Safe food

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There are increasing levels of diet-related health issues in Aotearoa New Zealand. Many illnesses have been linked to food including diabetes, attention deficit disorder, fertility problems, thyroid disorders, obesity, Alzheimer’s and cancer. Aotearoa New Zealand has the third highest adult obesity rate in the OECD and one in ten children are obese. The majority of people in the developed world eats excessive quantities of highly processed pre-packaged foods and have no idea about the number of harmful chemicals they are exposed to every day through the food they eat. Many pesticides have been consistently linked to cancers and other long-term illnesses.

Micronutrients are essential for good health but are commonly lacking or diminished in industrially produced food. This has led to a demand for safe, organic food free of harmful chemicals. There is a growing awareness of food and how it determines health. People are now becoming more aware of what is in our food and demanding to know how it is grown.

The Soil & Health Association believes that everyone has a right to safe food, which covers the right to have food free from:

Microbial contamination, harmful organisms, pesticide, harmful chemical, and heavy metal contaminants, harmful additives, irradiation, and genetic engineering.

Soil & Health believes that government intervention and regulation are required to ensure that everyone has access to a healthy, balanced diet, and the knowledge and means with which to make the best food choices.

Soil & Health supports:

Healthy food being available in all public institutions such as early childhood centres, schools, hospitals, retirement homes and prisons.

Education in schools about healthy diets and nutrition.

A greater emphasis on primary and preventive health care.

Photo credit: Nick Holmes

Food labelling

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To know our food is safe and free from contamination and harmful residues is a fundamental human right. However the right to know exactly what we are eating is often taken away and even routinely denied to us. While growing our own food or buying local and organic food remains the best way to ensure we know what we are eating, we must also know what has been sprayed onto crops and soil, added to foods, and used in the processing of the food we purchase.

Soil & Health is committed to advocating for clear and honest food labelling in Aotearoa New Zealand. We believe that transparent food labelling is fundamental in allowing people to make informed choices.

We stand for:

Country-of-origin labelling.

Labelling of the origin and production method for all meat, eggs and dairy products used in any food, and the source of all seafood. The country where the product is processed should also be identified.

All oils (e.g. palm oil, canola etc.) being specifically declared as an ingredient where used, not just as a ‘vegetable oil’.

Regulations and guidelines on claims about natural, sustainable, locally produced, fairly traded, and organic, being developed to ensure that people are not misled or deceived.

GE foods or foods containing GE ingredients being labelled as including or containing GE ingredients.

Labelling of any irradiated food or food ingredient.

Labelling standards for animal welfare claims.

                                            Photo credit: Nick Holmes

Fluoride in local body water supplies

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In New Zealand around 60% of public water supplies have fluoride added to prevent dental decay. The main chemicals used to fluoridate drinking water are known as silicofluorides. These fluorides are not pharmaceutical-grade fluoride products but unprocessed toxic industrial by-products of the phosphate fertiliser industry. There is conflicting evidence on the benefits of water fluoridation to dental health. There is also a growing medical concern about the cumulative negative wider health impacts of ingestion of fluoride. Many people in New Zealand already manifest dental symptoms of fluorosis – fluoride overdose. New Zealanders are already ingesting elevated levels of fluoride from plants and animals raised on land treated with phosphate which contains naturally occurring fluorides.

The Soil & Health Association is opposed to artificial fluoridation of public water supplies in New Zealand. We believe that adding fluoride to local body water supplies is a form of forced medication. We believe that individuals should have a right to choose whether they want to ingest fluoride or not. We believe that dental health is best achieved through a healthy diet and eating fresh, wholesome organic foods.

                                            Photo credit: Nick Holmes

Animal welfare

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Every year thousands of animals in New Zealand are farmed intensively, kept in unhygienic and cramped conditions, with high levels of stress and injury, and unable to express normal behaviours. This is ethically unacceptable and contrary to the stated principles in the Animal Welfare Act.  Additionally, large numbers are subjected to cruelty through drug and chemical testing.

