Mayor stands firm over fluoridation as city cans plan

Hamilton's decision to stop fluoridating water hasn't made South Taranaki District Council rethink its move to add fluoride to water for Patea and Waverley.

"Hamilton City Council's decision has no bearing on South Taranaki's decision," said Mayor Ross Dunlop.

"South Taranaki District Council made its decision - after extremely thorough and robust consideration of all information presented - to fluoridate the Patea and Waverley water supplies because the expert medical and scientific support for fluoridation was overwhelming."

South Taranaki councillors voted 10-3 at a special meeting in December to fluoridate water in the two towns. That was despite 508 submissions on the subject, of which 68 per cent were against.

Many national and international authorities approved the practice of fluoridation, and Mr Dunlop said there was so much conflicting information it was hard for the average person to tell what was true and what wasn't.

Councillors were swayed by the fact Hawera children, who had fluoridated water, had much healthier teeth than children from Patea and Waverley.

Fluoride Free Taranaki spokeswoman Helen Curtin said she hoped the Hamilton decision would persuade councillors to change their minds.

Hamilton voted 7-1 to stop fluoridating, with five councillors abstaining due to a perceived conflict of interest with their roles on a health body.

"Mass medication delivered through the water supply is really unethical and unsafe. No one is monitoring how much people are ingesting," Ms Curtin said.

New Zealand's Ministry of Health has said many scientific studies over 60 years have found water fluoridation to be safe.

"My statement to this is, if you don't look, you will not find. It's in people's systems, building up over decades - it must be having an effect," Ms Curtin said.

She cited lowered IQ and thyroid function as possible problems, and believed the form of fluoride used in water supplies was an industrial waste product.

The Health Ministry says it is a natural by-product of a common manufacturing process and, when added to water, is no different to fluoride naturally found there.

But Ms Curtin is unconvinced.

"It shouldn't be up to local or central governments to make the decision of what goes into our bodies."

The decision to fluoridate Patea and Waverley water is to be subjected to a judicial review in the High Court in New Plymouth. The review will consider whether any council has the right to decide whether water is fluoridated.

If it were not for the review, the fluoridation would have started by about now, subject to an application for funding from the Health Ministry.