The public forum of the Central Otago District Council (CODC) meeting on Wednesday (August 30) had standing room only, with the majority of the dozen or more people present protesting fluoride being added to drinking water. 

Signs were held by those against fluoride as three speakers (Mary Bryne, Dr. Neil Wadell, and Professor Peter Herbison) presented counter arguments against adding fluoride to Central Otago’s drinking water.

There are no plans in place to add fluoride to drinking water in Central Otago.

The Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021, which came into effect in December 2021, allows the Director-General of Health to direct local authorities to add – or not to add – fluoride to a drinking-water supply. 

In July last year, the then director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield directed 14 councils around the country to start fluoridation and advised another 27 that the government was considering issuing a directive to do the same.

CODC was not on either list. 

The Ministry of Health says tooth decay is the single most chronic disease that New Zealanders face. The most recent oral health survey in New Zealand (2009) showed there were, on average, 40 per cent fewer tooth decay experiences in regions with fluoridated areas than those that were not. 

Fluoride Free New Zealand is holding public meetings across the country, including in Alexandra on Sunday (August 27) and speaking to councils about the issue. 

Fluoride Free New Zealand national coordinator Mary Bryne said fluoride added to water was toxic waste, as fluosilicic acid was a by-product of fertiliser manufacturing, and could cause severe health complications. 

Mary claimed that if fluoridation were enforced on CODC, it would reduce the IQ “probably of everybody”.

Dr. Neil Wadell (a retired professor of dental medicine) said fluorine was highly toxic and could become an “extreme danger … to [people's] body systems” partially to young children and babies in the womb. 

Prof Peter Herbison addresses the public forum.

However the final speaker, Emeritus Prof Peter Herbison (a biostatistician formerly with Otago University’s department of preventive and social medicine) said while fluoride could be harmful, the dosage given was the most important consideration. 

“Throughout the world, there have been many, many groups who have looked at fluoridation,” he said. 

All of those groups had agreed that fluoridation at a concentration of 0.7-1 parts per million was not harmful to people and was beneficial to teeth at all stages of life, he said.

That is the concentration of fluoride used in New Zealand. The Ministry of Health says the evidence is clear there are no significant adverse effects from community water fluoridation at that level, and that it is beneficial to New Zealanders of all ages.

CODC mayor Tim Cadogan asked Mary what the council could do to push back on the law that had been passed.

She responded that a judicial review of the legislation had been filed, and the council could get an interim injunction, meaning no action will be taken until the review is completed - which could take a few years.