Campaign Hutt Valley
Local contacts:
Mary Byrne Ph (04) 972 6249
Mark Atkin Ph (04)565 1056
16th June 2009
Feature article in Hutt News about the Petone Fountain, which provides natural atresian water, and the reasons why thousands of people from around Wellington are flocking to it.
5th October 2008
The Wainuiomata Meeting went well with members of the Wainuiomata Marae stating that they had never been given both sides of the story. Regional Public Health gave the Case For Fluoridation with their Maori Oral Health Public Relations officer, Irirangi Mako, and the Medical Officer of Health, Dr Stephen Palmer being their presenters.
We were most surprised at the low quality of the Presentation by Regional Public Health. Irirangi Mako didn't appear to know even the most basic of facts such as how fluoride is purported to reduce dental decay or be able to name any actual studies. She said she was relying on a Public Health issue called Hauora that was dedicated to Maori Health. The book contains less than 1 page on fluoridation. Ms Mako spent a good part of her ten minute presentation discussing Maori inequaltiy in health. FANNZ does not argue that there is inequality in health, what we are saying is that fluoridation does not reduce dental decay and is harmful to people. People on low incomes are more likely to hurt by fluoridation than people on higher incomes as they are less likely to have a water filter or to take steps to source unfluoridated water - particularly for babies.
Dr Stephen Palmer, under good questioning from the audience, said "you have to remember, Regional Public Health has a contract with the Ministry of Health to promote fluoridation". In other words, he was saying he was only doing his job or just following orders. We have this on video.
Despite FANNZ winning the debate hands down, the Wainuiomata Community Board has not seen fit to take any further action. Presumably they have some political reasons for this.
14 July 2008
The Wainuiomata Community Board has organized a public information forum on fluoridation. There will be speakers for fluoridation (as yet not identified) and speakers from FANNZ against. The majority of the time will be open to questions from the floor. We strongly encourage residents to attend this meeting, as this issue is very important to the health of everyone.
The meeting will be held on Thursday 31 July at 7pm at Wainuiomata Marae.
Mary Byrne and Mark Atkin promoted this event with a stand in the Wainui Mall, giving out free bottled Petone water. It was surprising to find that many residents go to the Petone fountain to get their water, and how many knew about the issues around fluoridation. Mary observed a major shift in awareness and position since the Petone campaign in 1999. It was clear that the anti-fluoridation view is increasingly becoming “mainstream” in the public mind.
We have made a submission to the Annual Plan that the issue off fluoridation be re-examined.
We are also aware that the pro-fluoridation lobby is working behind the scenes and disseminating false information to Councillors, for example claiming that the National Research Council review is not relevant to water fluoridation. (See statement by NRC panel members correcting this misinformation)
7th May 2008
In an unprecendented step, the Chairman of each of the Wainuiomata Community Board and the Eastbourne Community Board have denied the Hutt Fluoride Action Group the right to address either of these community board meetings. The Chairman of the Petone Community Board had obviously been put under some pressure as well and was told that any recommendations from the Petone Community Board in relation to possibly stopping fluoridation in Moera (under Petone Community Board jurisdiction) would not be taken up at any further Council committee. This is very unusual as the Local Governement Act of 2002 states that the community boards are there to support the community even if that goes against the current policy of the larger Council. We have been told that there are some very strong people opposing any move to stop fluoridation in Lower Hutt. Note 1/8/08 - Wainuiomata Community Board Chairman advises that the Board decided not to air the issue at the community board meeting as they felt a public meeting would allow the issue to reach a far wider audience.
The Hutt group is considering a petition.
2007
In response to the baby formula/fluoride warning FANNZ members approached the Hutt City Council Strategy and Policy Committee and requested that they pass on this warning to parents and caregivers in Lower Hutt. We asked that they request the Council fully investigate the issue.
The Hutt City Council responded by ordering a review of the situation by a Policy Analyst, Nicholas Kildare, working for Capacity. FANNZ was not informed that this report was being written. Capacity is a joint body that takes care of the water for both Hutt and Wellington City Councils. The resulting paper appeared to have been ghost-written by the Ministry of Health as it contained all the usual MOH spin including many inaccuracies and misleading statements. The analyst admitted it was completely biased. When asked why it was biased by a councillor he stammered "That’s a very difficult question for me to answer". In spite of admitting that he did not have the etchnical knwoledge to assess the scientific information, he repeatedly responded to Councillor Style's observation that the warning specified 0.7 ppm or higher with the satndard MoH spin "US allows up to 4ppm in the water". This confirmed to us that Mr Kildare was misleading the Council on more than just the facts.
Official Information provided to FANNZ confirmed our suspicions. A string of over 30 emails had gone back and forth between the analyst and Health Authorities. Essentially, Dr Robin Whyman of the Ministry was travelling the globe at the time, picking up the latest pro-fluoride spin on the infant warning and feeding it back to Dr Stephen Palmer of Regional Public Health, who in turn fed it to the analyst. Health Authorities provided entire sections of text. Most telling was the response of Dr Whyman to the Executiev Summary of the final draft provided to him by Mr Kildare. (FANNZ was never supplied with this - we only saw it at the meeting.) The comment was " This is too defensive. It needs to more clearly state [the Ministry's] position".
The paper basically said that the Hutt City Council should not pass on the warning as fluoride was good for teeth and that severe dental fluorosis had not increased in the past twenty years (never mind that dental fluorosis is now at 30% in fluoridated areas according to the MoH web site) and that the MoH didn’t think they should. Much of the information was copied direct from the web sites of pro-fluoride organisations like the British Fluoridation Society. No independant organisation was ever approached by Mr Kildare for their views.
FANNZ members were able to argue successfully that none of these reasons were good enough. Council Officers prepared a draft web statement. For reasons unknown they also approached Capacity again. Once again Capacity appears to have colluded with Health Authorities to produce an appalling page that was essentially a plug for fluoridation, and downplayed the warning. This was rejected by the Council.
The Hutt City Council is due to post the warning on its web site, with a link to FANNZ’ site as well as the ADA, CDC, and MoH.
When Capacity was formed we were advised categorically that it would play no role in fluoridation policy – our concerns were obviously well-founded
Indications are that MoH have commissioned their ‘hired gun’ Environmental and Scientific Research (ESR) to produce a bogus report the MoH can use to ‘justify’ denying the infant formula claim in NZ. ESR has a public position on fluoridation, and a $10 million a year conflict of interest on this issue (which is what they are paid each year by the MoH for various contracts).
As a result of this initiative by FANNZ members, a local group has formed in Lower Hutt to further press for cessation of fluoridation.
Lower Hutt was the first NZ city to fluoridate after the Hastings ‘experiment’, being the ‘personal crusade’ of Mayor Percy Dowse. His refusal to consult the local Ratepayers’s Association or the public led to the court case that went to the Privy Council.
