New Zealand
See also
• News Articles from New Zealand
• Website of Fluoride Free New Zealand
2023 – November 10. A High Court decision in the New Health New Zealand vs the Director General of Health (DG) case found that the DG acted unlawfully because he had failed to consider the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act (BORA) before he mandated 14 Councils to put fluoride into their communities’ drinking water. He was required by law to consider the BORA before he issued the directives. See background on this decision.
2021 – November 11. Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Bill with Royal Assent.
2021 – November 9. Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Bill passes final reading in Parliament.
2021 – November. New Zealand’s fluoridated and non-fluoridated cities and towns.
2021 – August. Inquiry into Supplementary Order Paper No. 38 on the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Bill. Report of the Health Committee.
2021 – June 2. Fluoridation: an update on evidence. By the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor. Note from FAN: Do not count on the information in this report until you read the critiques of it as this report contains serious misinformation. Because of its length, a critique by FAN it will take time.
2018 – October 9. Ruling from the Advertising Standards Complaints Board on the Fluoride Free NZ newspaper advertisement titled “Fluoride is a Neurotoxin that Reduces Children’s IQ”.
2018 – June 27. Supreme Court Ruling (Medicines Act).
2018 – June 27. Supreme Court Ruling (Bill of Rights).
The issues for determination in this appeal are
(a) Whether the Council has the statutory power to fluoridate water supplies in its territorial area
(b) Whether fluoridating water supplies engages s 11 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (Bill of Rights Act) on the basis that the fluoridation of water makes those accessing the public water supply in the relevant area undergo medical treatment in breach of the right to refuse such treatment.
(c) If s 11 of the Bill of Rights Act is engaged, whether fluoridation is a limitation on the s 11 right that is a reasonable limit prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society in terms of s 5 of the Bill of Rights Act.
(d) Whether the legislative power to fluoridate can be given a meaning that is consistent with the rights and freedoms contained in the Bill of Rights Act, and if so what the impact of that preferred meaning would be (s 6 of the Bill of Rights Act).
2018 – May. 2016 New Zealand Total Diet Study. Scientific authors: Dr Andrew Pearson, Michelle Gibbs, Karen Lau, Julia Edmonds, Donnell Alexander and Jeane Nicolas, Ministry for Primary Industries, Wellington.
2018 – May. Too Soon for the Tooth Fairy. The implications of child poverty for oral health. By Prathibha Surai and Dr Rob Beaglehold. Child Action Poverty Group.
2018 – March 19. Letter from Health Minister Dr David Clark to Kane Tichener.
2016 – On September 13 the Complaints Board of the New Zealand Advertising Standards Authority responded to six complaints it received on the TV ads paid for by Fluoride Free New Zealand. The Complaints Board ruled in favor of Fluoride Free New Zealand. Complaint Number 16/297.
2016 – Judgment: 27 September 2016 in the Court of Appeal of NZ.
CA159/2014. BETWEEN: New Health New Zealand Incorporated (Appellant) and South Taranaki District Council (Respondent);
CA615/2014. BETWEEN New Health New Zealand Incorporated (Appellant) and Attorney General for and on behalf of the Minister of Health (Respondent);
CA529/2015, BETWEEN New Health New Zealand Incorporated (Appellant) and Attorney General for and on behalf of the Minister of Health (Respondent).
2016 – Regulatory Impact Statement: Transferring decision-making on the fluoridation of drinking-water from local authorities to district health boards. Ministry of Health. April or May. (See overview on the Ministry of Health’s website.)
2016 – Decision Making on the Fluoridation of Drinking Water Supplies. NZ Cabinet Social Policy Committee. April. Please note: a typographical error has been identified in appendix 1 of the Cabinet paper (paragraph 2, page 11). The age range stated should read children aged between 1 and 14 years, not 1 and 4 years.
2016 – Auckland Water Supply. Fluoridation. By Watercare, an Auckland Council Organisation. January.
2015 – Australian and New Zealand Nutrient Reference Values for Fluoride. A report prepared for the Australian Government Department of Health by the Expert Working Group for Fluoride. Authors Baines J, Foley M, Spencer AJ, Peres M, Mueller U. Dated July 2015, released at the end of October 2015.
2015 – Review of the benefits and costs of water fluoridation in New Zealand. Report prepared for the NZ Ministry of Health by the Sapere Research Group. Authors: David Moore & Matt Poynton. September.
2015 – Letter from Hon Peter Dunne, Minister of Internal Affairs, Associate Minister of Health, Associate Member of Conservation. Request for official information relating to fluoridated water. March 31.
2015 – Proposed Amendment to Regulations under the Medicines Act 1981. Report of the Analysis of Submissions. Ministry of Health and MEDSAFE (NZ Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority). February.
2014 – Fluoridation of Drinking Water Supplies in New Zealand. Water New Zealand. Code of Practice. First Edition. December
2014 – Scientific and Critical Analysis of the 2014 New Zealand Fluoridation Report. International Critique of the Royal Society of New Zealand/Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor’s Fluoridation Report: Health effects of water fluoridation: A review of the scientific evidence. Coordinated by Fluoride Free New Zealand. November 2014. (See press release)
2014 – Health effects of water fluoridation: A review of the scientific evidence. A report on behalf of the Royal Society of New Zealand and the Office of the Prime Mnister’s Chief Science Advisor. August 21. Correction made in December.
2014 – COURT DECISION: New Health New Zealand Inc (Plaintiff) vs Attorney General on behalf of the Ministry of Health (Defendant). 2014. (see update)
2011 – Review of Scientific Reviews Relating to Water Fluoridation Published between January 2000 and July 2010., by the National Fluoridation Information Service (funded by the Ministry of Health).
2009 – Estimated Dietary Fluoride Intake for New Zealanders. Prepared as part of a Ministry of Health contract for scientific services by Peter Cressey, Dr Sally Gaw, and Dr John Love. Institute of Environmental Science & Research Limited (ESR), Christchurch Science Centre. July
2003 – Canterbury: Oral Health Strategy • Part A –Fluoridation position statement. Canterbury District Health Board.
2000 – Fluoridation of water supplies – an evaluation of the recent epidemiological evidence. Prepared as part of a Ministry of Health contract for scientific services (Project PH1h). By Michael Bates, Ph.D.
1997 – Brisbane: The Lord Mayor’s Taskforce on Fluoridation.
1957 – Report of the Commission of Inquiry on The Fluoridation of Public Water Supplies, New Zealand 1957.
Print 
PDF