No, the EPA Doesn’t Classify Fluoride in Drinking Water as ‘Hazardous Waste’ Despite Claims of RFK Jr.-Founded Outfit
What happened: Health misinformation websites are falsely claiming that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classifies fluoride added to public drinking water as “hazardous waste.” The agency defines “hazardous waste” as having properties that are “dangerous or capable of having a harmful effect on human health or the environment.”
A closer look: While this claim has spread on websites that NewsGuard has found to repeatedly publish false health information since at least 2021, it gained new attention in April 2025 thanks in part to Children’s Health Defense (Trust Score: 17.5/100).
The anti-vaccine nonprofit founded by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., published an April 24 article titled “That Fluoride Added to Your Town Water to ‘Prevent Cavities?’ The EPA Says It’s Hazardous Waste.” The article did not back this claim with any evidence.
Sharyl Attkisson, a Sinclair Broadcast Group host who NewsGuard has found to have repeatedly published false health claims on her website, said in an April 19 X post to her more than 576,000 followers, “EPA says fluoride in drinking water is hazardous waste.” The post garnered 18,600 views.
Actually: None of the primary additives used to fluoridate water in the U.S. are included in a public, searchable database of substances the EPA classifies as hazardous waste on its website.
The American Dental Association told NewsGuard in a May 2025 statement that “fluoride is not classified by any U.S. health authority as a ‘hazardous waste product.’” The group added that fluoride used in drinking water is subject to regulations to ensure that it is safe for consumption.
The level of fluoride recommended for drinking water by the U.S. Public Health Service, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, has been 0.7 milligrams per liter since 2015 — well below toxic levels.
Context: While the EPA has not classified fluoride as hazardous, there are indications that the Trump administration has been reconsidering the federal government’s support of fluoridization.
Secretary Kennedy has been a vocal critic of fluoride in water. “The evidence against fluoride is overwhelming,” he said in an April 2025 press conference in Salt Lake City, after Utah became the first U.S. state to ban fluoride in public drinking water. “In animal models and in human models, we know that it causes IQ loss. Profound IQ loss.”
Following the Utah press conference, Kennedy told The Associated Press that he planned to urge the CDC to stop recommending community water fluoridation, adding that he was assembling a task force to study the topic and make new recommendations.