The Soil & Health Association advocates for the highest standards of animal welfare.

We believe that:

All animals should be treated with compassion and respect and be optimally nourished.

If animals are to be slaughtered then this should be done in the most humane way possible and as close to the point of production as possible to reduce stress on the animals.

Any farming methods that cause animals to suffer or prevent them from expressing normal patterns of behaviour should be phased out.

Drug and chemical testing should use in silico and in vivo methods to the greatest extent possible.

We are also opposed to:

The live exporting of animals.

The use of sow crates, battery cages, colony cages, and standing-room-only pens for cattle, and any other forms of close confinement for animals that prevent them from expressing their natural instincts and tendencies.

Cruel practices such as debeaking and toe-cutting of poultry, tail docking of cows and pigs and mulesing of sheep.

Vivisection.

Unnecessary testing of drugs and chemicals on animals including testing GMO and GE cloning.

 

We support the internationally recognised Five Freedoms of animal welfare.

                                            Photo credit: Nick Holmes

Seed saving

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Much of the agricultural diversity that has taken 10,000 years to create is under threat due to industrialised agriculture. As late as 1900 there were over 1500 different food crops, each further represented by thousands of different cultivated varieties. Today however over 90% of the world’s food is made up of only 30 different food crops, and of these only four (wheat, rice, corn and soybeans) provide 75% of the calories consumed by humans.

Industrialised agriculture has forced reliance on a small number of crops with narrow genetic diversity. These highly specialised crop cultivars require stable climates and specific growing conditions, making them highly vulnerable to any disturbances. As a result we are seeing a loss of long-term and local crop diversity and resilience, which in turn favours large agribusiness companies by allowing them to have a monopoly on seed supply. This is all at the expense of farming livelihoods and food security with an increased risk of large-scale crop failures, pest and disease outbreaks and pandemics. In addition, industrialised agriculture has led to a reduction in the nutritive value of food.

The Soil & Health Association:

Believes that everyone should have the right to save their own seed and the right to grow, consume and distribute locally adapted varieties of seed.

Supports any government initiative that improves the situation for locally saved seeds and propagation material useful for organic cultivation.

Encourages people to use their own local, traditional and heritage seed varieties and to plant a diversity of cultivars, both for personal and commercial production.

Supports local seed banks, seed libraries and the conservation of locally selected seed varieties.

Advocates for the mandatory labelling of all ingredients used in any seed treatment.

                                            Photo credit: Nick Holmes

GE/GM

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Genetic engineering (GE), also known as genetic modification (GM), is one of the most controversial technologies of recent times. Soil & Health has found no economic, health or environmental benefits from GE. There is great uncertainty around the adverse effects of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) on natural resources, ecosystems and also on human health. The risks are large and consequences could be irreversible. If GMOs were to be released into the environment, they can be very difficult, if not impossible, to eradicate. The GE-free food producer status of an individual, district or region would likely be permanently lost, along with any marketing advantages that status provides.

Current laws are inadequate to hold GMO users liable for any adverse consequences, intended or even if unintended. Therefore the public is likely to have to pay for anything that might go wrong.

The Soil & Health Association is opposed to the use of GE ingredients and GMOs in human and animal food, and is opposed to the outdoor use of any GE crops, animals and other organisms in Aotearoa New Zealand. We believe that we would do better for our farmers, environment and human health by retaining our market advantage of being GE free.

We support:

  • New Zealand remaining a GE-free country.
  • The establishment of GE-free regions, in the event of there being no Aotearoa New Zealand wide GE-free strategy.
  • Mandatory and comprehensive labelling for any products containing GE ingredients (including products from animals fed GE feed).
  • The precautionary principle and the imposition of strict conditions and severe penalties must be placed on any research and trialling of GE.
  • A ban on field-testing and production of GE crops, animals, trees and other organisms in New Zealand.
  • A ban of all GE food and animal feed imports into Aotearoa New Zealand.
  • Strong precautionary approach to new/novel technologies.

