After doing a lot of research due to feeling ill and wanting to live a cleaner lifestyle.  I was disgusted to learn fluoride which has been promoted for heathly teeth is a well known toxin. And this toxin is been put in our water.

It doesn’t matter if the dose in our water is low. It is a poison!
No level of poison is safe.  So while I can buy a distiller to help minimize the effects of fluoride i’m drinking ( and yes i feel better, since doing this)

We are not just putting this poison in our mouths, and in our childrens mouths.  We are drinking it, we are bathing in it, we wash our food in it and we don’t have a choice, this is appauling.

It’s known to damage the thyroid. It’s known to damage bones.
Its known to cause stomach problems. It’s known to increase the risk of cancer.
Floride is a key componant in rat poison and some insecticides.

This needs to stop. If individuals want flouride for their teeth, it can be their choice. But don’t poison the rest of NZ with this toxic chemical.

If trends are anything to go by, you will notice an influx in kiwis looking for more natural products including a fluoride free toothpaste. So why would we want this in our water which we use for so much.  Please stop poisoning us.

Claire Newell, Auckland

Feeling tired all the time. Wanting to sleep all the time. Blood tests showed low thyroid levels. Decided to start drinking rainwater at all times. Now four months later all daytime sleepiness and lethargy gone. I have my life back.

Alli Scott
Wellington

Life back after stopping fluoride

First I must say I don’t live in New Zealand,  but in the UK.

Around 20 years ago my husband was diagnosed with fibromyalgia.  At age 42, and self employed,  he had no choice but to try and carry on through the dreadful pains, exhaustion,  muscle spasms and headaches.   At that time we were living in an area with fluoridated water.  We subsequently moved to an area with natural spring water, where things seemed to get a little better, yet the frequent headaches continued.

Around 10 years ago, after we moved again, the headaches turned into daily migraines and ever increasing doses of otc painkillers did little to help.  From there we began the consultant route, seeing both neurologist and headache specialists.  MRI and CT scans showed boney spurs in the cervical neck, with spinal cord compression.   Highly invasive surgery was discussed,  but it was decided we should wait until loss of feeling in his arms and legs occurred.  Really unpleasant drugs were prescribed  in stepped increasing dosage but the  side effects were so bad my husband just stopped taking them.  They never helped the migraines at all.

Last Christmas,  we realised we would not be getting any real help from doctors and my husband fell back on constantly rotating doses of ibuprofen with lysine,  and paracetamol.   Just after Christmas,  on a whim, I bought some Alodent toothpaste, fluoride free.  The next morning I asked the regular question on waking up : “how’s your head this morning? ”  When he replied “I don’t have much of a headache actually”  I was really puzzled.   I started looking at what we’d done the previous day, what we’d eaten, what we hadn’t eaten or used, what pillows were on the bed.  THE ONLY THING ABNORMAL TO US WAS THE NEW TOOTHPASTE!

On a research mission, which I had done many, many times over many years,  I started reading everything about fluoride,  good and bad, from every pathway my little laptop had ever known.

We started a diary, and slowly,  day after day after day, the migraines became just little dull headaches,  and after 3 weeks they had stopped altogether.  We bought a reverse osmosis system to take out any naturally occurring fluoride in our non fluoridated water supply, and polished it off by filtering that water through a separate specal jug filter (takes water to zero ppm).  We ditched our favourite strong tea, in favour of fresh ground coffee with the occasional cup of weak, white tea.  We stopped buying calfornia wines (our favourite weekend treat), and grapes and raisins had to be organic or nothing.  It’s been around 120 days since we went on a mission to rid fluoride from our daily lives.   In that time frame,  my husband would have suffered around 90 migraines,  ten severe headaches and 20 dull, can’t quite think straight foggy headaches, always emanating from the base of his skull.  Instead, he has had 6 very mild morning headaches not needing anything to help,  3 level 3 (out of 5) headaches needing medication,  and 110 mornings without any headache whatsoever.   I have asked the question over and over again,  how could we not have known???

