Robert Coe’s Invited Opinion Piece

[All contactable candidates for the 2024 Tauranga election were invited to supply CityWatch NZ with an opinion piece.]

Tauranga is facing many issues currently. With a 168% rates increase forecast over the next 10 years,  many retired folk, who are asset rich but cash poor, are fearful of being rated out of their own freehold homes. The good news for them, is that the plan is exactly that. It is not set in stone, and many prospective councillors are against it. Even though it’s called a ten year plan, it’s reviewed every 3 years, so there is no need to panic. There is one issue, however, that does require the immediate attention of the new council. This is the fluoridation of Tauranga’s water supply.

The erstwhile government mandated, that TCC begin fluoridating our water, in September 2024. The current administration seem disinterested in reversing this decision. Tauranga ceased fluoridating its water in the late 1980’s, due to public opinion being against it. Judging by what I have heard from my potential constituents, this has not changed. In spite of this, I have been subjected to character assassination by a political commentator, as well as being labelled a “conspiracy theorist”, for my stance against it. I am a Steel Fabricator by trade, & have no medical nor dental expertise. What I do have, after spending well over a decade in management & supervisory roles, is a good understanding of my obligations, to both staff & the public, under the Health & Safety at Work Act 2015.

The act dictates that as an “officer”, I must take all practicable measures to eliminate the risk of harm, to myself & anybody else. So how does this relate to fluoridation, you may ask? There are no conspiracy theories involved, just facts. The facts are as follows;

The chemical that TCC are intending to add to our water, in order to fluoridate it, is called hydrofluorosilicic acid. In its concentrated form, it is highly corrosive, and harmful if swallowed or inhaled. A splash of it in one’s eye, can cause immediate & irreversible blindness. It is allegedly safe, & beneficial, when diluted to a very low level. Many poisons are, such as selenium, paracetamol, and warfarin. All are known to be fatal, when ingested above the recommended dose.

Which is why I have a problem with fluoridation. It has nothing to do with science, it is more to do with the potential for an error with the dosing. This happened in Wellington in 2022, and the error was so bad that a whole reservoir of water had to be dumped, as the plant did not have the storage capacity to dilute it to a safe level. Fortunately the error was discovered, before this water was put into the town supply. The subsequent investigation, revealed that WCC had been aware that the dosing equipment had been malfunctioning for no less than 4 years, but hadn’t considered this a problem, due to it only ever underdosing the water, prior to the event.
There have been several occasions overseas, where people have become seriously ill, and even hospitalised, due to errors in fluoride dosing. A man even died from it in Alaska, in the late 90’s.

My perspective is this. The easiest, and most foolproof method, to eliminate the possibility of any Tauranga resident suffering fluoride poisoning, is to not add hydrofluorosilicic acid to our water. It’s as simple as that. As for the mandate from central government, my obligations are to my constituents, not them. I could not in good conscience, support the addition of this chemical to our water, and intend to do everything in my power to prevent it from happening.

 

References

https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2015/0070/latest/whole.html#DLM6544135