Overview

• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has issued Civil Investigative Demands to Colgate-Palmolive and Procter & Gamble, alleging misleading and dangerous marketing of fluoride toothpaste.
• The investigation references a National Toxicology Program meta-analysis suggesting high fluoride exposure may lower IQ in children, though its findings remain contested by dental experts.
• Dentists and the American Dental Association strongly defend the safety of fluoride toothpaste, citing decades of evidence and criticizing the NTP study for methodological flaws.
• Paxton accuses the toothpaste makers of encouraging excessive fluoride ingestion in children through product flavoring and deceptive advertising practices.
• This legal action follows recent state-level bans on water fluoridation in Utah and Florida and federal discussions on revising fluoride regulations led by RFK Jr.