                                            Photo credit: Nick Holmes

Food Sovereignty policy

Food Sovereignty, resilience & security

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Everyone should be able to access affordable, safe and nutritious food that is produced in a way that enhances the environment.

The Soil & Health Association is committed to strengthening food sovereignty in Aotearoa New Zealand by:

  • Supporting the right to food as recognised by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
  •  Acknowledging Te Tiriti o Waitangi / The Treaty of Waitangi
  • Opposing local food supply being largely subject to international market forces.
  • Opposing multinational corporations’ control over seed and fertiliser patents.
  • Advocating for government support of local food production and processing, for example through food procurement policies.
  • Advocating for increased resilience and self-sufficiency of food production.-
  • Supporting local food economies and initiatives such as community-supported agriculture, community gardens and food forests, public orchards, seed banks and farmers markets.
  • Encouraging the development of food gardens and gardening education in public institutions such as early childhood centres, schools, marae, prisons, hospitals and retirement homes.

We believe in the right of people to:

Be able to access safe and nutritious food, grow diverse and nutritious food, and equip themselves with the resources and knowledge needed to sustain themselves and their communities.

We believe that:

Control of food should be placed in local communities and in a way that is socially, economically and culturally appropriate to their bioregion.

Organic, agroecological and regenerative farming can meet Aotearoa New Zealand’s nutritional needs, our climate change obligations, and improve the prosperity of our economy.

Climate change

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Agriculture, poorly executed, is one of the largest contributors to climate change. In Aotearoa New Zealand nearly 50% of greenhouse gas emissions are caused by agriculture. Agriculture can contribute to climate change through the use of synthetic fertilisers, which tend to burn up carbon in the soil, destabilize soil microbe populations and release nitrous oxide. This adds to nutrient deficient, unhealthy, pesticide dependent plants and animals, greater fossil fuel use in transportation, and the release of CO2 into the atmosphere from soil degradation and erosion. Organic agriculture however can work to mitigate climate change through:

Reducing greenhouse gases, especially the release of CO2 from the soil, by avoiding high synthetic soluble nitrogen fertilisers and minimising nutrient losses.

Sequestering carbon in soil and plant biomass by building organic matter in soil, encouraging a greater use of trees and perennial plants, and protecting and enhancing indigenous ecosystems.

Minimising energy consumption by eliminating the energy required in manufacturing synthetic fertilisers, and by reducing reliance on external inputs, by using internal farm inputs as much as possible, thus reducing fuel used for manufacture and transport.

Minerals such as lime, magnesium and trace elements that provide the mineral balance and amounts needed for microbial, root and humus growth, which is fundamental for building healthy soils and sequestering carbon.

Reducing methane emissions from ruminant animals by having lower stock density and by planting high-tannin species such as birdsfoot trefoil, and deep-rooted herbs that recycle minerals with natural efficiency, which in turn reduce methane emissions from stock that eat them.

Using agro-ecological systems that implement crop and stock rotation systems, with Holistic Management which build healthy soils, healthy plants and healthy livestock.

The Soil & Health Association believes it is possible to rapidly and profitably transform Aotearoa New Zealand agriculture from a net emitter of greenhouse gases to net sequesterer. Soil & Health commits to providing education and information to farmers on approaches to grazing and cultivation and agroforestry/farm forestry that will quickly turn NZ agriculture into a net sequesterer of atmospheric carbon in the form of long-term humus in productive, profitable soils and sustainable woodlots.

We are committed to:

Supporting organic farming and land-use practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and work to mitigate climate change.

Encouraging appropriate organic agriculture practices that sequester carbon in soil and plant biomass such as taller grass grazing, agro-forestry, cover cropping, mixed cropping, food forests and urban gardens.

Supporting small-scale and local food production and consumption to reduce emissions released through transportation.

 We believe that organic agriculture:

Is part of the solution to climate change.

Can and should form the basis of national governmental policies and common farming practices to reverse climate change.

                                            Photo credit: Nick Holmes

Organics

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Agriculture is one of humankind’s most basic activities because all people need to nourish themselves daily.

