Image by José Manuel Suárez via CC
Waipā council staff say they’ve been assured by health officials that fluoridation of council’s water supplies is safe.
There would therefore be no grounds to action two notices of motion from the Te Awamutu and Kihikihi Community Board, Water Services manager Martin Mould told the Service Delivery committee this week.
Kane Titchener
The committee unanimously agreed despite an impassioned plea from board deputy chair Kane Titchener.
The board passed a resolution at its June 28 meeting asking the council to investigate a United States National Toxicology Program fluoride report and hold public consultations about it.
It also asked the council to consider joining a legal review against the Director General of Health’s directive to add fluoride to 14 local council’s water supplies.
In his last week in office last year, Sir Ashley Bloomfield directed Waipā to fluoridate the Cambridge drinking water supply.
Ashley Bloomfield
Adding it to the town’s two water plants would reach nearly 21,000 people and justify the government’s capital spend of half a million dollars, Manatū Hauora Ministry of Health told the council.
“Staff consider it would not be appropriate for council to investigate the National Toxicology Program fluoride report or join any legal review … and do not support the Notice of Motion,” Mould said in his report.
Cambridge councillor Roger Gordon said irrespective of what decision the committee made, the legal review was going ahead whether or not the council supported it or not.
Martin Mould
“I question whether our role is now to consider it,” said.
He and Te Awamutu councillor Andrew Brown moved and seconded the motion which passed unanimously despite one councillor, Mike Pettit of Cambridge, seeming to err towards supporting it.
Much of the impetus for the board’s action came from Titchener, a long-time fluoride free advocate who likened fluoride’s effects to those of lead in paint and petrol. But he told the committee the whole of the board was behind him.
The toxicology report was published in draft form in the United States in September last year and part of it said fluoride had an adverse effect on developing brains.
But authors removed the hazard classification of fluoride from the report in March, a move fluoride supporters saw as strengthening the justification for adding fluoride to toothpaste and water as a means of reducing dental cavities.
Here in New Zealand, the Prime Minister’s chief science advisor Professor Dame Juliet Gerrard reviewed new evidence in 2021 and reaffirmed there was no significant health risks with levels of fluoride applied to New Zealand water supplies.
“Recent studies continue to show that at very high levels and with chronic exposure, fluoride could potentially have negative neurodevelopmental and cognitive impacts. However, this is not a concern at levels used in fluoridation of water supplies in Aotearoa New Zealand,” Gerrard said.
“Adding fluoride to water continues to have a positive impact by reducing the incidence of dental caries in Aotearoa New Zealand and is particularly important in reducing socioeconomic health inequities.”
Mould said the Manatū Hauora directive was legally binding on the council.
The News understands the council has nine months from the date of signing an implementation agreement with Manatū Hauora, or the council would face a fine of up to $200,000 and ongoing financial penalties of up to $10,000 a day.
- This article was updated on Friday 18 August to reflect a change in the sentence which starts: “But authors removed ……