I have never suffered headaches, obviously only a few suffer from the extreme sensitivity my husband experiences with fluoride,  just as only a few will suffer greatly from strawberries,  peanuts, shellfish etc.  One person’s meat is seriously another person’s poison.  You can choose to avoid buying any of those things but water that comes through your tap, how do you avoid that?  We are lucky enough to have the ability to install a complex water filtration system.  Just the other day we were out visiting for the day and I thought, a few cups of tea with unfiltered water wouldn’t hurt that much. Oh my goodness,  was I wrong!  My husband didn’t even know he wasn’t drinking tea made with bottled or filtered water, he just developed a thumping headache as we were setting off for home.

He is currently taking antioxidants, in the hope that over time, the fluoride deposits within his body will be greatly reduced.

Jane Dowse

Years and Years of Headaches gone

I used to live in Auckland for over 30 years.

In the later 1980’s I became very ill with a mouthful of ulcers and continuous diarrhoea. My doctor was stumped. As it had been happening for several months and even with medication, was getting more serious all the time. He therefore sent me to see a Specialist at Auckland Hospital. He turned out to be the top Professor of Gastroenterology and Urology. Professor Clifton Tasman Jones. After several tests his initial thought was that I had Crohn’s disease. However, further tests it showed that I didn’t. He hadn’t any other answers and suggested I find a specialist who may be able to help. He told me it was very serious as I was constantly dehydrating however much water I was drinking. Which was a lot as I was continuously thirsty and that it was painful to eat.

An acquaintance told me of a Specialist GP that he had seen who had a lot of experience in unusual types of illnesses. I visited him and after him asking a lot of questions and studying my tests he said I had Fluoride poisoning.

He had experience of it with Calcium Fluoride a natural type of Fluoride occurring in several countries overseas. He told me to buy a reverse osmosis water filter and only drink water from it as the fluoride used in NZ water was totally artificial and came from Industrial Waste. He also gave me a Pure Water association magazine and told me to also read up anything I could find about fluoride and its effect on the body. He then asked his nurse to give me an injection and to come back in two days. After he checked my progress, the nurse gave me a second injection and asked me to come back in a week.

I initially became aware of the diarrhoea reducing and the ulcers dying down.

In the meantime, I read as much as I could about fluoride. The very first article was from a South African nurse whose patients in Africa also had the problems I had on a daily basis. As I read more, I found that fluoride is very poisonous with no known safe dose. Some dentists and dental scientists etc. proposed that a dose in the millionths of a gram per litre had no detrimental effects on the body but suggested it could be beneficial for teeth. This information came from a large American Corporation who made it as it was a hard-to-dump by-product. However, a very large number of biochemists and other members of the medical establishment didn’t, and don’t, accept this. The latest international testing has found it is detrimental to the developing brain, proven by several major studies.

As no one knows how much water each of us drinks and the amount of fluoride imbibed. How can anyone know what is a safe dose? Obviously, it wasn’t for me.
I also found that the Fluoride added to drinking water is in fact industrial waste not a naturally occurring or tested pharmaceutical product. It is an Industrial by-product. It seems it is extremely costly to dispose of. Hence the enthusiasm to promote its use in this way.
This is not the naturally occurring fluoride as is often claimed. There is nothing natural about it. As it doesn’t exist in Nature. Often it is scraped from the insides of chimneys etc.

Countless tests and trials have been done, often with the results manipulated. In most cases the tests that were favourable were conducted by companies who produce fluoride as a by-product, or people associated with them. When properly analysed there are never (including in NZ) any shown benefits from treating drinking water with it. As the above mentioned International studies have shown which are easily found.

The majority of countries don’t add it to their drinking water. In some it is banned by law. Unfortunately for me Auckland and parts of New Zealand did and it is being criminally proposed that the whole of country does. If there is any doubt of safety. DONT DO IT, especially if Children are involved. THE DAMAGE can’t be undone.

Finally, whatever happened to the clean green country we used to live in? The majority of water isn’t drunk it is used for washing, showers etc. Therefore there is a lot of waste water running onto land, into rivers, discharging into the sea etc. that is contaminated with this poison.

I wonder what the countries that don’t use it will think of our image then. Or the products they import from us processed with fluoridated water. Some of our largest customers are the nations banning it.
I personally would really like to see the proponents of this practice made to sign an agreement. That if it can be found at anytime that any harm comes through their ill-founded actions and beliefs, that they are held financially and criminally responsible. Perhaps then they would do better research and not make decisions on a whim.

