Hamilton Stop Fluoridation Campaign
Local contact:
Pat McNair Ph (07) 855-8162
Siggi HenryPh (07) 846-1129
May 2013 - A huge response to the Hamilton Fluoridation Tribunal Hearing:
- 1567 submissions received (plus 4 late submissions not counted)
- 171 support the continuation of fluoride
- 1392 support the stopping of fluoride
- 4 had no stance (commented on process or mandate of council to decide)
This represents a whopping 89% wanting fluoridation stopped. Council originally recieved 143 requests to speak. 130 wanting fluoridation stopped and only 13 wanting it continued. A number of those will be DHB representatives who are paid to promote fluoridation and, in fact, this Health Board has advised members it cannot publicly oppose fluoridation.
Fluoride Position Statements of Hamilton city councillors
Fluoride Free Hamilton Newsletters:
28th February 2013 - details about Fluoridation Tribunal
Tribunal Process for Consultation
Hamilton city councillors have decided on a Tribunal style process as the method for consulting residents on whether they would like to stop fluoridation.
Submissions will be accepted from the 1st of March to the 2nd of April. People can say if they would like to speak or not.
The Hearing will be held on the 28th and 29th of May 2013 and maybe the 30th of May if there are lots of people wanting to speak. There will also be 1 hour for each side to give a primary presentation plus each person who said on their submission that they would like to speak, will be given ten minutes. .
Waikato Times 22nd February 2013 The Case Against Fluoride
Waikato Times 2nd February 2013 Opinion Piece
Waikato Times 21st January 2013 Fluoride Debate Fuelled
New Zealand Herald 11th June 2012 Council Axes Fluoride Referendum
Waikato Times 11th April 2011 Fluoride Back on the Agenda
Public Consultation or Referendum in HCC Long Term Plan
Fluoridation was the 3rd most popular topic submitted to the Hamilton City Council for the 2011/2012 draft Annual Plan with over 100 submissions. An afternoon was set aside to hear from all the people who wished to speak to their submission. It kicked off with Dr Peter Scanlon (Poisoning Paradise fame) followed by Dr Vernon Kruger (local dentist) and then all the other Hamiltonians. This has resulted in a very successful outcome with Cr Dave McPherson successfully tabling an amendment to include a referendum or public consultation on stopping the addition of fluoride to the city water supply in the 2012-2022 Long Term Plan. Well done all, next year will be the year for Hamilton unless anyone can convince the Council to turn off the fluoride in the meantime.
Notes from the meeting:
(For submission #’s, refer Appendix 2)
Total submissions: 120
Support: 3 (2.5%)
Oppose: 117 (97.5%)
Motion: (Her Worship the Mayor/Cr Westphal)
That Council continue the practice of adding fluoride to Hamilton's water supply in the target range of 0.7 mg/l and 0.8 mg/l.
Amendment: (Crs Macpherson/Gower)
That Council signals the intention to consult, including the possibility of a referendum, concerning the removal of artificial fluoridation from Hamilton’s water supply as part of the 2012/2022 Long Term Plan.
Those for Her Worship the Mayor, Councillors Bell, Chesterman, Forsyth, Gallagher, Gower, Hennebry, Mahood, the Amendment: O’Leary, Westphal and Wilson.
Those Against Councillor Bos. . the Amendment:
The Amendment was declared carried.
The Amendment as the Motion was then put and declared carried on the voices.
Friday, 29 April 2011, 4:34 pm Press Release:Hamilton City Council
Record number of Annual Plan submissions received
More than 1600 submissions have been received for Hamilton City Council’s Proposed 2011/12 Annual Plan. In total 1605 submissions were received during the period from 21 March to 21 April 2011 – making it Council’s biggest Proposed Annual Plan/LTCCP submission process in over 10 years.
The main issues referred to in the submissions include the proposed cycling velodrome (over 900 submissions), the proposed Hamilton to Auckland passenger train service (over 200 submissions), requests to remove fluoride from Hamilton’s water supply (over 100 submissions) and the establishment of Council Controlled Organisations (over 30 submissions)........Hearings for submissions have been set down for 10-12 May. The submissions will be made available at www.hamilton.co.nz/apsubmissions by Wednesday. The total number of submissions received during the 2010/11 Annual Plan process was 184.
ENDS
Saturday, 16th April 2011
Public meeting and presentation by world leading fluoridation expert, U.S. Prof Emeritus Paul Connett: 2pm - 4pm, at Celebrating Age Centre, Victoria St South.
Workshop with Paul Connett at Hamilton City Council, 10.30am: open to public.
Sign the Petition! Send this link to everyone you know in Hamilton.
Stop Fluoridation Petition Launched in Hamilton
Download this for a paper based copy and ask friends and family to sign Hamilton Stop Fluoridation Petition.doc
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2005
A huge amount of work was done in Hamilton in 2003 presenting information to the Hamilton City Council and getting out in the community spreading information.
A Council meeting was held where campaigners presented the anti-fluoridation position while the Ministry flew someone in from Wellington to support the local DHB representative in giving the "pro" side – with the standard issue PowerPoint presentation. The presenter couldn’t even get dates and basic facts right, and obviously knew nothing of the subject – just parroting the propaganda she had been fed.
Because of the pressure exerted both by these campaigners and some of the councillors, the Hamilton City Council agreed to commission an independent report of the fluoridation issue. However they actually organised for one of their officers to do it. It all looked very hopeful with the scientist, Marcus Shipton, being supplied with a huge amount of research material which he seemed eager to study. We thought that the council would then vote to have a referendum on the issue at the next local body elections.
But not to be. The report was appalling:
- It failed to cover the issues raised before the council – contamination of the substance used (HFA) and lack of any human health safety testing;
- It failed to give a single scientific reference to substantiate any of the standard generalisations used in promotional propaganda;
- It completely misrepresented the York Review findings – in spite of Mr Shipton having the public statement by the chairman of the review board;
- And in the absence of facts, recited the usual references to "reputable world bodies" who support fluoridation to hide the report’s total ineptitude.
The Hamilton City Council voted 6 to 5 to remain with fluoridation.
Campaigners will continue to work in Hamilton. We commend those councillors who have already stood up against this misguided practice. It only needs one more councillor to change their mind and Hamilton will go the other way. It only needs one more councillor to realise that people have a fundamental right to decide what they drink and what medication they take.
So the battle is on: what can you do to end fluoridation and protect your own health?
Hamilton remains fluoridated, but the issue will be raised for the local body elections in 2004.
