Three more European countries – Ireland, Finland, and Slovakia – have announced plans to phase out amalgam use!
The intense European campaign run by Consumers for Dental Choice and the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry team resulted in a new European Union regulation that banned the use of amalgam in children under 15 years old, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers, starting 1 July 2018. That same regulation requires EU countries to submit national plans to phase down their overall use of amalgam.
So we took action:
- We sent EU countries guidance to assist in constructing an effective national plan.
- Our European team members had meetings with key government officials.
- We worked with other nonprofit groups in the same way we create coalitions on every continent, including North America.
Good news: Ireland, Finland, and Slovakia released national plans that will end all amalgam use on a timetable. These countries will be joining Sweden (a fellow EU member state) and Norway (a non-EU country) in leading the way to mercury-free dentistry for Europe.
We congratulate these countries on taking this important step to protect our planet and patients from this outdated mercury product. Now the heat is on U.S. FDA and Health Canada to get off the dime!