News Archive

Ashburton people have voted against fluoridating the town’s water supply. Fluoride was withdrawn in 2002 following a public campaign, but health officials were seeking to reinstate it, citing rising tooth decay rates. More than 7000 residents took part in a binding referendum, and just under 55% voted against. The three-week poll was open to 11,000 […]

It’s official! “The issue isn’t the infant formula itself, but the [fluoridated] water it’s reconstituted with”. This statement was made recently by Professor John Stamm, spokesman for the American Dental Association (ADA), and William Maas, the Oral Health Director for the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in confirming the ADA’s warning of November […]

A South Island wide study of dental decay in 12-year-olds is being used by anti-fluoride campaigners to push the case of keeping fluoride out of Ashburton’s community water supply. The information was presented at a meeting on Thursday night, called by anti-fluoride campaigners, and is part of a package of data being used to ensure […]

(Dr. Limeback was one of the 12 scientists who served on the National Academy of Sciences panel that issued the 2006 report, “Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Scientific Review of the EPA’s Standards.” Dr. Limeback is an associate professor of dentistry and head of the preventive dentistry program at the University of Toronto) My Familiarity […]

Something started going wrong with Waikato preschoolers’ teeth in the late 1990s and health authorities aren’t sure why. Statistics presented to a recent Hamilton seminar showed that from about 1998, young Waikato children’s teeth started deteriorating — at odds with the rest of the country where there has been little change. A measure of the […]

The refluoridation of Ashburton’s water supply could come back into the public arena after the Ashburton District Council adopts its work plan for the coming year. An impassioned plea for the fluoridation of the town’s water supply was made by the Canterbury District Health Board during last week’s hearings on the council’s Long Term Council […]

Tooth-decay rates in Ashburton six- year-olds have increased 25 per cent since fluoride was taken out of the reticulated supply four years ago, says the Canterbury District Health Board. The controversial subject of fluoridating water may be back on the Ashburton District Council’s agenda after a submission to its long-term plan yesterday by the South […]

Hamilton residents have voted to stick with the status quo, keeping fluoride in the water supply and retaining first past the post (FPP) as the preferred electoral system. The results were released on Saturday afternoon and are binding on the city council. More than 33,500 people, or 38 per cent of eligible voters, returned their […]

Hamilton dentists are threatening to withdraw from providing free dental care to people under 18, if the city votes to stop fluoridating its water. The city council has voted to hold a binding referendum on the issue in May. The Dental Association has been one of the strongest advocates for the continued use of fluoride […]

Hamilton residents will decide themselves whether they want fluoride in their drinking water. Hamilton City Council voted 11-3 for a binding referendum on the issue yesterday during an emotive meeting which developed into a physical confrontation. Hillcrest dentist Steven Pawley, who councillor Roger Hennebry verbally attacked during the earlier debate, later approached Cr Hennebry in […]