It is therefore also the biggest way we as humans affect the world around us. Agriculture however, poorly executed, is one of the largest contributors to climate change and is the greatest immediate threat to species and ecosystems around the world. Agriculture can also involve the unethical mistreatment and exploitation of both people and animals.

The Principles of Organic Agriculture, established by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), serve to inspire the organic movement in its full diversity, presented with a vision of their world-wide adoption.

The Soil & Health Association supports IFOAM’s four principles of organic agriculture which are:

  • Health – organic agriculture should sustain and enhance the health of soil, plant, animal, human and planet as one and indivisible
  • Ecology – organic agriculture should be based on living ecological systems and cycles, work with them, emulate them and help sustain them
  • Fairness – organic agriculture should build on relationships that ensure fairness with regard to the common environment and life opportunities
  • Care – organic agriculture should be managed in a precautionary and responsible manner to protect the health and well-being of current and future generations and the environment.

Read our recent discussion of organics – Safe Food & Healthy Families

                                            Photo credit: Nick Holmes

Submission on the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Bill

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Introduction

  1. The Soil & Health Association of New Zealand Inc. (“Soil & Health”) was incorporated under the Incorporated Societies Act 1908 on 4 December 1942. Soil & Health’s objectives broadly include soil health and the promotion of organic gardening and farming. Its membership is chiefly composed of home gardeners and consumers, organic farmers and growers, secondary producers, retailers and restaurateurs. Its age and membership make it the oldest and largest representative organic organisation in New Zealand.
  2. Soil & Health is aware that currently in New Zealand around 60% of public water supplies have fluoride added as a treatment for dental decay. We are also aware that there is conflicting evidence on the benefits of water fluoridation to dental health and that there is growing medical concern about the cumulative negative wider health impacts of ingestion of fluoride and its adverse effects on the environment. The main chemicals used to fluoridate drinking water are known as silicofluorides. These fluorides are not pharmaceutical-grade fluoride products but unprocessed toxic industrial chemical by-products of the phosphate fertiliser industry.
  1. As an organisation that advocates for organics we are opposed to the use of toxic chemicals in New Zealand. We are therefore opposed to the artificial fluoridation of public water supplies. We believe that adding fluoride to local body water supplies is a form of forced medication and therefore is a breach of section 10 of the Bill of Rights Act 1990. We strongly believe that individuals should have a right to choose whether they want to ingest fluoride or not. We believe that dental health is best achieved through a healthy diet and eating fresh, wholesome organic foods.

Detailed submissions

The role of the DHBs and local democracy

  1. The Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Bill (“the Bill”) was introduced to Parliament in order to enable District Health Boards (“DHBs”) rather than local councils to decide whether community water supplies are fluoridated “with the intention that the change would benefit over 1.4 million New Zealanders who live in areas where networked community water supplies are not currently fluoridated.”[1] This Bill therefore is fundamentally about facilitating the roll out of fluoridation of community water supplies across New Zealand. The Bill itself states in its Explanatory Note that: “Transferring decision-making to DHBs is expected to enable extended fluoridation coverage”.[2]
  2. The Regulatory Impact Statement says: “The Ministry of Health has considered a range of options for managing fluoridation and increasing the proportion of the population having access to fluoridated water supplies.”[3] We argue that “having access” implies having a choice. Under the Bill however there will not be a choice and in fact the Bill is about removing the ability for local communities to have a say on fluoridation. The Bill is therefore dishonest.
  3. It has been argued in the first reading of the Bill that democracy is upheld because the DHB’s have locally elected representatives, and are better placed to make decisions about the health benefits and risks of fluoridation. Part 1 Clause 8(2) of the Bill however sets out only two things the DHBs must consider when making a decision on, which are:

(a) the scientific evidence on the effectiveness on dental health; and

(b) whether the benefits outweigh the costs.

There is no provision for the DHBs to take on board community views, nor to assess health risks or environmental effects. Nor can the DHBs go against Ministry of Health objectives.

