Editorial: Fluoride rears its head

The Rotorua Council is to talk about adding Flouride to Rotorua City's water.

Few topics stir up readers like fluoride.

Every time it's an issue, and it does make regular headlines, I get letters from all over the country, many accusing health authorities of terrible things like wanting to poison us all.

Maybe that's an exaggeration but it's not far from the general tone of the anti-fluoride brigade.

The wonderful thing about the internet is the access to a huge amount of information about any topic you choose. Anyone can become an expert. Sometimes that's also one of the worst things about the internet. Anyone can consider themselves experts.

When that "expertise" is based on something found in a far-flung corner of the internet, sourced from dodgy, partisan and/or discredited research, things get decidedly dicey.

The Rotorua District Council will soon consider adding fluoride to the city's water supply.

Public health bodies have long advocated the move, but not all local bodies have followed that advice.

As I wrote last time on this topic, it seems strange that each community has its own rules on fluoride, as if the Government is passing the buck to the smaller local bodies instead of making the big call.

Fluoride was added to the Rotorua water supply between February 21, 1979, and August 31, 1979, by the-then city council. It was removed after a referendum held by the newly formed Rotorua District Council in June 1979.

Councillor Mike McVicker said yesterday the only way to get a true reflection of public support for fluoridation would be to hold a referendum.

But look what happened in the 1979 referendum. We're not health experts - our taxes help fund other people to be experts. Why would an important health issue be decided on a public vote when the expert advice is already there?