News Archive

The bickering has started, campaign signs are being torn down and some political hopefuls are making “below the belt” comments about each other. The in-fighting between some of New Plymouth’s by-election candidates has been creating a stir on social media, with one calling another “excrement” and another taking pot-shots at a family member of a […]

Marlborough District Council will become the second council in New Zealand to ban sugary drinks sold from council premises and council-funded events. Tomorrow it will reveal the policy, to be debated at a meeting of council’s community and finance committee. Mayor Alistair Sowman said the policy wasn’t an emphasis on bans and restrictions but to […]

The country’s only dental school is a ”a bit shy” about showing off its expertise, but that will change, its new British dean says. Paul Brunton (54), who started this month as dean of the University of Otago’s faculty of dentistry, said dental schools took a more prominent role in the health sector in England. […]

Hastings first purpose built, non-fluoridated drinking fountain/bottle filling station is proving a hit with the locals. The facility was installed at the Eastbourne St bore on the intersection of Warren and Eastbourne Streets, last year. A referendum in October 2013 resulted in 63 per cent of those who took part, voting to keep fluoride in […]

Fluoride Free NZ calls for an open transparent public discussion of fluoridation where both sides of the argument can be heard. To date Sir Peter Gluckman and Sir David Skegg, authors of last year’s NZ Report on Fluoridation, have declined an invitation to debate or discuss the errors found in the Report with international fluoridation […]

Around one in 15 kids under the age of 14 are having teeth extracted, according to recently released health department figures. “This is unacceptable in a country like New Zealand, and is largely preventable” says Wellington dentist, Dr. Stan Litras. Water fluoridation is not the answer, though, in his opinion. Dr. Litras is the convener […]

The fluoride debate is set to resume in Dunedin when councillors consider a potential bill of up to $3.2 million to add the chemical to untreated water reservoirs across the city. At present, 85% of the city’s drinking water was treated with fluoride, but reservoirs supplying properties in Mosgiel, Port Chalmers, Waikouaiti, Outram and West […]

The Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor and the Royal Society of New Zealand admitted yesterday, Thursday 15th January, that a serious blunder had been made in their report “Health effects of water fluoridation: a Review of the scientific evidence”. A new version is available on the Royal Society’s website where an error message now states […]

Anti-fluoride campaigners are crying foul over what they claim is a rushed attempt to push through controversial legislation over the holiday period. If passed, the law would cement the current situation, allowing councils to add the chemical to local water supplies. Currently councils have the power to put fluoride in community water supplies in a […]

A Dunedin study that cleared fluoride of adversely affecting IQ has been sharply criticised in an academic letter published in the New Zealand Medical Journal. The letter, by University of Auckland academic psychiatrist Associate Prof David Menkes and two others, says the study failed to properly assess possible IQ effects from fluoride. The letter says […]