Iran War causes US fluoride shortage

Via a Google Alert I have for "shortage", this news from yesterday:

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) - Shreveport’s water system has been without fluoride for about a week, Mayor Tom Arceneaux said.

City leaders say the shortage stems from a nationwide supply chain issue and is temporary.

I hadn't heard about this, but I found this article from NPR from April of this year: 

...U.S. water systems are facing a shortage of hydrofluorosilicic acid, a chemical used to fluoridate drinking water to prevent cavities and tooth decay.

The specialized chemical is mainly sourced from a small pool of international producers. And the conflict in the Middle East is disrupting the supply chain. Managers of U.S. water systems say the shortage in fluoridation chemicals is unprecedented.

Companies make the acid in large factories, primarily overseas. U.S. suppliers import and deliver the product. The acid arrives at water treatment plants across the U.S. in liquid form, transported in 5,000 gallon tanker trucks. "We don't manufacture it, we don't produce it. All of our chemicals are purchased, and they rely on the supply chain in order to get to our plants," Garbark says.

Israel is one of the world's leading producers of the chemical. "As we understand it, one of the main suppliers in Israel lost a number of employees temporarily, because they've been called up into service in the Israeli military," says Dan Hartnett, chief policy officer at the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies. "That essentially shut down production at their facility in Israel. They haven't been producing acid. They haven't been able to ship it out."

We've seen supply chains fragment because of war (Ukraine) and disease (COVID.) We'll have to see what happens here and how new suppliers step in to fill the gap.