Why is New Zealand one of only three countries with mandatory fluoridation?

Up until 2021 local councils were responsible for deciding whether their area was fluoridated or not. However, in 2021 the Labour Government introduced the Fluoridation of Drinking Water Amendment to the Health Act. This put all decision making into the hands of the Director-General of Health.

This move happened as a result of increased debate around New Zealand and councils becoming increasingly uncomfortable about fluoridating and some councils were stopping fluoridation.

In 2015 Stuff reported DHB members comments:

Former Hutt City mayor and fellow board member David Ogden said the anti-fluoridation campaigners needed to be taken seriously. “Having been at a number of public meetings with the anti-fluoridation people there, they have some very strong arguments.”

Hutt City deputy mayor David Bassett said the lobby was winning over more and more councillors. ”The whole vote is actually becoming closer and closer,” Bassett said.

And the situation summed up by another councillor:

“They come with their own group of professionals, eminently qualified and respected people in their area and it places local politicians in a very difficult position,” Ken Laban said.

Councils that stopped:

2012 Ruapehu District Council decided to stop fluoridation of Taumarunui

2012 Central Hawke’s Bay District Council decided to stop fluoridation in Waipukurau

2011 fluoridation was stopped in New Plymouth

2009 the Far North District Council stopped fluoridation of Kaikohe and Kaitaia after a two year experiment

2002 fluoridation was stopped in Ashburton

Other towns had stopped in the 1980s but most had never started.

Councils request central Government take responsibility
In 2014 Fluoride Free New Zealand had a campaign in Kapiti Coast to get fluoridation stopped. The District Council opted to put a remit into Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) to request central Government take control of fluoridation. Their reasoning was that if the Government wanted fluoridation then they should be the ones responsible for the decision rather than putting pressure on the councils to do it. What they should have done, obviously, was stop fluoridation. At LGNZ two thirds of councils agreed with Kapiti Coast and washed their hands of the issue.

Because of this the National Government took on the issue and introduced legislation in 2016 to shift decision making from local councils to the District Health Boards. A Select Committee Hearing, chaired by then National MP Simon O’Connor, was held in February 2017. 1200 people sent in submissions. All political parties supported the legislation, except New Zealand First that thought it should be decided by local referendum.

In November 2017 Labour, the Greens and New Zealand First formed a coalition after winning enough votes at the election. Mostly due to the efforts of NZ First MP, Clayton Mitchell, the Bill to shift decision making stalled for the whole three year term. Then in 2020 Labour won the election without needing to form a coalition with any other party, and pushed the legislation through. However, by that time, the Labour Government had also disbanded the District Health Boards, so decision making was given to the Director-General of Health (DGH).

The legislation allows the DGH to decide to fluoridate or not to fluoridate. Therefore, we need to remember that the DGH could decide to stop fluoridation for the whole country. Instead, Ashley Bloomfield and now Dr Diana Sarfati, have pushed fluoridation on communities that haven’t wanted it.

The only other countries with similar laws to this are Ireland and Singapore. Nowhere in continental Europe is fluoridated and all other countries that have it, allow the local councils to decide.

New Zealand is out-of-step with the world, out-of-step with human rights, and out of step with modern pharmacology. Listen to Arvid Carlsson, Nobel Prize winner in Medicine (2000) who helped to stop fluoridation in Sweden many years ago.