Fluoride group praises council

The New Zealand Fluoridation Information Service has praised Hamilton City Council for putting out indepth information. Photo / File

The New Zealand Fluoridation Information Service has praised the Hamilton City Council for the fair and balanced information it has put out about its decision to end fluoridation after a four-day tribunal process.

It also praised the fair portrayal of today's science on fluoridation presented in an information sheet to accompany voting papers for the upcoming fluoridation referendum.

NZFIS founder and science and legal advisor Mark Atkin says information in the three documents to date fairly reflects the balance of the presentations made during the tribunal.

"While the tribunal process could have been even better, the decision to stop adding hydrofluorosilicic acid (fluoride) to Hamilton's water was a perfect example of science winning over bias and 50 years of popular misconceptions.

"Recent comments from Craig Climo (WDHB) and Robyn Haisman-Welsh (Ministry of Health) show that these bureaucrats are not only out of touch with current fluoride science, they are out of touch with the position accepted by international fluoridation promoters like the US Centers for Disease Control," Mr Atkin says.

"Anyone who has watched the tribunal presentations with an open mind will have seen that opponents of fluoridation put up all the science, and the pro-fluoridation side put up nothing but ill-informed, misguided comment and disinformation. Their lack of credibility as so-called health experts lost them the day, both in Hamilton and again in New Plymouth in 2011."

"We suggest the Ministry of Health and DHBs 'have a public communication problem on their hands and need to act quickly to put the correct information out there, or seek help from those that really are in the business of producing health advice that the public can rely on", says Mr Atkin.

NZFIS provides independent information and comment on the fluoridation issue and research. Email contact@fluoride-infor-service.net.