Invitation to Western Bay of Plenty councillors to Michael Connett talk

Dear Mayor and Councillors,

On Monday the 3rd of February 2025, acclaimed US lawyer, Michael Connett, will be speaking in Tauranga (details above). Michael led and won a ground-breaking court case against the US Environmental Protection Agency regarding water fluoridation. The Federal judge ruled that “the plaintiff had provided a preponderance of evidence that fluoridation was harmful to human health and the environment” and that the EPA was required to “reduce or remove the risk posed by fluoridation”. 

The fluoridation issue is changing rapidly with new studies from Government agencies being published regularly and the situation in the US, the home of fluoridation, on the brink of reversing their 80 year old practice. Considering the consequences of this issue, it is imperative that you are fully informed.

Just since October:

• Robert F Kennedy Jnr has been selected to take over leadership of the US Government’s Health and Human Services. This is due to be confirmed in seven days’ time. He is extremely knowledgeable about the fluoride issue, and has clearly indicated his intent to immediately stop all fluoridation in the US this year, or perhaps over the next couple of years.
• The Surgeon General of Florida held a press conference in which he advised municipalities to stop fluoridation stating “It is public health malpractice with the information that we have now to continue adding fluoride to water”. Already 36 of the 67 municipalities have done so.
• The same scientists that produced the US National Toxicology Program’s (NTP) systematic review of fluoride and developmental neurotoxicity, published in August 2024, have conducted a more stratified review published in the world’s leading paediatric journal, JAMA Pediatrics. This confirms there is harm at levels experienced in fluoridated communities.
• The Director-General of Health has issued her Bill of Rights analysis and the Ministry of Health has issued an updated review. However, both of these are light-weight and have had to resort to citing a review by Kumar et al that has been internationally exposed as scientifically fraudulent.

This puts you in the position of being party to knowingly adding a neurotoxin to your community’s water supply if you choose to go ahead with fluoridation. 
Contrary to legal advice, that we believe has been given to other councils, you are able to challenge the directive on the grounds you believe it to be unlawful, and seek the Director-General’s response. Ultimately you can seek an interim injunction if threatened with prosecution, as confirmed by the High Court ruling in June 2024.

The Whangarei District Council has taken the correct step and rejected the DG’s directive to start fluoridation and confirmed it would seek an interim injunction if necessary. The Whangarei district councillors came to this decision through researching the fluoridation issue and becoming increasingly concerned that adding this neurotoxin to the drinking water was not the right thing to do. They are also hosting a Northland Forward closed-door workshop on 30 January where Michael and representatives from the Ministry of Health can present to all councillors in the Northland region.

Michael Connett is arguably one of the world’s leading fluoridation experts. He has deposed the top scientists at the Centers for Disease Control, who are responsible for the promotion of fluoridation, and the top scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency. Michael can answer any question anyone might have on this topic. He will also be able to relate to us exactly what is happening in the US and when, and how, fluoridation will be stopped there.

We would value your attendance at this event as we believe it is in New Zealander’s best interests that people who have been chosen for a leadership role are fully informed and can fulfil the responsibility bestowed on them. If you are unable to attend on the 5th of February, Michael is also speaking in Rotorua on the 4th, 7pm at the Millennium Hotel, and on the 5th, 7pm at the Town Hall in Cambridge.

We are keen to ensure that New Zealand is not behind the rest of the world as we were with Lead – not stopping it being added to paint and petrol until 1996, 26 years after the US, causing permanent harm to people because our health authorities refused to implement the Precautionary Principle.

We look forward to seeing you at the event. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any queries or comments. 

Regards

Mary Byrne National Coordinator

Fluoride Free New Zealand