Connett Tour set to Inject Momentum to Fluoride Free NZ Campaign

Dr Paul Connett’s upcoming tour of New Zealand towns and cities is set to inject further momentum into the groundswell of opposition to adding fluoride chemicals into the public drinking water.

Dr Connett is a world leading expert in fluoridation, the coauthor of a book The Case Against Fluoride and Executive Director of Fluoride Action Network International (FAN). His talk provides explosive, irrefutable evidence that fluoridation is not only ineffective in reducing tooth decay but is unsafe for human consumption and the environment.

Fluoride Action Network NZ (FANNZ) expects this tour to be even more successful than the previous one in 2011. Since then Taumaranui, Waipukuraru and New Plymouth have all stopped fluoridation and this year Hamilton and Thames Councils are consulting their residents and Hastings and Whakatane Councils are holding referenda in conjunction with the local body elections. There are now only 23 councils out of 67 that have any fluoridation and FANNZ hope this year will bring the figure down to 19 and force the remaining councils to respond to the persistent calls from their residents to also stop.

New Zealand’s opposition is growing in parallel with the world-wide movement to stop fluoridation. Eight communities in Queensland have just announced their intention to stop and cities such as Witchita, Kansas recently voted against it. There is no water fluoridation in continental Europe. Submissions to the South Taranaki District Council (STDC) in November last year from Waverley and Patea residents found that 75% and 85%, respectively, did not want fluoridation. However, the STDC voted to introduce fluoridation anyway sparking public outrage and vows from residents not to allow it.

"When a community fluoridates it is doing to everyone what an individual doctor can do to no one – i.e. force an individual to take a medicine against their will. Very few states or countries in the world have taken on this arrogant power of forcing all its citizens to take a medicine without their informed consent." says Dr Connett.

Dr Connett is welcoming any chance to debate or present at meetings with proponents of fluoridation. He will be speaking in Auckland, Hamilton, Thames, Whakatane, Hastings, Palmerston North, Dunedin and Invercargill from 17 February to 10 March. For more information please visit www.fannz.org.nz

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Gordon Campbell: On Failures Of Care For Those With Mental Disabilities

Hard to imagine a more disturbing insight into the treatment of the vulnerable than the Health Ministry report on Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau. The Ministry has found that the country’s only kaupapa Maori intellectual disability residential care provider has been “seriously dysfunctional.”

The ministry says the business has failed to recruit and retain quality staff – and says the kaimahi (caregivers) that have been employed are seriously unsuitable for the job, lacking basic knowledge. But Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau doesn’t get all the blame. The report says there’s a significant gap under disability laws to ensure there’s oversight by qualified clinical professionals. More>>