The High Court’s recent decision that former director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield’s instruction to 14 local councils to fluoridate water supplies was “unlawful” raises further questions apart from fluoridation’s health risks.

When high-ranking health officials don’t even check the legality of their compulsory orders to local councils, what confidence can the public have in those officials?

Regarding safety issues, Fluoride Free NZ have stated for many years, “international scientific evidence proves, beyond any doubt, that fluoride causes a range of serious health harms”.

To those who argue that the small dose of fluoride in drinking water is safe, research shows that when fluoride binds to magnesium in the human body, it can create an insoluble mineral compound that can be deposited in bones, causing brittle bones and increasing risk of fracture.

There is also extensive evidence that fluoride significantly lowers IQ in children.

Given that most of Europe is not fluoridated while the United States is overwhelmingly fluoridated, the fact that rates of tooth decay are similar in both regions again demonstrates that fluoridation does not reduce decay, so why should local councils be forced — by “unlawful” orders — to waste millions of ratepayers’ dollars setting up and maintaining fluoridation equipment which would be better spent elsewhere?

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