The voters of the Thames water supply area of service have decided that fluoridation of the town water supply should continue.

With all votes counted after the close of the referendum at 12pm today, 2,151 votes were to continue fluoridation, while 795 votes were to stop fluoridation.

Just under 73 per cent of Thames voters who participated in the binding referendum which closed today have opted to continue fluoridation of the town's water supply. Photo: File

Of the 5,218 registered eligible voters, 56.5 per cent, or 2,947 people, voted in the referendum, while one blank vote was returned.

The outcome of the referendum is binding on the Thames-Coromandel District Council, and accordingly, fluoridation of the water supply will continue.

Council will ratify the referendum result at its next meeting on December 9.

Thames is the only town in the Coromandel to add fluoride to its water supply. Council records indicate fluoride was added to the water when the town's water treatment plant was first operational in 1971.

ANTI-FLUORIDATION CAMPAIGN IN THAMES BREACHES RULES

The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint made by the Making Sense of Fluoride over signs and materials produced by Anti-fluoridation campaigners leading up to the referendum.

Details of the complaint will be released publicly next Monday, November 9.

But it can be revealed that the authority found the anti-fluoridation material to be misleading and designed to play on consumers' fear, says MSoF president Daniel Ryan.

For more information on the background of the referendum visit the Thames-Coromandel District Council's website at: www.tcdc.govt.nz/fluoridereferendum