NZ - Fluoride to stay
Fluoride to stay
By Erin Bishop
A resounding victory for pro-fluoride campaigners means fluoride will remain in Methven’s water supply.
The results of the Methven Fluoridation Referendum, released on Saturday, showed that 75.5% of electors voted, with 627 giving the thumbs up for the status quo and just 203 wanting fluoride removed.
Methven Community Board chairman Martin Nordqvist, who did not support the referendum from day one, said it was a brilliant turn-out of voters and he was delighted with the result.
The Methven Community Board was asked for a referendum so the community could have its say on the issue. The board voted 5-1 to ask the Ashburton District Council to conduct the poll, which it agreed to do.
Mr Nordqvist had urged Methven people to utilise their democratic right and have their voices heard, so that the around $5000 of ratepayers’ money it cost to hold the referendum was not money down the drain.
“Perhaps at the end of the day there was too much information and the Methven people got sick of it. In the end, I honestly believe they had had too much,” he said.
“For three or four weeks in Snowfed (Methven’s paper), two or three pages in the middle of it were put in or authorised by Don Church and the first one you thought ‘that’s ok’, then the next week it had as much again and the next week it came out with a similar lot again. By then people were saying ‘I wish he’d take a hike’.”
Mr Nordqvist had at least four anti-fluoride leaflets dropped in his letterbox by the Fluoride Action Group during the campaign and some stated what he believed were “outrageous claims”.
“I wanted to listen to the health professionals who trained in New Zealand,” he said.
“That’s who I wanted to listen to, not some professor or someone doing a thesis or something somewhere else in the world.”
Ashburton dentist Justin Wall, who is on record saying there had been a marked increase in tooth decay since fluoride was removed from Ashburton’s water supply in 2001, was also delighted with the outcome. “I’m happy that it is an endorsement of common sense,” Mr Wall said.
He said the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) had spent a lot of time and money during the debate that could have been better spent elsewhere. While he would like to say that was the end of the argument, it was a case of never say never, and it was always possible the fluoride debate would again come up.
South Canterbury medical officer of health Daniel Williams congratulated Methven residents on their decision.
“A number of local people worked very hard to help achieve this result for their community,” Dr Williams said.
“Methven and Burnham Military Camp have the only fluoridated water supplies in Canterbury.
“People in the rest of Canterbury have worse teeth because the water doesn’t have enough fluoride to protect them.”
Ashburton residents, who lost fluoride from their supply in 2001, voted last year to keep it that way.
The binding vote there followed extensive campaigns by those for and against fluoridation.
August 4 2008
By Erin Bishop
A resounding victory for pro-fluoride campaigners means fluoride will remain in Methven’s water supply.
The results of the Methven Fluoridation Referendum, released on Saturday, showed that 75.5% of electors voted, with 627 giving the thumbs up for the status quo and just 203 wanting fluoride removed.
Methven Community Board chairman Martin Nordqvist, who did not support the referendum from day one, said it was a brilliant turn-out of voters and he was delighted with the result.
The Methven Community Board was asked for a referendum so the community could have its say on the issue. The board voted 5-1 to ask the Ashburton District Council to conduct the poll, which it agreed to do.
Mr Nordqvist had urged Methven people to utilise their democratic right and have their voices heard, so that the around $5000 of ratepayers’ money it cost to hold the referendum was not money down the drain.
“Perhaps at the end of the day there was too much information and the Methven people got sick of it. In the end, I honestly believe they had had too much,” he said.
“For three or four weeks in Snowfed (Methven’s paper), two or three pages in the middle of it were put in or authorised by Don Church and the first one you thought ‘that’s ok’, then the next week it had as much again and the next week it came out with a similar lot again. By then people were saying ‘I wish he’d take a hike’.”
Mr Nordqvist had at least four anti-fluoride leaflets dropped in his letterbox by the Fluoride Action Group during the campaign and some stated what he believed were “outrageous claims”.
“I wanted to listen to the health professionals who trained in New Zealand,” he said.
“That’s who I wanted to listen to, not some professor or someone doing a thesis or something somewhere else in the world.”
Ashburton dentist Justin Wall, who is on record saying there had been a marked increase in tooth decay since fluoride was removed from Ashburton’s water supply in 2001, was also delighted with the outcome. “I’m happy that it is an endorsement of common sense,” Mr Wall said.
He said the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) had spent a lot of time and money during the debate that could have been better spent elsewhere. While he would like to say that was the end of the argument, it was a case of never say never, and it was always possible the fluoride debate would again come up.
South Canterbury medical officer of health Daniel Williams congratulated Methven residents on their decision.
“A number of local people worked very hard to help achieve this result for their community,” Dr Williams said.
“Methven and Burnham Military Camp have the only fluoridated water supplies in Canterbury.
“People in the rest of Canterbury have worse teeth because the water doesn’t have enough fluoride to protect them.”
Ashburton residents, who lost fluoride from their supply in 2001, voted last year to keep it that way.
The binding vote there followed extensive campaigns by those for and against fluoridation.
August 4 2008
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