Candidate Responses to Survey – 2016 Election

 

Name Opposed to Fluoridation Responsibility Comment
Robyn Northey No Decided by DHBs I am a former School Dental Nurse and see the ravages in teeth -adult and children-caused by poor diet and poor oral hygiene .Strengthening teeth with fluoridated water is a safe and useful public health measure to help address this health issue
Trevor Boone No Decided by local councils Thanks for the opportunity; I have responded with my belief which is that population health is an important issue, but implementation should rest with the community being served.
Chris Peel No A central Government decision If I am elected to the board any decision of health policy would be based on the advice of the medical professionals who serve those living under their care. Fluoridation of drinking water remains the most effective and socially equitable means of achieving community-wide exposure to the caries prevention effects of fluoride. It’s great to see health systems across the world exploring different ways of improving public health. It’s worth noting that while programmes in Scotland and Denmark have good success they also have public funded dental care beyond the age of 18, which NZ does not.
Adam Amos Yes A personal choice I always boil my water, and keep it in the fridge for drinking, because I don’t like the taste of regular tap water.
Scott Milne No A central Government decision The decision to fluoridate has been the single most successful health policy decision in decades. It is unfortunate it is not universally available.
Patrick Brown No
Rochelle Gormly Yes Decided by local councils
Saffron Toms Yes Personal choice
Alezix HENETI No Other I pay a lot of money every week as I only drink PURE distilled water 4-6 litres EVERYDAY, 7X days of the week.. However in saying that up until 4-5 months ago I was drinking 6 litres of boiled and then cooled tap water EVERYDAY, 7X days of the week and I still got many health benefits. I spent 4 years in Kaikohe and the Far North district. Many young mothers and adults and children there have extremely bad mouth and tooth decay from lack of good water and poor dental hygiene. Many 25year olds were toothless. I was shocked to discover they did not have clean nor fluoridated water. Clean water is essential to good health. As a Maori it worried me that the high Maori population there DID not understand the value of safe, clean tasty water.
Chris Darby Yes A personal choice I am not a fan of mass medication of a population through the public water supply.
Susanna Kruger Yes A personal choice Adding fluoride to water is trying to deal with the symptom rather than the cause of a condition.
Penelope Andrews Yes Decided by DHBs
Anne Degia-Pala Yes A central Government decision Information needs to be readily available in schools, medical centres and community centres to raise awareness.
Vernon Tava Don’t know Decided by DHBs
Pauline Jaspernelly Yes A personal choice
Uzra Casuri-Balouch Yes A personal choice
Julie Fairey No A central Government decision I have done a lot of thinking about this and listening to views over several years, and come to the conclusion that on balance water fluoridation is the right thing to do. I have been particularly influenced by listening to dental nurses who worked in rural areas in mid 20th century, telling how as fluoridation rolled out their service was restructured to cover larger and larger numbers of children as they were seeing less tooth decay. I respect the right of those opposed to fluoridation to continue to raise that view and lobby on it and will continue to politely listen and think.
Don Campbell No Decided by local councils
John McCracken No A central Government decision
Penny hulse No A central Government decision I have read reports on this issue and during my time as a member of the Waitemata DHB we discussed this at length. On balance I still support fluoridated water.
Judy Lawley Yes A central Government decision It will not be an easy change to make and I support a strong public education programme before any political decision making on this issue. It’s been a long time coming, a bit longer would not be too harmful, to try to bring the public on board to support a change.
Melanie Phillips Yes A personal choice Fluride looks to me like a quick and dirty fix which may cause bigger problems in the future. It seems crazy to say we need fluoride in our water because children eat so much sugar and dont brush their teeth. Address the underlying cause of poor dental hygene and diet don’t accept, condone and support such an unfortunate situation for our most vulnerable. The benefits of addressing the underlying causes will be much more than less tooth decay and could save more money than it costs if we are creative about how we can change the situation. I support a tax on manufactured / processed foods relative to how much sugar they contain over a certain threshold. Not a tax on sugar itself.
Fay Freeman No Decided by DHBs
Dorthe Siggaard Yes A personal choice I do not support mass medication of a population through their drinking water
Damian Light No Decided by DHBs
John Davies No A personal choice I have a negative view of chemical weed management and whilst I am not standing for a position of direct influence over water treatment, I see my consistent positions of adding as little chemical in to our lives as possible and maximizing people’s freedom of choice compels my support for fluoridation being a personal choice, not that of a government organisation.
Catherine Farmer Don’t know A central Government decision fluoridation of drinking water is a controversial topic
Tricia CHEEL Yes Other I suffered the toxic effects from fluoride for 35 years, all the while wondering what was wrong with me until I suddenly stopped drinking Auckland’s tap water altogether in October 2012 which resulted in a tremendous improvement in my health and well being. This highly toxic industrial waste product should not be disposed of in any water especially not the public water supply!