NZ - Fluoride bullies force meeting no show

Fluoride bullies force meeting no show

MIKE MATHER

Name-callinOf course the health professionals don't have fixed opinions based on misinformation do they?g, harassing phone calls and emails, rude remarks on Facebook and comparisons to Nazi Germany and the Syrian government.

Waikato District Health Board staff are being subjected to personal attacks by anti-fluoride bullies - and they have had enough.

The lobbying by the anti-fluoridationists has prompted health board chief executive Craig Climo to call on his staff to keep away from a Hamilton City Council-organised public meeting about community water fluoridation next Monday.

The reason, he said, was simple: ''My team are the subject of ongoing personal attacks from the anti-fluoridationists and I won't expose them further.''

Although he was reluctant to divulge details, some of the more offensive remarks played on the names of staff members ''in a way that implies they are incompetent.''

Mr Climo said he was not sure if the name-callers were members of Fluoride Free Hamilton, although that group also had a record of ''saying silly things''.

Rude remarks had also recently been posted on the health board's Facebook page, however these were usually quickly removed by communications director Mary Anne Gill before many people had a chance to see them.

Some had likened the health board to the Nazis and the Syrian regime, she said.

Medical officer of health Felicity Dumble said city councillors asked their staff to organise the meeting after they decided to hold a referendum on returning fluoride to the public water supply.

The meeting's purpose would be to provide an opportunity for the health board and Fluoride Free Hamilton to present their positions on the referendum question.

''Past experience tells us that these meetings are disrupted by those opposed and it is an unpleasant experience for the health professionals who attend trying to get the science across to an audience who have fixed opinions based on misinformation,'' Dr Dumble said.......

Of course health professionals don't have fixed opinions based on misinformation do they?