Official Information Request - pause on fluoridation

Sent: Tuesday, April 9, 2024 1:53 PM
Subject: Information request - pause on fluoridation

I refer to your email of 22 March 2023 regarding fluoridation, and your request for a copy of the letter sent to the Director-General of Health confirming that Rotorua will not implement the unlawful directive to fluoridate, and a copy of any response received from the DGH or MoH.

Council has not made such a decision and has not sent a letter to the Director General of Health, and consequently have not received a response.

As the Director General of Health states in the attached letter dated 22 February 2024 (PDF 143KB), the High Court, following a hearing on 2 February 2024, decided that the directions to fluoridate remain in place.

However, the Judge directed the Director-General to assess whether the directions were, in terms of section 5 of the NZ Bill of Rights act, a justified limit on the right to refuse medical treatment that is provided for in section 11 of that Act.

The Director-General is in the process of carrying out that assessment for each of the directions.

In the process of following the directions, Council has sought public tenders for the construction of fluoridation plants for the Central and Eastern water supplies, and we are in the final stages of evaluating these.

The acceptance of a tender for this work will be a decision for a future meeting of Council.