  1. The process as it currently exists for considering fluoridation enables local decision making amongst the communities affected. All residents of local councils who want to participate in the process can voice their opinion and a council decision can be appealed in court – as has recently happened in the case of Health New Zealand Inc v South Taranaki District Council.[4] Transferring the decision making from councils to DHBs will effectively remove the ability of communities to be fully involved in the investigation and reporting of any health, community or ecological impacts.
  1. We consider that the DHBs are also less representative of communities than councils because they are not independent. Under the New Zealand Health and Disability Act 2000 DHB’s “must pursue its objectives in accordance with any plan prepared under section 38, its statement of intent, and any directions or requirements given to it by the Minister”[5] and “The Minister may give a direction to all DHBs to comply with stated requirements for the purpose of supporting government policy on improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the public health and disability sector.”[6]

The toxicity of fluoride

  1. The type of fluoride that is added to drinking water is not naturally occurring calcium fluoride, or even pharmaceutical grade sodium fluoride.[7] It is a contaminated chemical by-product of the phosphate fertilizer manufacturing process, known as hydrofluorosilicic acid (“HFA”).[8] It is concentrated, highly toxic and contains hazardous impurities. Due to it’s toxicity by law it cannot be dumped onto the land, into rivers or the sea and cannot be discharged to air. Uranium and radium are found in HFA, both of which are known carcinogens. Two decay products of uranium are even more carcinogenic: radon-222 and polonium-210. Polonium decays into stable lead 206, raising significant health risks, especially for children. Research has shown that drinking fluoridated water increases lead absorption.[9]
  1. New Zealanders are already ingesting elevated levels of fluoride from plants and animals raised on land treated with phosphate which contains naturally occurring fluorides and many people already manifest dental symptoms of fluorosis – fluoride overdose. Further there is no antidote for fluoride toxicity and fluoride does not absorb to activated charcoal in filters.[10]
  1. A further concern is that the Bill’s is sole focus is on dental health with no requirement for the DHBs to assess risk to other parts of the body such as kidneys, liver, brain and thyroid.

Fluoride in the environment

  1. Fluoride ions are directly toxic to aquatic life, and accumulate in the tissues, at concentrations where absorption rates exceed excretion rates.[11] In a scientific journal article titled ‘Fluoride toxicity to aquatic animals’ Julio A. Camargo states how even at concentrations as low as 0.5 mg F−/l fluoride in soft water can adversely affect invertebrates and fishes. Camargo further states that “safe levels below this fluoride concentration are recommended in order to protect freshwater animals from fluoride pollution.”[12] There are other studies that indicate levels below water fluoridation level, 1.5ppm, have lethal and other adverse effects on fish. Delayed hatching of rainbow trout has occurred at 1.5ppm6, brown mussels have died at 1.4ppm7; an alga (Porphyria tenera) was killed by a four-hour fumigation with fluoride with a critical concentration of 0.9ppm 8, and levels below 0.1ppm were shown to be lethal to the water flea, Daphnia magna.[13]
  1. Only 1% of water from community water supplies is ingested by humans, the remaining 99% is discharged into the environment via the wastewater systems. Fluoride is not filtered out by wastewater plants. In 2015 an investigation found that approximately half a tonne of HFA is discharged every year into Lake Taupo via the Hangarito stream from the township of Turangi alone.[14] The safety datasheet for HFA by Orica states it is an exotoxin and to avoid discharge to waterways. New Zealand waterways are already in a dire state with a staggering 62% of monitored waterways being unsafe for swimming. Increasing the amount of fluoridation in local body water supplies will only make this worse.
  1. Of concern for the Bill is that transferring the decision making to the DHBs will mean that environmental effects of fluoride will no longer be taken into account. The DHBs role is to deliver public health services, not to take into account environmental effects. Whereas councils can assess environmental effects when considering fluoridation, DHBs cannot, because their statutory role is restricted to the delivery of health services.

