Dear Christopher Luxon,

Considerable uncertainty currently surrounds the issue of water fluoridation.

In NZ in 2018 the Supreme Court ruled that fluoridation is a compulsory medical treatment.

On 10 November 2023 the Wellington High Court ruled that the current fluoridation directives are illegal and ordered the Director-General of Health to carry out a Bill of Rights analysis in relation to the right to refuse medical treatment. The judge suggested that subjects covered by such an analysis should include the safety of fluoridation. In the past Manatū Hauora Ministry of Health has relied on the Office of the Prime Minister's Chief Scientific Advisor for safety analyses.

Therefore my first request is for documents (including drafts), reports, memos, letters, notes and emails (including material stored in computers and databases) dated 10 November 2023 or later that are related to the health effects of fluoridation and held by OPMCSA.

In February of this year in the USA, a trial was held under the provisions of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TCSA) in which the plaintiffs requested the court to order the US Environmental Protection Agency to regulate water fluoridation, arguing that fluoridation represented "an unreasonable risk of injury to health." The trial concluded on 20 February and the judge has yet to make a ruling.

My second request is for documents (including drafts), reports, memos, letters, notes and emails (including material stored in computers and databases) dated 01 January 2024 or later related to the TCSA trial, that are held by OPMCSA.

Key evidence presented at the trial were two documents from the US National Toxicology Program entitled "Draft NTP Monograph on the State of the Science Concerning Fluoride Exposure and Neurodevelopmental and Cognitive Health Effects: A Systematic Review" and "Association between fluoride exposure and children’s intelligence: A systematic review and meta-analysis". These were made public on 15 March 2023 under the title, "Documents provided to the NTP Board of Scientific Counselors for review and deliberation regarding the DRAFT NTP Monograph on Fluoride and DRAFT Meta-Analysis".

My third request request is for documents (including drafts), reports, memos, letters, notes and emails (including material stored in computers and databases) dated 01 March 2023 or later related any of these documents, that are held by OPMCSA.

Yours faithfully,
John Christie