Flogging a dead horse – anti-fluoridationists lose in court again

Posted on September 28, 2016 | 3 Comments
flooging-horse-certificate

This certificate should be awarded to New Health NZ, the NZ Health Trust and the anti-fluoridation movement for not knowing when to give up on the “fluoridation is medicine” myth.

The NZ Court of Appeal has rejected the latest legal attempt by New Zealand anti-fluoridation campaigners to hinder community water fluoridation. You can read a summary of the ruling in the Court’s press release – New Health v South Taranaki District Council. The full Court of Appeal ruling can also be downloaded.

Of course, you might find it boring – it is full of legalese. The appeals (there were three and all were rejected) themselves were  about details – the definition of a medicine and the right of governments to make regulations. But readers might want to reflect on who took the legal action and who paid for it.

follow-the-money

New Health NZ took the High Court actions and appeals. It is an incorporated society set up in 2005 by the The New Zealand Health Trust. This Trust is the lobby group for the “natural”/alternative health industry in New Zealand and is financed by that industry. So, in effect, this legal action was taken by the alternative health industry – and paid for by this industry – which is big business.

We can get some idea of the costs involved from the financial statements of the NZ Health Trust (strangely registered as a charity) and New Health NZ (statements available on the society’s register). Unfortunately, the latest statements only provide information for the 2014 and 2015 financial years – but the legal action is several years old so you can get an idea of the money flows involved.

The NZ health Trust appears to receive grants in the hundreds of thousands per year from the alternative health industry($250,000 in 2014 and $190,000 in 2015). In its turn, it distributed “grants & donations” in the hundreds of thousands (125,000 in 2014 and $130,000 in 2015).

nz-health-trust

New Health NZ received grants of around $100,000 per year ($100,00 in 2014 and $95,000 in 2015). It paid out similar amounts in “Professional and Consultancy Fees” ($95,156 in 2014 and $95,124 in 2015).

new-health-nz

These amounts are of the order required for the legal actions taken by this group.

So here we see a money flow from the “natural”/alternative health industry, through the New Zealand Health Trust to New Health NZ to pay for legal attempts to halt community water fluoridation.

At least, this time, New Health NZ was ordered to pay costs – a sure sign that the court believes their legal actions no longer have any community value.

A sign that they should stop promoting their myth that community water fluoridation is a medicine – they should stop flogging that dead horse.

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3 responses to “Flogging a dead horse – anti-fluoridationists lose in court again”

  1. zammbi | September 28, 2016 at 10:39 am |

    The “societies.govt.nz” link is broken. This is because most links on that website are temporary.

    Like

  2. Ken | September 28, 2016 at 12:20 pm |

    Strange, it’s working for me.
    Perhaps a cookie is involved?

    Like

  3. chris | September 28, 2016 at 3:07 pm |

    And these are the people who make a big noise about “Big Pharmo” funding the addition of fluoride to drinking water
    But they never show any proof of this statement
    On the other hand it is not hard to find the Anti fluoride lobby are funded by some of the biggest Natural Health, manufactures and retailers in the western world

    Health Liberty is a nonprofit coalition formed by Mercola.com, National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), Fluoride Action Network (FAN), Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT), Organic Consumers Association (OCA), and Consumers for Dental Choice, to help protect every American’s freedom to make voluntary health choices. Each partner-organization has a rich history of advocacy and active campaigning for change and better access to truly empowering health information.
    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/10/01/about-health-liberty.aspx

    Dr. Joseph Mercola has been the subject of a number of United States Food and Drug Administration Warning Letters related to his health advocacy activities:

    02/16/2005 – Living Fuel RX(TM) and Coconut Oil Products – For marketing products for a medical use which classifies those products as drugs in violation of 201(g)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

    09/21/2006 – Optimal Wellness Center – For both labeling / marketing health supplements for purposes which would render them to be classified as regulated drugs as well failing to provide adequate directions for use upon the label in the event that they were legally sold as drugs.

    03/11/2011 – Re: Meditherm Med2000 Infrared cameras – For marketing a telethermographic camera for medical purposes which have not been FDA approved.

    12/16/2011 – Milk Specialties Global – Wautoma – Failure to have tested for purity, strength, identity, and composition “Dr. Mercola Vitamin K2” and others

    Dr. David Gorski, surgeon and head of Science Based Medicine, about Mercola, he said, “In my opinion, Joe Mercola is arguably the foremost promoter of quackery on the Internet in business today. Certainly, he is one of the top three. He is rabidly anti-vaccine, having paid for ads for Barbara Loe Fisher’s anti-vaccine group the National Vaccine Information Center to air on the Times Square JumboTron, and seemingly there’s no pseudoscience too ridiculous to promote. Perhaps the best example of this was his fawning interview with Tullio Simoncini, a medical huckster who claims that all cancer is due to fungus because tumors are white and fungus is white (I wonder how he explains melanoma, which is brownish to black) and that the cure is to inject sodium bicarbonate solution into them.”

    And these are the people who say fluoride is a danger to human health

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