Budget cuts raise concerns about the ability to track water quality in the Great Lakes

The Great Lakes provide fresh drinking water to more than 30 million people, power a multi-billion-dollar shipping industry, and create habitats for millions of fish, birds, and other wildlife. Experts say recent federal funding cuts to one prominent lab that monitors the Great Lakes, the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, may be putting the health of the lakes in danger. We will begin Wednesday's "Sound of Ideas" with a discussion on the topic of Great Lakes water quality and the potential impact for those who rely on the lakes for their daily needs. Later, putting fluoride in public drinking water has been called one of the 10 great public health interventions of the 20th century according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention due to the large reduction in cavities since the practice began in 1945. But U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said last month that he plans to tell the CDC to stop this recommendation nationwide, and has called fluoride a "dangerous neurotoxin" that he claims is linked to several health problems. Dental experts and public health advocates have pushed back on these claims, and continue to advocate for the practice.