Pegasus Health Fluoridation Statement

Pegasus Health (Charitable) Limited is a large primary health care organisation in Canterbury, with over 450,000 people enrolled in its primary care service, representing the majority of the Christchurch population.

Pegasus is committed to promoting, maintaining, and restoring the health of its enrolled population, and to working with other organisations across the health sector to improve access to health services and reduce health inequities.

Oral health is a priority for Pegasus Health. In Canterbury, dental decay is highest among our Pacific and Māori populations, particularly affecting the oral health of children in these communities. The most effective way to reduce the risk of dental decay is through fluoridation of drinking water because this can be delivered at a population level.

A 2014 report by the Royal Society of New Zealand and the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor found that no adverse effects of water fluoridation have been identified at the levels used in New Zealand.

This year, a scientific paper by Hobbs and colleagues showed that New Zealand children who live in areas without fluoridated water are more likely to be admitted to hospital needing dental care than children who live in areas with fluoridated water. The link between non-fluoridated water and hospitalisation was even stronger for children from lower socioeconomic areas. (2)

Christchurch children are now disadvantaged by living in the only large metropolitan region without fluoridated drinking water – a clear example of ‘postcode inequity’, which could be addressed by passing the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Bill. Only a little more than half of New Zealand public water supplies are fluoridated serving less than half the population. (1)

The Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Bill was introduced in 2016, and had progressed to its second reading by 2018. The Act is likely to empower District Health Boards (DHBs) to give direction to local authorities in their regions about fluoridation of local government drinking water supplies.

In November 2019, the New Zealand Dental Association stated that it would like to see more cross-party support in Parliament for the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Bill.

Pegasus Health believes that the authority to fluoridate the drinking water supply belongs centrally (at national level), by transferring decision-making to the Director-General of Health, rather than regionally with individual DHBs, and notes that this was one of the options in the original cabinet paper.

We encourage cross-party support for the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Bill, and strongly support fluoridation of drinking water supplies to improve the health of the New Zealand population.

1. Royal Society of New Zealand and the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor. (2014). Health effects of water fluoridation: A review of the scientific evidence. Auckland, New Zealand.
2. Hobbs M, Wade A, Jones P, et al. (2020) Area-level deprivation, childhood ambulatory sensitive hospitalizations and community water fluoridation: evidence from New Zealand. Int J Epidemiology doi: 10.1093/ije/dyaa043

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