Teresa Binstock wrote:
When I read a novel, I expect to be enjoying fiction.
When I read an ADA comment or press-release about the
"safety" of amalgam, I am reading fiction. Norway will
be discontinuing amalgam fillings (2), Beth Daley
summarizes concern about environmental degradation
from discarded amalgam (1), and extensive lab- and
environmental-research makes clear that dental
amalgams and environmental amalgams are adverse to
humans (3). For instance, consider the information
presented at
http://www.altcorp.com/amalgampage.htm,
by Boyd Haley, Ph.D. Biochemist, Professor and Chair
of Chemistry Department, University of Kentucky. Just
as the tobacco industry and its executives, lawyers,
and "public-relations" propagandists finally silenced
their denials of "no proof", so too the time has come
for the American Dental Association to admit and
correct the damage perpetrated by denta amalgams.
Teresa Binstock
Researcher in Developmental & Behavioral Neuroanatomy
1.Mercury report targets dentists:
Calls on industry to keep toxin from going down drain
By Beth Daley,
Boston Globe (Online), 5 June 02.
The common dentist office practice of flushing old
mercury-containing fillings down the drain makes
dentists the single largest discharger of the toxic
metal into the nation's wastewater treatment plants,
according to a national study by a Boston-based public
health group. Most of the mercury is eventually
discharged into bodies of water.
In a time that everyone from hospitals to coal-burning
power plants are taking steps to reduce emissions of
mercury, Health Care Without Harm, along with other
environmental groups, is calling on dentists to follow
suit. US dentists still use about 40 tons a year of
mercury to make silver fillings. While the fillings
may be fine for years in people's mouths, the report
sponsors' say, they spend a much longer time in the
environment, where they can break down.
''In the last seven years, hospitals in Greater Boston
have reduced mercury pollution,'' said Bill Ravanesi,
campaign director of Health Care Without Harm, one of
the seven sponsors of the report ''Dentist The
Menace?'' He is calling for dentists to use separation
devices to capture the mercury before it is washed
away.
''Everyone is doing their part, but the dental
industry hasn't reduced their pollution at all,''
Ravanesi said.
Mercury is a naturally occurring metal, but it can do
nerve and brain damage in certain forms and harm
fetuses if pregnant women ingest it. Alice in
Wonderland's ''Mad Hatter'' was based on milliners who
suffered from mental problems after using mercury to
soften felt.
For the past 150 years, dentists have used an
inexpensive and durable amalgam of mercury, silver,
tin, copper, and zinc to fill cavities, with mercury
as the main ingredient. Critics for years have argued
that people with mercury fillings can become ill, but
the scientific community still considers the fillings
safe to use.
Although some dentists still use mercury-based
fillings, the use of white plastic composites is
increasing.
There has been little discussion on the dangers of
washed-away fillings until now. Yesterday, American
Dental Association officials said the fillings pose
little danger to the environment because the alloy
doesn't break down. Officials there said they don't
oppose in-office devices to prevent mercury from going
down the drain, but said it's hardly necessary.
''It's a very stable material,'' said Dan Meyer,
director of science for the American Dental
Association. ''We have an ethical and moral obligation
to do good, and we would never do anything to cause
harm to the public.''
Still, the report's sponsors, who include the Mercury
Policy Project in Vermont and Clean Water Action in
Boston, say evidence exists that the alloy does break
down, releasing mercury into the environment. For
around $50 a month, the report's author estimates,
dentists could capture and recycle the mercury from
old fillings.
''It can cost the price of a filling each month to
fix,'' said Michael Bender of the Mercury Policy
Project and author of the report.
New England is now one of the most aggressive in
reducing mercury use. Two years ago, New Hampshire
became the first state in the country to ban the use
of mercury in thermometers. Last summer, Massachusetts
public health officials urged young women and children
under age 12 to stop eating most fish from the state's
lakes and streams. Meanwhile, a first-of-its-kind
mercury law in New Hampshire calls for rules for
dentists to trap their mercury.
In 1985, dentists were about the sixth-largest user of
mercury, behind batteries and factories that use it to
produce chlorine, paint, and measuring instruments,
according to the report. Now, with mercury in many
products outlawed, phased-out, or reduced, dentists
are the third-largest user of mercury, behind the
makers of wiring devices and switches, and chlorine.
The report says dentists use about 44 tons of mercury
each year, most of which is eventually released into
the environment.
''To me, it's plain and simple,'' says G. Robert
Evans, a dentist with West Newton Dental Associates.
Evans said he gave up using mercury in fillings close
to 20 years ago. ''It's going to accumulate in the
environment if we don't keep it out. So I keep it
out.”
2. Norway Puts Brakes on Mercury Amalgams
[This report comes from Sally Bernard of
http://www.safeminds.org]
A long-awaited breakthrough in the war against amalgam
was announced on Norwegian radio this morning (31
May). The Norwegian Directorate of Health and Social
Welfare has announced that it will be sending its new
guidelines for use of dental materials out for hearing
in a couple of weeks, and expects them to take effect
from 1 January 2003.
The director for the Norwegian Directorate of Health
and Social Welfare was interviewed, and said that the
health authorities now recommend that dentists no
longer use amalgam on their patients. He said that the
new guidelines are based on newer research that has
revealed how mercury leaks from amalgam in the mouth
of patients.
The announcement was called a "turn-about" by the
Norwegian radio.The current president of the Norwegian
Dental Association was also interviewed, and said that
the Norwegian Dental Association was satisfied that
the guidelines stop short of a full ban on amalgam,
and that freedom of choice is still possible. He also
said that there has been controversy around the use of
amalgam for 100 years, and that the Dental Association
would not defend amalgam "at any price". The current
president of the Norwegian Dental Association works in
an amalgam-free dental practice, and has not used
amalgam for many years.
3.
http://www.altcorp.com/amalgampage.htm The Toxic
Exposure Study Trust (TEST) Foundation:
http://www.altcorp.com/testfoundation.htm
The TEST Foundation is the nonprofit research arm of
ALT Inc. founded by Dr. Boyd Haley, Ph.D. Biochemist,
Professor and Chair of Chemistry Department,
University of Kentucky, and Dr. Curt Pendergrass,
Ph.D. Toxicologist and President of ALT Inc. These
scientists have over 35 years combined research
experience in the study of protein biochemistry, heavy
metal neurotoxicology and neurodegenerative diseases.
see also:
http://www.altcorp.com/thimerosal.htm
http://www.altcorp.com/fdahypocracy.htm
A copy of this email was sent to ADA
via:
http://www.ada.org/email/email.asp?link=3
