Florida Lawmakers Consider Statewide Fluoride Ban Amid Public Health Debate
A new legislative proposal in Florida is drawing sharp debate as lawmakers push for a statewide ban on water fluoridation. The move comes as some local governments have already taken steps to remove fluoride from their municipal water systems, including recent developments in Brevard County.
In recent months, both Palm Bay and Melbourne have faced heated discussions over whether to continue fluoridating their water supplies.
SB 700 is primarily an agriculture and consumer protection bill, but buried within its pages is a section that seeks to outlaw fluoride in public water systems. The bill argues that fluoridation represents unnecessary government intervention and should be a matter of personal choice. If passed, it would override local government decisions, making Florida the first state to enact a broad prohibition on fluoridation.
The proposed ban aligns with a growing national trend where some municipalities are opting to eliminate fluoride from their water supplies.
Increased federal protections are delayed for 'threatened' pillar corals due to a White House memo
The Trump administration is delaying efforts to increase protections for the threatened pillar coral species. The delay is due to a recent order to freeze new federal regulations pending a 60-day review.
Pillar corals are found in Florida waters, the Caribbean, and South America.
"It kind of looks like what I imagined a mermaid's Castle would look like. They have these tall golden pillars. They're almost fluffy."
That's Elise Bennett, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.
She says the coral have been wiped out by a tissue loss disease and bleaching from extreme heat. The federal government was supposed to list them as "endangered" on February 18. That would have strengthened protections for the species. Bennett says any delay puts the coral at risk.
"They also help form the nurseries for our fisheries. And so if you like seafood, if you like living next to a healthy coast, then you also like having healthy coral, and should be really concerned about this."
The change is now scheduled to take effect on March 21st.
Florida Tech relaunches high-tech hub.
Florida Tech has relaunched its underutilized high-tech hub, the Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Innovative Design. WFIT’s Rick Glasby tells us it’s now known as Vertex.
Rather than function as a traditional academic building, Vertex's office space, manufacturing and clean rooms will host business tenants, contracted research and development work, and workforce training. As of today, Vertex houses the Florida Tech Research Institute and four businesses: the Larsen Motorsports; SafeSky Systems and Zeal OTM (both drone and surveillance companies); and Solar Transport Systems (a solar-powered electric car company). Vertex is located about 3 miles from the Florida Tech campus off Palm Bay Road.
Florida ranks top 15 on this list
Florida is one of the top 10 most biodiverse states in the U.S., with a wide array of both native and invasive wildlife that varies greatly throughout different regions of the state.
According to the National Forest Service and studies commissioned by The Nature Conservancy, Florida ranks seventh in animal species diversity and sixth in vascular plant diversity.
A recent study from the nonprofit SmileHub used 17 metrics in three categories government and community support, legal protection and ecosystem status to determine biodiversity.
Florida ranked high for the state’s legal protections surrounding wildlife, but ranked significantly lower in other categories, placing the Sunshine State in 14th place overall on the list.
More: www.floridatoday.com