The Waitaki District Council has been ordered to begin fluoridating its water, a move its mayor says is welcome but could rile conspiracy theorists.
Director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield yesterday ordered 14 local authorities, including Waitaki District Council, to begin fluoridating their water supplies.
The move followed an amendment to legislation last year, intended to ensure a national approach to fluoridation of water supplies.
"Even though we’re being directed to do this, it does actually fit with our philosophy of looking after our community," Mr Kircher said.
The best-case scenario was that the council would have assistance to implement fluoridation, there would be a good discussion with its community and children in the district would have better health outcomes.
While the ongoing costs to the council were likely to be insignificant, it would cost about $370,000 to install the machines needed for fluoridation, Mr Kircher said.
The council would apply to the $11.3 million fund established by the Ministry of Health to cover the capital costs of councils.
The worst-case scenario was that the changes could cause a lot of angst and division in the community, which would not help anybody.
Having an information campaign so the community had good information based on scientific fact would be a consideration, so there was not room for misinformation to spread.
As soon as any council suggested fluoridation, anti-fluoride groups tended to become very active, saying things to scare people, such as that fluoride was a poison, Mr Kircher said.
As a community, Waitaki might not be able to decide whether fluoridation happened or not, but it could decide if people had a good discussion about it, he said.
In a statement, the Ministry of Health said yesterday’s orders were the first use of its new powers to require fluoridation, but it was likely further directives would be considered later this year.
In a 2009 study, children and adolescents living in areas with fluoridated water were found to have a 40% lower lifetime incidence of tooth decay than those living in areas without, the statement said.
