Fifteen state and local public officials or former officials -- senators, representatives, councilmen, commissioners, and dental board members -- have submitted a joint letter asking FDA to move quickly to issue warnings for all and no mercury fillings for children and young women. The letter follows.
---Charlie Brown
Comment on Document ID: FDA-2008-N-0163-0001 has been sent. Tracking number 8069dd30
From: State and Local Public Officials Mercury-Free Caucus
To: U.S. Food & Drug Administration, 7/28/08
We request disclosure of mercury to all, and strong protective steps for children and young women, when you classify mercury fillings
We are state and local public officials, or former public officials, from all regions of this nation, of different political parties and races, who have come together to express our deep concern about the continued use of mercury in dentistry. We compliment FDA for its decision to classify mercury amalgam, and ask that you move expeditiously. We urge you to make all Americans aware that “silver fillings” are really mercury fillings, and to take strong action to protect America’s children from mercury exposure via amalgam.
The public in our states, especially expectant mothers and parents of young children, generally want to protect their unborn children, their babies, and their children from mercury exposure. The tragedy is that many of our constituents still do not know that amalgam is mainly mercury, and that vapors from the amalgam go from a child’s teeth to his or her developing brain, and go from a mother’s teeth to her baby in utero or to her nursing infant through the breast milk. Thus, we request that you take aggressive steps to ensure that every patient is told, in plain language, that amalgam, or silver fillings, are mainly mercury, that mercury vapors go from the fillings to the brain and to the uterus, and that alternatives to mercury amalgam exist to fill cavities.
Second, we compliment FDA for recognizing, in its new website, that mercury from dental amalgam “ may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetuses.” With that in mind, only one option is available: stop exposing children and pregnant women to mercury amalgam. We therefore urge special attention to protect our children, born and unborn, by requiring alternatives to mercury amalgam for children and for young women.
Third, we are aware that mercury amalgam is no longer needed for oral health care. For upper-income adults, mercury amalgam is a thing of the past. As public officials, we fear the emergence of two-tiered dentistry. Hence, FDA needs to ensure that patients and parents are told that alternatives to amalgam exist, and, further, FDA needs to activate the transition so third-party payers will cover resin composite as readily as they now cover amalgam.
Thank you for considering our views.
State Lawmakers
The Honorable Teresa Fedor, State Senator, Ohio
The Honorable Karen Johnson, State Senator, Arizona
The Honorable Daylin Leach, State Representative, Pennsylvania
The Honorable Jon Peterson, State Representative, Ohio
The Honorable Charlotte Pritt, former State Senator, West Virginia
The Honorable John Rogers, State Representative, Alabama
The Honorable Sandra Williams, State Representative, Ohio
Local Lawmakers
The Honorable Michael J. London, Council, Trumbull, Connecticut
The Honorable Dan Sukel, former Councilman, Burbank, Illinois
The Honorable Michael Saville, Alderman, Aurora, Illinois
State Commissioners
The Honorable Michael Bender, Member, Governor’s Advisory Commission on Mercury, Vermont
Dental Board Members
The Honorable Kevin Biggers, former Member, Dental Board of California
The Honorable Ron King, former Member, Minnesota Board of Dentistry
The Honorable Jessica Saepoff, Member, Dental Quality Assurance Commission of Washington
The Honorable Chester L. Yokoyama, former Member, Dental Board of California
FDA may respond to:
State and Local Public Officials Mercury-Free Caucus
c/o Consumers for Dental Choice
316 F St., N.E., Suite 210, Washington DC 20002