A. Farndon. Taranaki.

 

A Farndon, Taranaki

I grew up in a Tauranga a non-fluoridated area and since moving to a fluoridated city I began to suffer bad eczema and other skin issues I had never suffered before. I also began to get regular, quite painful stomach cramps and my sinuses, which have always been an issue got worse.

My body is now so run down that I am struggling to maintain a healthy weight as I am not absorbing nutrients the way I should be and now have to  be on a gluten and dairy free diet which is fine but just makes life that little bit more difficult and expensive.
I find myself being constantly fatigued and I didn’t know what was causing this but I went and saw a doctor who is interested in slightly alternative medicine and he told me about fluoride so since then I have done some more research about this.
I just can’t believe that in pure clean green New Zealand where we have beautiful natural water resources, we think it’s a good idea to be fluoridating our tap water, it is an unnecessary expense and a risk to many peoples health and well being.
Danika Hotham, Hamilton
Danika Hotham, Hamilton

I attended Professor Paul Connett’s talk in Blenheim in July 2016. It was informative, straight forward and factual. I thought I was reasonably aware, what I didn’t realise is that our bodies naturally don’t require fluoride and more importantly the damage a neurotoxin such as this will have upon the brains of our future….our children in our communities. Outrageous, fluoridation is an appalling notion to poison our good quality drinking water.

Leona DeRidder

I  lived in fluoridated areas all my life up until aged 48years.  I have suffered from migraines since the age of 17years.  My thyroid also in later years has not functioned well.  I have been to many doctors and natural therapists and not one  “health professional’ thought to think it was the fluoride in the water causing the migraines. Instead  I was told  to drink plenty of water because dehydration can cause migraine.

I did try and filter the fluoride out of my water, and the last 5 years prior to moving to a non fluoridated area I travelled from Paraparaumu to collect pure nonfluoridated spring water from the Petone Buick Street fountain. My health improved a little.

But it wasn’t until I moved away from a fluoridated area completely a year ago, that my health improved dramatically.  Over the years of being exposed to fluoridated water for drinking and washing in, I am now intolerant of the fluoride chemicals added to the water.

Since moving it appears my children’s teeth have also improved now they are not exposed to fluoridated water.

I see no benefit for overall health or teeth by fluoridation chemicals being added to household water supplies.  It  is a harmful practice, that is widely accepted by the general public unfortunately. It is not naturally occurring fluoride that is being added to the water.

S McNeill, Petone
I was raised on the Kapiti Coast where I spent my first 17 years before moving into Wellington.  It was here I discovered I am hypersensitive to fluoride.   If I drink fluoridated water I break out in a horrible rash all over my body.  I’d been having itchy, burning uncomfortable rashes for quite some time.  Prescribed creams provided minimal relief and only if I was using them daily.  I realised I needed to treat the cause, not the symptoms and with the guidance of a health professional underwent a lengthy process of elimination to find the cause.  It turned out to be fluoride.  If I am hypersensitive to fluoride then others will be too.  How many people living in fluoridated areas are sensitive to fluoride but have no idea that the unexplained symptoms they’ve been suffering with for years are because they’re ingesting fluoride?
CJ Cole, Otaki

I have had nearly 3 years of hell with our young one. She had allergies to something that no one could diagnose.
Symptoms. Waking up at night not long after being put to bed screaming her head off and scratching madly.. Night after night after night after night of it and taking hours to settle down. And dermatitis.

Only thing that seemed to help was cooling her down.. So I would go get her and put her in my arms and walk around the house with the air con on, doing my best to soothe her and get her to go back to sleep.. Night after night of being so tired and so day after day of being an absolute train wreck.. So tired I just couldn’t think.. Not to mention the sheer hell my young one went through.

My diet turned to crap due to not really caring about what I was eating I was so tired. My doctors orders were to lose weight as I was already over weight before this started.. Doc said I was in line for diabetes and a heart attack.. Well here I am 3 years on and despite pushing myself to get to the gym, I’m at the heaviest in my life. Lack of sleep really screws with your whole life.
The wife was the bread winner so she needed her sleep so couldn’t help.. I had no family around to help. It was a nightmare.

