Mary became involved in the fluoridation issue in 1999 when the Hutt City Council was looking to fluoridate her home town of Petone. She happened to have just read a book called “Your Health at Risk” by New Zealand author, Toni Jefferies, that had a chapter about fluoridation. Mary was horrified to find that there were serious doubts over the safety of fluoridation and that most of the world did not do it.
The more she researched, the more she felt compelled to work toward ending fluoridation in New Zealand.