If the bizarre and extreme events in Hamilton, Hastings, and Whakatane show us one thing it is that referenda are an inappropriate way to address the fluoridation issue, compared with the Tribunal process used in Hamilton and New Plymouth. This confirms the 1956 Commission of Inquiry’s very clear statement.
We have seen press releases by dear old souls who know nothing about the science around fluoridation, who trustingly accept 50 years of propaganda, yet can vote in a referendum to medicate others who are far more informed than they, against their wishes.
We have seen hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars and taxpayer-funded resources poured into massive propaganda blitzkriegs, while a Wellington woman cannot get a simple two minute, $400, CT scan in Wellington Hospital for 3 months – she had to pay for it privately so she could get some simple surgery. We have seen $1.25 million poured into a lobby group masquerading as the National Fluoridation Information Service.
This is the real tragedy of the obsession the Ministry of Health has with protecting this failed policy – it has become more important to protect that than to provide front line health services.
A referendum is only valid if voters have full and balanced factual information. The DHBs’ propaganda campaigns have ensured they do not. Not just the specific campaigns, but 50 years of disinformation.
We have seen totally biased media like the Waikato Times print profluoride propaganda endlessly while ignoring the facts presented against fluoridation.
We have seen the Hawke’s Bay DHB give ‘unanimous support’ to the criminal act of willful damage by their Chief Executive, in trying to destroy lawful signs. Will burning books be their next move in suppressing the truth about fluoridation?
We have seen the Waikato DHB refuse to defend their claims in public debate, claiming they are being abused and insulted by those who, in fact, the fluoridation lobby has abused and insulted for 50 years.
We have seen gagging orders by DHBs, the NZ Dental Association, and the NZ Medical Association, who are running scared that their members will speak the truth, threatening fluoridation policy.
We have seen individuals with a duty to scientific truth, and in some cases a statutory duty to the public, breaching that duty to perpetuate the 50 year lie of fluoridation.
We have seen those who only three years ago refused to be videoed presenting their lies now making their own videos and posting them on the internet, such as is to be seen on the Ministry of Health’s “Fluoride Facts” propaganda site.
These actions will provide a goldmine for future sociology historians, examining the extremism of religious fanatic adherents to the fluoridationist religion.
What the referenda will not provide is an end to the battle over fluoridation. Neither side is going to give up on their respective campaigns. If anything, the battle will escalate following the referenda results.
It is high time, as the NZMA and the PM’s Chief Science Advisor have said, that we have a national, open, scientific forum discussion on this issue. Of course it must be managed by a neutral party – we know from 50 years experience that those who promote fluoridation would manipulate such an initiative to mislead the public with the same propaganda and suppression of truth we have seen in these three campaigns. A National Archives document confirms that this is what the Health Department (now Ministry) did with the Commission of Inquiry in 1956.
As Ghandi said, “first they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win”. Fluoridation promoters are fighting like pit bulls now. They see the darkness, not light, at the end of the tunnel. Those who have fought for 50 years to expose the truth about fluoridation, and bring it to an end, are going to win, regardless of the outcome of these three referenda.
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