NZ - Editorial comment February 16 2007
Editorial comment February 16 2007
By Grant Shimmin
The bell is about to go for the last round, and this will be the telling one. At the end of it, on March 10, we’ll know for sure whether or not fluoride is going back into Ashburton’s water supply.
Not surprisingly, this week has again seen the level of debate ramp up on an issue that gets plenty of people’s backs up.
A number of medical professionals, including more than a dozen who have signed a letter on this page today, have supported fluoride’s reintroduction.
Opponents, again including several on this page, have been just as vocal.
Leaflets have been dropped in mailboxes, posters and billboards have gone up around town.For the person trying to look at the arguments for and against and make an informed decision, it’s a difficult one, because so much is said and written on both sides of the debate.
Implicit in much of the rhetoric coming from the anti-fluoride faction has been the suggestion that the Canterbury District Health Board, and by extension the Ministry of Health, is pushing a political agenda by arguing for the return of fluoride, with little regard for the real harm it might cause.
From the pro-fluoride side, there is a tendency to pick holes in the tactics of those on the opposite side of the debate, suggesting they muddy the waters by the sheer volume of material they generate.
These strategies, though, are really peripheral to the central debate and for those who must vote in the referendum, which will run its course three weeks from tomorrow, there is a real need to be able to make an informed decision.
At the end of the day, you must be happy that if you’re voting to put fluoride back in, you and your family are going to benefit.
Or that if you decide to vote against it, there are sound reasons for doing so.
What is important is that this is an opportunity to exercise a democratic right, and given the relatively small number of people who will get to vote, there is a real chance your vote might make a difference.
So make sure you exercise it between now and March 10.
"it’s a difficult decision" - then don't do it.
By Grant Shimmin
The bell is about to go for the last round, and this will be the telling one. At the end of it, on March 10, we’ll know for sure whether or not fluoride is going back into Ashburton’s water supply.
Not surprisingly, this week has again seen the level of debate ramp up on an issue that gets plenty of people’s backs up.
A number of medical professionals, including more than a dozen who have signed a letter on this page today, have supported fluoride’s reintroduction.
Opponents, again including several on this page, have been just as vocal.
Leaflets have been dropped in mailboxes, posters and billboards have gone up around town.For the person trying to look at the arguments for and against and make an informed decision, it’s a difficult one, because so much is said and written on both sides of the debate.
Implicit in much of the rhetoric coming from the anti-fluoride faction has been the suggestion that the Canterbury District Health Board, and by extension the Ministry of Health, is pushing a political agenda by arguing for the return of fluoride, with little regard for the real harm it might cause.
From the pro-fluoride side, there is a tendency to pick holes in the tactics of those on the opposite side of the debate, suggesting they muddy the waters by the sheer volume of material they generate.
These strategies, though, are really peripheral to the central debate and for those who must vote in the referendum, which will run its course three weeks from tomorrow, there is a real need to be able to make an informed decision.
At the end of the day, you must be happy that if you’re voting to put fluoride back in, you and your family are going to benefit.
Or that if you decide to vote against it, there are sound reasons for doing so.
What is important is that this is an opportunity to exercise a democratic right, and given the relatively small number of people who will get to vote, there is a real chance your vote might make a difference.
So make sure you exercise it between now and March 10.
"it’s a difficult decision" - then don't do it.
posted by Bill at
10:03 AM
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