I can remember being so tired, so angry and so frustrated one night that I was beyond breaking point.. I just had night after night of this and there was no one to help.. No one I could turn to and say here, take the baby off my hands for half an hour.. Or even let me get 10 mins sleep…
I had no one to turn to.. I was beyond exhausted.. I can remember thinking if I didn’t have my young one cradled in my arms I would have picked up our new 50inch LCD TV and thrown in through the ranch slider..
I can remember thinking if I did that, things would come to a head. Perhaps the police would come and somehow give me help.

Only thing that stopped me was I was cradling my young one who was screaming her head off…
But not only has my health suffered but so has my daughters.

My daughter has since been diagnosed with Autism on the lower end of the spectrum, but I cant help but wonder if it’s all solely down to lack of sleep over the last few years due to her food allergies that has her so far behind all the other children her age. Or if it is true Autism, how much has this whole situation gone to causing it?
My daughter was flying ahead in leaps and bounds and learning fast at an early age until she hit a brick wall with these allergies.

Its been very hard for a few years and things only got better when we worked out what was causing my daughters symptoms.. It was the damn water. Or something in it.
My wife went to Japan for a holiday and the symptoms disappeared. The whole time she was over there my daughter was fine. As soon as she came back the symptoms started again.

So we knew it had to be something she wasn’t getting in Japan.. I thought, perhaps fluoride in the water. So we started giving our young one Tongariro Spring Water only. We even stopped giving her food cooked in tap water. Try doing that and see how easy it is. What a nightmare. But it worked. We started getting sleep at nights. It took us time to work out our young one can’t even wash or bathe in tap water. We have it down to her being washed in Tongariro spring water two nights in a row then a quick 15 minute bath in tap water the next night then back to spring water the next two nights..

I can’t help but wonder how many others are or have been in the same predicament in NZ. You can try diagnosing food allergies but who stops to think of not giving their child water?

The putting of chemicals totally unnecessarily in to our water supply is insane. If it was an absolute must situation perhaps but the grief it’s causing people is just not worth it.

And something else to think of, some parents couldn’t handle what I went though. Hell I’m still not sure how I did. I now understand why some parents lose the plot and hurt their children. Of course it doesn’t make it ok, but I now understand how people lose control after many months of sleep deprivation. It’s a night mare. Why would councils in NZ want to put people through this? It’s just not right.

Eddie Light

Eddie Light – Auckland

“Even if we ignore all the evidence about the long term damage fluoride may cause and just say hey, it turns out that the worst case scenario is that some people get fluorosis of the teeth (which even the positive studies prove is the case) why should my children be exposed to that risk when their teeth are absolutely perfect without fluoride, we’re doing everything we can to keep them healthy, my poor girls hardly get lollies, never drink fizzy drinks or juice, yet the integrity of their oral health would be undermined so that people who don’t look after their teeth and drink whatever they like might have two less cavities by the time they’re twenty.

What kind of society are we living in where the very people that are doing their best to look after their families health are unwillingly forced to ingest something they don’t want or need as a stop gap to the poor education or apathy of others?”

Blair Rolfe, Rotorua

“I found out about Fluoride 8 years ago, I began doing lots of research and spreading the word to my friends, family, colleagues and anyone that I was in contact with. The way Mass Media and Government had misinformed the public is so wrong and they will have to make it up to us sooner or later. It is not ok the way that they manipulate the population, they are putting people’s lives and health in risk specially those little ones just been born. I would like to say, thank you Fluoride Free NZ, for providing useful up to date information to help the public make an informed decision on why fluoridation needs to be stopped. It’s great that so many professionals around the world are helping to educate the public about this dangerous relic from a bygone era.”

Orquidea Mortera, West Auckland

“I lived in the UK most of my childhood. When I was 10 I had a major immune system crash. After seeing doctor after doctor I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. It got bad, same symptoms every week. Vomiting, headaches and sore throat. The doctors could do nothing for me and none of them even questioned the fluoride in the water where I lived. When I was 12 my family moved to NZ. With better water and air, my symptoms started receding straight away. I have experimented with toothpaste and other sources of fluoride and I found I am highly sensitive to it”.

