US Drinking Water Could Change Dramatically Under Donald Trump

Drinking water in America could change under Donald Trump , after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) advised him to remove fluoride from public water and amid questions over what Trump will do in regard to Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) restrictions.

The President-elect announced his victory from Florida on Wednesday , after flipping enough Electoral College seats to send him to the White House.

While he is yet to choose his administration and announce his official policies, Trump and those associated with him have spoken about many policy ideas during the Republican campaign. This includes RFK Jr., who said on the weekend before the election that a Trump White House would advise "all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water."

He posted on X: "Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease. President ​Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump want to Make America Healthy Again."

Meanwhile, Several environmentalists and Democrats have long spoken out about their fears that Trump would roll back President Joe Biden's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) new, nationwide restrictions on PFAS levels , announced in April.

Will Trump Remove Fluoride from Drinking Water?

RFK Jr.'s X post came after a September ruling, in which U.S. judge Edward Chen ordered the EPA to take steps to reduce the risk of fluoride lowering children's IQ .

The ruling did not say what level of fluoride exposure was harmful, but it said there was an unreasonable risk presented by the levels in U.S. water. The EPA has been told to take steps to lower that risk, but Chen did not specify what those steps should be, The Associated Press reported.

The fluoridation of U.S. water began in 1945, but recommended levels have since been lowered because of health risks.

"Fluoride repairs and prevents damage to teeth caused by bacteria in the mouth," the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

The CDC does not mandate community water fluoridation, but it calls the fluoridation of drinking water "one of 10 great public health interventions of the 20th century."

"It is a practical, cost-effective, and equitable way for communities to improve their residents' oral health regardless of age, education, or income," it says.

Trump campaign senior adviser Danielle Alvarez told The Associated Press: "While President Trump has received a variety of policy ideas, he is focused on Tuesday's election."

But, as recently as Monday, Trump told a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, rally that RFK Jr. would be put in charge of health issues and is "going to pretty much do what he wants."

Trump said: "The only thing I told him, though, Bobby, you gotta do one thing. Do whatever you want. You just go ahead, work on the pesticides, work on making women's health. He's so into women's health, and you know, he's really unbelievable. He, it's such a passion."

Newsweek has contacted Trump's team, via email for comment.

Will Trump Roll Back PFAS Restrictions?

In April, President Joe Biden 's administration and the EPA introduced national limits on PFAS—perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances—in drinking water. These human-made chemicals, which persist in the environment, have been linked to serious health conditions such as cancer .

The Environmental Working Group's Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Scott Faber was one of multiple people who voiced worries that Trump would roll back on Biden's new rules.

Faber cited Project 2025, produced by The Heritage Foundation , which lists dealing with the EPA as two of the first "Needed Reforms: Day One Priorities."

The foundation says Congress should be notified that the "EPA will not conduct any ongoing or planned science activity for which there is not clear and current congressional authorization."

Additionally, "the new President's Inauguration Day regulatory review/freeze directives should avoid exceptions for EPA actions."

It adds: "This freeze should explicitly include quasi-regulatory actions, including assessments, determinations, standards, and guidance, that have failed to go through the notice-and-comment process and may date back years."

Project 2025 is a guide created for the next Republican administration. Trump has repeatedly denied being involved with it , but Democrats have insisted there are still clear ties .

Kamala Harris has also portrayed Trump as unwilling to get behind PFAS regulations . In September, she told Wisconsin Public Radio's Wisconsin Today: "I just have to also mention that this is in great contrast to my opponent. Donald Trump refused to protect communities from PFAS and he has sided again and again with polluters rather than with the families of Wisconsin."

But Andrew Wheeler, who served as the EPA administrator under Trump from February 2019 to January 2021, previously told Newsweek that, while some "details" of Biden's PFAS rules may be reexamined, his EPA was generally in favor of PFAS regulation.

He said the plan being implemented by Biden this year was "started under Trump's administration.

Just before Trump left the White House in 2021, his EPA determined on January 19 that perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) need to be regulated in drinking water under the Safe Drinking Water Act. This started the congressionally mandated process for the EPA to make regulations law.

The details of the current PFAS regulations will have been determined by the Biden administration, and this may be changed by the Trump administration, which has historically been less favorable toward environmental regulation.