Health Board Retracts Incorrect Information

Press Release

District Health Board Forced to Retract Incorrect Information

The Hawkes Bay District Health Board has been forced to retract information it provided the Central Hawkes Bay District Council on why it believes fluoridation should be continued in Waipukurau  The incorrect information has already been sent to all households in Waipukurau.

The Council has sent all households the “Case For” fluoridation and the “Case Against” fluoridation as provided to them by the Hawkes Bay District Health Board (HBDHB) and Fluoride Action Network New Zealand (FANNZ), respectively. 

In the “Case For”, HBDHB state that since the 2006 study that found that boys drinking fluoridated water were at far greater risk of developing osteosarcoma, that there have been two studies that show no association between primary bone cancer and fluoridation.  However, when asked to provide details of these studies by FANNZ, the HBDHB has not been able to.

“This is another example of how the people who work for these organisations just trot out whatever rubbish they want and expect that everyone should believe them just because they work for a District Health Board or the Ministry of Health” says Mary Byrne, spokesperson for FANNZ.

“The District Council has gone to a lot of trouble to provide information to its community so the people can make an informed choice about whether they want this chemical, hydrofluorosilicic acid, added to their water or not.  It is very disappointing when the people we rely on for expert advice, give so little regard for what they are saying that they just appear to say whatever suits them”.

A study published in 2006 in Cancer Causes and Control by Bassin et al, showed that boys drinking fluoridated water between the ages of 6 and 10 were 500 – 700% more likely to develop a rare but important bone cancer called osteosarcoma in their late teens, compared to boys drinking non-fluoridated water.  According to Mary Byrne “This study is like the missing piece of the jigsaw. Prior to that there had been some studies that showed an association and some that didn’t.  But this study pinpointed that it is the age at which the boys are drinking fluoridated water, not if they are drinking fluoridated water when they are diagnosed, or even their fluoride blood levels.”

The Central Hawkes Bay District Council is conducting a survey of the residents in Waipukurau (the only fluoridated town in Central Hawkes Bay) about whether they want to continue with fluoridation or not before deciding whether or not to replace the now defunct fluoride injector.
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