The following describes my personal experience almost perfectly “In hypersensitive individuals, fluorides occasionally cause skin eruptions such as atopic dermatitis, eczema or urticaria. Gastric distress, headache and weakness have also been reported. These hypersensitivity reactions usually disappear promptly after discontinuation of the fluoride.” – Physician’s Desk Reference.

Ben Armitage, Nelson

“Thank you Fluoride Free NZ for fighting for us. The right to refuse this medication should be protected at all costs. Fluoride is not something I choose to put in my body and I would like to thank you for helping to stop having this forced upon us all”.

Daryl Gove, Auckland

“My kids have never used fluoride toothpaste and have avoided fluoridated water. They have perfect teeth because they brush twice daily and have a healthy diet. The only way their teeth fall out is if they are pushed out by the ones underneath.”

Tui Kereama, Hamilton

Please help us by making a testimonial. Contact with your testimonial about fluoridation or just thanking Fluoride Free NZ for the work that they do. Thank you.

Your Testimonial Here

“When I started to drink only spring water, I experienced a significant increase in the ability to think. I love being able to read and organise my thoughts far more effectively than before. I haven’t had a drink of water out of the tap in almost 5 years as I never want to go back to my brain being as fuzzy as it was before. I wish I didn’t have to find ways of going all the way to Petone to get it though.”

Toni Carson, Island Bay, Wellington

“My Sister-in-law is a dental nurse; we can only be guided by her comments when she was employed in NZ by the Health Department. She was anti-fluoride because of what she saw in children’s teeth. To tell the full story would take a book and hours later…..the long and short of it all was she would never agree to fluoridation of our water supply.

The Meiklejohns, Hamilton

“Hamiltonians should have the choice as to what they consume.

Cheryl, Hamilton

“We accept there is some evidence of fluoride and tooth enamel strength so we use fluoride toothpaste applied topically so we can spit it out after brushing. We accept fluoride ingested into the body is toxic and accumulates in the body so we oppose the medication of all potable water. If the Hamilton City Council want to provide fluoride to families who can’t afford it provide fluoride tablets free of charge and let the rest of the ratepayers think and act for themselves.”

Brian and Maria, Hamilton

“We wondered what the fuss was about (anti-fluoride group) so decided to look into the matter. We got books from the library and looked at information on-line. We very quickly became convinced that fluoride is a neurotoxin and potentially dangerous to health at quite low levels.”

David and Sheryl, Hamilton.

“Both of us grew up without fluoride and we wish the same for our own children. We believe that we should have the right to choose whether our children are medicated but most of us believe that tooth health is 100 per cent due to how we choose to eat and drink. We choose health.”

Marea and Daniel Verry, Hamilton

“Fluoride is a naturally occurring element in the water – no further addition of fluoride is necessary. The fluoride that is added to our drinking water is a by-product of the fertiliser industry and is toxic to the human body. To reduce dental decay the best approach is for people to reduce sugar intake and to carefully brush their teeth.

Grant Pearse, Hamilton

“NZ used to educate children how to brush and take care of their teeth. This was highly effective to prevent tooth decay. Over time this was eliminated from schools. Fluoride in water is not possible to remove without buying an expensive water filter. I, like many people, do not want fluoride in my water. Programs in schools need to be re-established to educate children to care for their teeth without fluoride in water.

Carl Matheiss, Hamilton

“Unsafe for babies in particular and all of us in general.

Anni St Pierre – Retired businesswoman, Hamilton.

“Being a retailer of Health Products and a herbalist I don’t believe we need fluoride in our water. I have been fighting it since the 1980s – got it out of Morrinsville.

Linda Tai – Businesswoman, Morrinsville.

“Opposed to fluoride because the process is anti-democratic and I resent mass medication.”

John Telfer – Writer, Hamilton

“Anti-fluoride because it is a toxin and one size doesn’t fit all. Mass medication is totalitarian behavior.”

Carolyn McKenzie – Retired Art Curator, Hamilton

“I lived in Amsterdam. In Holland the adverse health effects were so clear and pronounced. We were the first Nation to take the poison out of our water. That was 35 years ago and I have fine teeth.”

