Pat McNair, who heads the Hamilton Stop Fluoride Campaign, reckons the opponents to the practice have the clout to persuade the council to stop fluoridation.
”It is a ‘done deal’ as they say. We not only have the numbers, we have the scientific evidence to back it up. ”We totally refrain from using emotive tactics to try to persuade as the evidence is so strong it stands alone.”
More than 130 people from all walks of life would be speaking at the hearings, which qualified it as ”the largest and most comprehensive review of fluoridation ever undertaken in New Zealand”, she said.
”Only 11 people have been confirmed to speak in support of fluoridation, apart from the DHB primary presenters. The remainder are all asking for fluoridation to cease.”
The number of submissions were indicative of how Hamilton residents felt about the issue, she said.
”I still think there is a lot of complacency in the community – therefore our numbers would have been even higher if everyone had bothered to send in their viewpoint.”
Among those speaking against fluoridation were several highly-qualified scientists and experts in other fields, including Dr David Menkes, an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Waikato Clinical School; Dr Robert Mann, a retired senior lecturer in biochemistry and environmental studies at Auckland University; and former Olympian and Green party candidate Rob Hamill.
Ms McNair will be making her own submission tomorrow, in which she will talk about ”medical ethics, legal aspects and the violation of human rights”.
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