s recommendation, FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said, “When it comes to children, we should err on the side of safety.”

Makary has instructed the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research to evaluate evidence of the risks of fluoride from supplements to better inform the public and the medical community. The FDA hopes to complete its safety review and public comment period by the end of October.

Ingestible fluoride supplements aren’t approved by the FDA. They’ve been associated with altered gut microbiome, the FDA said. While gut microbiome normally help the body digest food and support health, consuming fluoride supplements may interfere with this, they explained. Other recent research has linked fluoride exposure in infants and fetuses to thyroid disorders and neurotoxicity. Excess fluoride consumption also may lead to fluorosis and brittle bones.

The FDA made its announcement two days before Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Florida Farm Bill, which prohibits fluoride and other additives in community water supplies in the state as of July 1. Utah also has passed a law banning fluoridation in community water supplies this year.

Now Stuadenmaier is asking the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to provide an explanation for why it continues to promote “unapproved fluoride drugs” after being notified the FDA hasn’t approved them. Staudenmaier wants a formal investigation on Wisconsin Department of Health Services Oral Health Program’s guidance on fluoride and its communications to schools, pediatric clinics and government-funded programs.

Staudenmaier sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) several years ago after it failed to respond to her request for a review of fluoride limits, leading to a U.S. District Court judge’s decision in Sept. 2024 to order the EPA to do so. The EPA told a reporter on April 10 it currently is reviewing new research on fluoride in drinking water. “This renewed scientific evaluation is an essential step that will inform agency decisions on the standard for fluoride under the Safe Drinking Water Act,” the federal agency said.

In a May 14 letter to the Wisconsin Department of Public Health, Staudenmaier said, “This is not a new issue. In fact, Robbyn Kuester, the former Sealant and Fluoridation Program Coordinator at WI DHS, was informed back in 2015 that sodium fluoride tablets were not FDA-approved. At the time, she had claimed they must be approved because doctors and dentists were prescribing them.”

After Kuester received documentation to the contrary, Staudenmaier said, “she acknowledged this inconvenient truth via email, but the department continued its promotion of these products anyway. This willful neglect raises serious ethical and public health concerns.”

In Florida, where medical researcher Dr. Ashley Malin said fluoridation is associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in children, among other issues, Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo six months ago recommended communities stop fluoridating their public water supplies.

Ladapo cited several recent studies associating fluoride exposure with neurotoxicity and various cognitive and behavioral issues, including lower Intelligence Quotient levels in children exposed to fluoride as infants or in the womb.

Malin’s U.S.-based research on fluoride was published by the Journal of the American Medical Association Network in May 2024, making it among the newest studies to suggest fluoride can affect normal development.

Fluoride exposure also has been associated with increased risk of bone fractures in adults, particularly in post-menopausal women. “It accumulates in the bones and other calcium-containing tissues,” Malin said. Malin is part of a team investigating fluoride exposure in the brain’s penial gland, which produces melatonin and regulates our sleep, she said.

More people are looking at fluoride research because of the Sept. federal court order, which said fluoride at 0.7 mg/liter posed an unreasonable risk of harm. The American Dental Association continues to promote fluoridation at this level, citing “decades of rigorous, peer-reviewed scientific research” on fluoridation to prevent tooth decay.

Some research is categorized as anecdotal, such as an account from Dr. Brittany Seymour, an assistant professor at Harvard School of Dental Medicine, published on the ADA’s MouthHealthy website: “It was my first year out of dental school, and I was treating a two-and-a-half-year-old girl who grew up in a community without fluoride in the water. Her four front teeth were so badly decayed, painful and infected that I had to remove them completely. For a tiny toddler, the lights and sounds of the dental chair can feel terrifying.”

Reid, a practicing dentist at East Grove Dental in Madison, who for years has supported community fluoridation, said this month more research on fluoride in dental health is needed to determine the appropriate fluoride dosage in drinking water to provide for dental health. He continues to recommend fluoride tablets for those without fluoridated water to prevent cavities, he said.

Staudenmaier noticed years ago the EPA’s enforceable Maximum Contaminant Level for fluoride at 4 mg/liter is considerably higher than U.S. Public Health Service’s optimal level for drinking water of 0.7 mg/liter. This level was reduced in 2025 from a level of 1.2 mg/liter in most locations to minimize the risk of dental fluorosis, according to the U.S. Public Health Service. But some medical experts have said the 0.7 mg/liter level might be too high for fetuses, infants and children.

A National Institutes of Health fact sheet on fluoride for health professionals indicates daily adequate intake guidelines for fluoride are 0.1 mg/liter for infants zero to six months and notes some foods contain fluoride at this level or higher.

“If my daughter was pregnant, I would tell her not to drink fluoridated water,” said Dr. Beth Neary, a Madison pediatrician and co-president of the Wisconsin Environmental Health Network. “What I’ve learned is, in fetuses and young children, it can have a detrimental effect on IQ. We didn’t have this data years ago,” she said.

Staudenmaier is calling the Wisconsin Department of Public Health’s omission of the risks associated with fluoride in its public communications “reckless.”

“The Wisconsin Department of Health Services Oral Health Department has a long history of aligning itself with defenders of the fluoride industry—and recent developments only reinforce this troubling pattern,” Staudenmaier said in her letter to the state agency. “Rather than acknowledging the rigorous findings of the 2025 National Toxicology Program (NTP) authors’ meta-analysis, which confirmed a consistent inverse relationship between fluoride exposure and children’s IQ, some DHS staff continues to partner with individuals and groups actively working to discredit and call for the retraction of the report.”