Evelien Gilbert, Raglan

“We are vehemently opposed to fluoride being added to the City (Hamilton) water supply because the scientific evidence is quite clear that it is a toxin which affects the health and wellbeing of everyone who consumes it. The main reason given is that it protects children’s dental health and prevents decay. That is a completely erroneous claim upon which the science is very clear. Should one want to use fluoride for so-called protection of teeth then fluoridated toothpaste would suffice. Not mass medication of the total population. It should be about personal choice, not enforced by Councils.”

Jocelyn and Gerald Chambers – Farmers, Te Kuiti.

“I am very opposed to Public water being fluoridated. Hydrofluorosilicic acid (Hfa) is derived from industries where it is a waste product. This product is highly toxic and costs a great deal to dispose of. I am therefore horrified that industry can sell Hfa to local councils where it suddenly becomes a food grade product”.

Bronwyn Llewellyn – Journalism student WINTEC, Hamilton

I graduated as a School Dental Nurse in 1969 – we were taught during our training that diet, oral hygiene and fluoride went hand in hand in oral health. One of my dental training officers was the late Dr John Colquhoun. It is interesting to note that Dr Colquhoun went on to study here and overseas, the affects of fluoride. After much study he became a prominent opponent of fluoridation. In fact in his own studies in 1984, 1985 and 1987 he found no difference in tooth decay between fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities in New Zealand.

 

I was aware, as a young School Dental Nurse that there were opponents to water fluoridation but they were dismissed as mostly American ‘crackpots’ and we are only talking about 1ppm water – how can this possibly be harmful as these cranks were suggesting. I even argued with the late Dr Eva hill at a public meeting over 30 years ago, she being opposed and me for. We were taught in Dental School simply that this addition of fluoride (we certainly never heard of Hydrofluorosilicic Acid) was an amazingly simple answer to prevention of tooth decay. And we did not need to question the matter.

 

Indeed, much later in my life, I queried my dental nurse inspector, the late Miss Jean Bryant, about her thoughts on fluoride – her answer “Oh well, we were taught not to question”. The reason I asked her, her thoughts, was because I had misgivings, I had long since given up fluoridated toothpaste, I drank non-fluoridated water and started questioning water fluoridation when so many countries in the world ceased the practice – due to general health concerns from ingestion of fluoride and the issue of human rights.

 

Of course this is about health education. One school I worked in, as I was preparing my steriliser and instruments I looked out the window (before 9am) and saw children eating doughnuts. After a week I complained to the Headmaster and within a short time the doughnut man no longer visited before school. It’s about Health education.

 

It seems to me that we have ‘forgotten’ that it is about oral hygiene and diet. Sugary juices and fizzy drinks are consumed with wild abandon, processed foods and sugar laden foods have much to answer for – it’s about education.

Lois Titchener, Te Awamutu – Ex School Dental Nurse

In 1965 I was living in Gisborne NZ and in November of that year got married. In the mid-1960s the Ministry of Health were promoting the addition of sodium fluoride to community water supplies to address the widespread disease of tooth decay. The dental and medical professions were enthusiastic promoters of the practise and no expense was spared in the campaign to get it into the water.

In 1966 my Wife and I moved from Gisborne to Te Puia Springs to manage a country store whilst the owners returned to England for a six month holiday. Our Gisborne G P prescribed fluoride tablets due to the TP Springs water being un-fluoridated and given my wife was pregnant and the belief of the experts at that time was that fluoridated water was an essential element in healthy teeth, especially for babies, we were happy to go with the plan.

We returned to Gisborne and in November 66 our son was born. We moved to Auckland in 1968 and our son caused us much anxiety and sleepless nights with ongoing stomach upsets and a general inability to thrive as he should. Being new parents it was difficult to pin down what we were doing wrong but it must have been something. Doctors had all sorts of theories and could only come up with the usual try this treatment and come back next week solution.

