Fluoride Free New Zealand and New Zealand Doctors Speaking Out for Science take legal action against Hastings District Council over Fluoridation

Fluoride Free New Zealand (FFNZ), along with New Zealand Doctors Speaking Out for Science (NZDSOS), filed for an Injunction against the Hastings District Council in the Wellington High Court yesterday (9 April 2024).

FFNZ and NZDSOS consider the Hastings District Council’s decision to resume fluoridating Hastings community water supplies to be unlawful, unscientific, undemocratic and a reckless wielding of power against a citizenship that will be forced to consume this toxic industrial byproduct. Hastings District Council had the same options that other councils have taken to wait until the lawfulness of water fluoridation was clarified by the Courts. Hastings District Council has instead decided to force this measure on its community

.
In 2018 the New Zealand Supreme Court ruled that fluoridation was “compulsory medical treatment” that violated section 11 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act (BORA), the right to refuse to undergo medical treatment. No consensus was reached as to whether this was justifiable under section 5 of the Act.

FFNZ and NZDSOS have applied for an injunction that fluoridation not be allowed to start in Hastings until all legal matters are settled.

Fluoride is now widely accepted as a neurotoxin with high quality US Government funded studies showing that fluoride can reduce IQ in children. Pregnant women and parents of bottle-fed babies should be warned that fluoridated water poses an irreversible risk to the mental development of their child. 

The High Court ruled in November 2023 that every decision-maker must undertake a BORA analysis prior. Therefore, FFNZ and NZDSOS believe the Hastings District Council is acting unlawfully by making the decision to start fluoridation when neither the DGoH or the council has done this BORA analysis.

Nelson City Council has requested an extension from the Ministry of Health to their deadline of starting fluoridation in April 2024, claiming uneasiness with implementing an unlawful direction. The Ministry of Health granted this extension. Other councils such as Rotorua, Waitaki and Horowhenua have taken similar steps to delay the introduction of fluoridation. 

There is no compulsion for Hastings District Council to start fluoridation now.