Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. admitted that children would likely see an uptick in cavities over his crusade to have fluoride removed from drinking water.
The admission came during a Thursday interview on Fox News with Kennedy and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R).
"My department of health, I'm removing the recommendation for fluoride in the water across all the municipalities," Stitt said. "So we're just kind of following [Kennedy's] lead, and we're thinking about how do we make Oklahomans healthy again."
Fox News host Harris Faulkner noted that "children in lower incomes in particular don't get those regular dental preventative type situations."
"You know, it is an issue. It's a balance," Kennedy replied. You're going to see probably slightly more cavities, although in Europe, with a ban on fluoride, they did not see an uptick in cavities."
The HHS secretary argued that fluoride was an industrial waste product that caused other negative impacts on the body.
"So even small increments of fluoride cause loss of IQ, and particularly in babies, in neonates, and in pre-birth, the mother's exposed," he insisted. "And those children are getting no benefit because they don't have teeth."