When his teeth started erupting the stomach problems and sleepless nights grew and his teeth were discoloured and the enamel was spongy and tended to flake off. By the time he was four all but four of his teeth had been extracted. We were given all sorts of reasons for his condition but no one related the issue to the prescribing of fluoride tablets to my wife during her pregnancy. Now of course fluoride tablet bottles carry the warning ‘DO NOT USE DURING PREGNANCY’ and ‘DO NOT USE IN CHILDREN UNDER THREE YEARS OF AGE’. So when did the science that justified fluoridation realise there was a problem and did it just relate to the tablets or was there other issues with it? Given what I now understand I strongly suspect the lifetime of issues my son has suffered was due to dental fluorosis.

 

 

We subsequently had two more sons who did not have fluoride for the greater part of their childhood but used fluoridated toothpaste and they had no problems with their teeth. Both my wife and I had dentures by the time we were in our late 20s. Again now query if that was associated with the fluoride tablets but will never know.

In 1981 we moved from un-fluoridated Huntly to Hamilton and in 1985 the City changed from using Sodium fluoride added to the water to Hydrofluorosilicic acid. About that time I started having various health issues like joint pains, flu type symptoms and fatigue. In 1991 we bought a Rest Home in an un-fluoridated part of Taranaki and between then and 1997 my health was good. In 1998 we moved back to Hamilton and within a short time my health slipped back to the point where I was feeling like death warmed up and life became a struggle. Over the next ten years I was racked with all sorts of health issues such as gall stones, swollen joints, muscle pain, to the point where I was walking around with difficulty and following light exercise would need an extended recovery period and copious quantities of Voltaren tablets. I went from competitive yacht racer to shore bound spectator over that period and that was debilitating to say the least. I ended up having a gall bladder operation a prostrate problem, angina, high blood pressure and a blocked artery that needed a stent. Life was become somewhat intolerable.

 

In 2006 Hamilton had a referendum on fluoridation and the conduct of the process concerned me greatly due to the overwhelming weighting of the outcome in favour of the pro-fluoride lobby. In 2011 I retired and decided to revisit the fluoride question by researching the claims being made by the pro-fluoride lobby in studies such as the Fort Collins report, the York report and on websites such as the Ministry of Health and District Health Boards. Far from being convinced that adding a toxic chemical to everyone’s drinking water, to treat a disease that not everyone has, is a great idea I found that many of the claims made were based mainly on confirming a pre-determined outcome rather than facts stemming from sound scientific research.

Virtually all the studies and reports from the 1940s onward had a recurrent theme which was the need for more research because of the lack of valid answers to the concerns being expressed about the safety and benefit of fluoridation. Having had a gall bladder operation and a stent and being diagnosed with relapsing polychondritis, I also about that time decided to stop drinking fluoridated water and change my diet. I had been taking deer velvet capsules for a couple of years which helped the arthritis type pains in my joints however, my hips were giving me strife and seriously impacting on my mobility leading to me having an MRI and a diagnoses of urgently needing a hip replacement.

 

Within 3 months of no longer ingesting tap water and eating ‘fush and chups’ and chocolate eggs etc. I noticed a number of changes. My blood pressure reduced and stabilised, relapsing polychondritis symptoms reduced (except when I visited a fluoridated area for 5 days and ingested food and water, ending up back on steroids) my nasal drip problem was reduced and I started sleeping better. Over the past 24 months my hip joint pain has gone and I have relinquished my mobility card. I still have some issues with shortness of breath; however given I smoked a packet of cigs a day for around 20 years I am not surprised my lungs are protesting a bit (I smoked my last cigarette on 5 November 2001).

I still don’t know why my general wellbeing has improved so much over the past couple of years and it may be something else apart from the above but I do know that adding a toxic, waste by-product of fertiliser manufacturing as a means of treating a disease caused mainly by poverty and ignorance is in my view creating more issues than it is solving and until the research that has been demanded but not done over the past 50 years is carried out I will continue to oppose Community Water Fluoridation.

 

 

Trevor Crosbie, Hamilton

“Thank you Fluoride Free NZ, for providing useful up to date information to help the public make an informed decision on why fluoridation needs to be stopped. I’ve got several loved ones with dental fluorosis from drinking fluoridated water. I also have family members with fluoride toxicity problems because of kidney disease and hypothyroidism and they have bottle-fed babies. It’s great that so many professionals around the world are helping to educate the public about this dangerous relic from a bygone era.”