The need for a precautionary approach

  1. Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration mentions the precautionary approach as follows:

“In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation”

  1. The precautionary approach has been considered a milestone in its ability to reduce environmental risk as it involves an anticipatory preventative action in response to uncertainty. In its use public authorities are not only required to anticipate possible adverse effects that could arise from activities but also to act to control the risks even when it is still uncertain whether adverse effects will occur.
  1. A report compiled in 2013 for the Government of Ireland, the European Commission and the World Health Organisation titled ‘Public Health Investigation of Epidemiological Data on Disease and Mortality in Ireland related to Water Fluoridation and Fluoride Exposure’ found that public health authorities have pursued a policy of medicating the population with fluoridation chemicals for half a century without undertaking any clinical trials, medical, toxicological, scientific or epidemiological studies to examine how exposure to such chemicals may be impacting on the general health of the population. The report concludes that in the absence of any scientific data proponents of water fluoridation continue to believe that the policy is both safe and effective for all sectors of society regardless of the age, nutritional requirements, medical status or total dietary intake of fluoride of individuals.[15]
  1. While studies have shown that a lifetime exposure to fluoride can lead to health risks, especially to those with challenged immune systems and the young and the elderly, [16] it is still unknown at what point HFA causes harm. Our health authorities in New Zealand have not yet found the real safe level to protect sensitive groups, particularly people with kidney disease, diabetes and bottle-fed babies. No safety studies have ever been conducted anywhere in the world.
  1. Soil & Health strongly endorses a precautionary approach to fluoridation of local body water supplies at all levels of government and regulation. Due to the uncertainties of the safety of water fluoridation we consider that applying the precautionary approach should involve a moratorium on the fluoridation of local body water supplies until further research is undertaken.

Conclusion

  1. As set out above Soil & Health opposes the introduction of the Bill. Under the Bill local decision making will be removed, making fluoridation of local body water supplies easier to implement. A number of independent scientific studies have raised serious concerns about the adverse effects that HFA has on human health and the environment.
  1. We consider that to transfer decision making to the DHB’s the government is showing disregard for appropriate decision making, especially when any risk for those affected is not required to be assessed, nor can the DHBs assess environmental effects or go against Ministry of Health objectives.
  1. We urge the select committee to apply the precautionary approach and implement a moratorium on the fluoridation of local body water supplies until an ‘independent’ review of its effects on human health and the environment is undertaken.

Soil & Health wish to be in heard in support of our submission.

 

Yours sincerely

Name: Mischa Davis

Position: Policy Advisor

The Soil & Health Association

PO Box 340002

Birkenhead

Auckland 0746

Phone: 0212667754

Email: advocacy@organicnz.org.nz

Website: www.organicnz.org.nz

[1] Background to Bill https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bills-digests/document/51PLLaw24221/health-fluoridation-of-drinking-water-amendment-bill

[2] Page 1 the Bill.

[3] Page 1 Regulatory Impact Statement.

[4] New Health New Zealand Inc v South Taranaki District Council – [2014] NZHC 395

[5] Section 22 (2).

[6] Section 33B (1).

[7] https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ipcsneng/neng1233.html

[8]http://www.waternz.org.nz/Folder?Action=View%20File&Folder_id=315&File=140604_nzwwa_f_gpg_revision_final.pdf

[9] http://cof-cof.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Masters-Coplan-Water-Treatment-With-Silicofluorides-And-Lead-Toxicity-International-Journal-Of-Environmental-Studies-1999.pdf and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17420053

[10] http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/814774-overview

[11] http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wat/wq/BCguidelines/fluoride/fluoridetoo-04.html

[12] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045653502004988

[13] Dave G. Effects of fluoride on growth reproduction and survival in Daphnia magna, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 78c (2)

[14] http://fluoridefree.org.nz/campaigns/taupo-turangi/

[15] http://www.enviro.ie/feb2013.pdf

[16] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0892036214001809 and https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/tp11-c2.pdf

You can address your submission to:

Committee Secretariat

Health

Parliament Buildings

Wellington