A fluoride referendum for Hamilton

The Waikato Times reports:

Hamilton voters will get to decide in October whether to quash a controversial tribunal decision that last month ended fluoridation of the city’s water supply.

The council has voted 7-6 for a referendum at the October elections, with the wording of the referendum to be decided at a special meeting early next week. The decision includes a request for a voluntary spending cap to prevent the referendum being skewed by any district health board information campaign.

It is good they have voted for a referendum. But having the DHB tell the truth about the scientific research around fluoride is not skewing the referendum. It is balancing it.

Ken Perrott at Sciblogs notes:

 I communicated with all the councillors asking them to support a referendum and was shocked at the response of a minority (3). This was rude (extreme in one case), accused me of being involved in some sort of internal political infighting, and discounted any reply I made to their claims on the science of fluoridaiton. In effect these 3 councillors seemed to think that the “science” stories they got from the activists groups was of higher value than any comment made by a scientist. Not just me but also other people expressing concern and those on the District Health Board and Ministry of Health teams.

I hope voters are made aware of which Councillors voted against a referendum.