Lynn Jordan, Wellington

“I have been challenging our DHB/Council to stop putting fluoride in our water for the past 4 years because as a natural health practitioner,  I have seen patients who have suffered from fluoridated water. Unbeknown to me at the time I was growing a pineal tumour (PPTID) which eventually blocked the flow of CSF fluid from the third ventricle. The blockage has been fixed and I am currently supporting my immune system to shrink the tumour. I live in the country and have had exposure to fluoridated water for over 20 years when I was living and working in Wellington and Havelock North however I was given fluoridated tablets from 5 months old to mid childhood. Jennifer Luke’s work shows fluoride accumulates in the pineal gland and I believe the fluoride that accumulated in my pineal gland has contributed to this tumour. I now avoid all fluoride to give my body the best opportunity to detox what has accumulated over the years. It is tragic that children and adults are still being exposed to fluoride through drinking water.”

Angela Hair, Havelock North

“When our first son lost his baby teeth and his front adult teeth started coming through we saw that he had big discoloured patches on them.  Very concerned we took him to the dentist who told us these patches were moderate dental fluorosis and they are completely harmless but unfortunately would be there permanently.  We were told some children are more sensitive to fluoride than others.  Our eldest and youngest children have mild dental fluorosis.   The cost of fixing his teeth with porcelain veneers is $1200 per tooth. Our son now has a form of Diabetes which causes him to drink large amounts of water. That forces us to obtain unfluoridated water from Petone.  The Ministry of Health’s attempts to supposedly help disadvantaged children avoid tooth decay is in fact causing many children to have a new disease of fluorosis along with other multiple health issues.”

Julie and Pat Buckley, Porirua

“Fluoride Free NZ have been an invaluable source of information to my family and I, providing credible and up-to-date research about fluoridation and its health effects. I was shocked to learn that bottle-fed babies receive around 200 times more fluoride than breast fed babies! Preventing tooth decay comes down to good nutrition and dental hygiene. Although we have taken measures to become fluoride-free in our household, the reality is that fluoride is difficult and costly to avoid. As a Watercare customer I have not given consent to have Hydrofluorosilicic acid added to my water supply. Fluoridation is messing with what nature intended in so many ways and I believe this unethical and ineffective practice must stop. Keep up the great campaigning work Fluoride Free NZ!”

Verity Vincent, Auckland

“Being hypersensitive to fluoride I have to avoid any contact with fluoridated water and products derived from it. I am sure there are hundreds of people out there with arthritis and gout like symptoms unaware that they are actually caused by their exposure to fluoride. Coming from Europe I never thought that such an outdated practice which is ignoring civil rights by forcing a known toxic product onto people would be possible. I think that Fluoride Free NZ deserves a lot more credit for informing people living in New Zealand about this practice and its true effects on their health. It is about time that this sneaky practice of spiking our drinking water with fluoride ends”.

Andreas Sturmbauer, Auckland

“I have a background in science, and just want to say how much I appreciate the integrity and persistence that Fluoride Free NZ is bringing to this much-needed public education process. Keep on with the good work!”

Murray Stentiford, Auckland

Please help us by making a testimonial here. Contact with your testimonial about fluoridation or just thanking Fluoride Free NZ for the work that they do. Thank you.

 

 

Your Testimonial Here

“My 10 year old son had an appointment with the community dental clinic on Tuesday. He got a fissure sealant on one of his molars. This is the only work he has had in two years. The decay in Jacks front teeth was visible from age 2, he got his first filling at age 3, and had to have two teeth pulled at 4 because of a abscess under a filling. Multiple fillings up until his last required treatment in 2011, a stainless steel crown on a juvenile molar.Apart from the obvious fluorosis on his remaining baby teeth, his teeth are in good shape. My two year old daughter has the same genes, but beautiful teeth. I credit the fluoride free toothpaste we have used for the last 18 months and unfluoridated water.

Thank you, Fluoride Free NZ, for providing a solid base of credible information on the website for me to check out. Without it, I’m not sure I would have really weighed up the mountains of info and gain the understanding I have now.”

Kelly Knox, Hamilton