- U.S. Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and U.S.Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin will join Utah Gov. Spencer Cox Monday to discuss a trio of bills from the 2025 Utah legislative session that align with his mantra of "Make America Healthy Again."
- The bills deal with food and cosmetic additives, the prohibition of fluoride in drinking water systems and excluding candy and soda from food stamp benefits.
- Utah became the first state in the nation to pass the anti-fluoride legislation, although it is under consideration in other states. Other states, too, are looking to reform food stamp benefits.
U.S. Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin will join Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and top legislative leadership Monday in Salt Lake City to discuss “Make America Healthy Again” legislation passed this last session.
Three new laws on the Utah books will be addressed by these top picks in the health in President Donald Trump’s administration who oversee health related issues such as food, drug safety clean water, ground contamination and more.
Others slated to be in attendance at a location yet to be announced include House Speaker Mike Shultz, R-Hooper, Sen. Brady Brammer, House Majority Whip Karianne Lisonbee, and Reps. Stephanie Gricius and Kristen Chevrier, R-Highland.
Perhaps the most sweeping bill impacting families is HB403, which prohibits the purchase of soda and candy using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP benefits in the state. It requires the state Department of Workforce Services to submit a waiver to the federal government regarding the purchase of those foods with the benefits by July 1.
The original purpose of the food stamp program was to give individuals struggling to make ends meet “greater spending power to purchase healthy, nutritious necessities, not to contribute to obesity, anxiety, depression and chronic illness,” Chevrier said in her introduction of the bill during the session.
As soda is the most commonly purchased item with SNAP dollars, Chevrier is joining a wave of legislators in a dozen other states who are looking at health reform through food stamp restrictions.
“There is zero nutritional value in soft drinks or most candy,” Chevrier explained. “We should also not use tax dollars to subsidize unhealthy food products that will lead to obesity and other physical and mental health outcomes for which the state will likely end up footing the bill.”
The Senate sponsor of the measure was Brammer, R-Pleasant Grove.
Dyes, bread dough, cosmetics and breast cancer
HB402 passed in the 2025 session dealing with food additives in schools. Cox signed the bill March 27 that prohibits schools from offering food that contains seven food dyes as well as potassium bromate and propylparaben.
Food dyes, particularly Red Dye No. 40, has been linked to cancer in laboratory tests for decades. The use of synthetic food dyes in general can result in hyperactivity and other neurobehavioral problems in some children.
Potassium bromate is a white powder or crystal added to flour but is classified as a potential cancer-causing agent.
The Environmental Working Group says it has been banned in several countries, including Brazil, Canada, the European Union and the United Kingdom. Despite health concerns, it is legal for use in the United States and has not been reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration since the early ‘70s.
Its use is pervasive because it makes dough rise higher and strengthens it. EWG says it is found in more than 130 products.
Propylparaben comes from the family of parabens, a category of substances used as preservatives, mostly in cosmetics, foodstuffs and medicines. Due to efficiency of action and cost-effectiveness, parabens have become popular in manufacturing several consumer products.
They are, however, equally countered by their negative aspects due to potential harmful impacts on human health, which include altered endocrine activity, carcinogenesis, infertility, obesity and hypersensitivity, along with their psychological and ecological effects, according to Science of the Total Environment. They are classified as endocrine-disrupting compounds that can fuel respiratory, cardiac, reproductive, metabolic and carcinogenic issues.
The major problems with context to the application of paraben in consumer products are their ability to mimic endogenous hormones, including potential interactions, such as the HER2 pathway, which is crucial for the growth of breast cancer cells. They are widely used as preservatives in common products such as cosmetics, body lotion and even laundry soap — leading to water contamination.
The fuss about fluoride
Another contentious bill was HB81, sponsored by Gricius, R-Eagle Mountain.
With the governor’s signature of the measure, Utah became the first state in the country to ban the introduction of fluoride into public drinking water systems.
Like food dyes and a host of other potential problematic substances, Kennedy has been a steadfast opponent of the use of supplemental fluoride in water.
In a social media post, Kennedy vowed to have fluoride removed from public drinking water systems.
The fluoride added to drinking water systems in Davis and Salt Lake counties — approved by voters more than two decades ago — is derived from hydrofluorosidic acid. In its concentrated form it is a waste byproduct derived from phosphate mining operations and contains lead, chromium and arsenic.
A federal judge in September concluded its addition to drinking water presented an unacceptable risk to young children due to its impact on neurological development. It has been linked to lower IQ in young children.
Gricius’ bill leaves open for parents and other consumers the ability to purchase fluoride tablets from a pharmacy without a prescription.
When fluoride was first introduced on a massive scale in the United States in public drinking water, it was before it was added to toothpaste and mouthwash.
Critics have since complained how easy it becomes to have higher than safe doses of the element when it is added to drinking water.
While naturally occurring in water, fluoride in drinking water left a bad taste in the mouth of hundreds of Sandy City residents after an accidental overfeed in 2019.
Utah Poison Control records contained in a state summary show it handled 316 cases possibly linked to the fluoride overfeed, with 163 of those cases followed to a known outcome.
Fluoride was detected at 40 times the federal limit after the release, and two weeks of free blood testing for lead showed one person with elevated levels, according to Salt Lake County health officials.
An independent investigation by a law firm blasted how local government and the state handled their response to the exposure.
Dental and medical associations loudly opposed the bill, arguing that fluoridated water systems are the most effective way to prevent dental decay. They lobbied Cox hard to veto the bill, but he signed it March 27.