The Children’s Amendment to the amalgam reduction requirement of the Minamata Convention will enter into force on 28 September 2023!
 
At the 4^th Conference of the Parties in Indonesia last March, our powerhouse coalition, the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, succeeded in gaining protection from dental amalgam for the most vulnerable consumers.  We won the Children’s Amendment, which requires that Parties “Exclude or not allow, by taking measures as appropriate, or recommend against the use of dental amalgam for the dental treatment of deciduous teeth, of patients under 15 years and of pregnant and breastfeeding women…”

Experts continue to express concern that many children of color and low-income children are still receiving mercury fillings despite the risks. In their Health Affairs article "Children of Color and Low-Income Kids Still Receive Unsafe Mercury-Based Dental Fillings", Dr. Rueben C. Warren, DDS, MPH, DrPH, MDiv of Tuskegee University and Dr. Mark Mitchell,MD, MPH, FACPM of George Mason University observe that

Reflecting a remarkable shift in global opinion, the nations of the world have amended the Minamata Convention on Mercury to call for ending amalgam use in children and women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. On 25 March 2022, the Parties to the Minamata Convention (that is, the national governments) decided unanimously to amend this international treaty to…,

Dentsply Sirona quietly stopped its amalgam sales, as announced last year. Now the other major U.S. amalgam manufacturer, Kerr (currently a subsidiary of Envista Holdings Corporation and previously a subsidiary of Danaher), has announced that it has “…ceased manufacturing all Alloy products, including all of our amalgam products that may contain mercury.”

In the clearest sign yet that amalgam is headed to the dustbins of history, Dentsply Sirona – the world's largest manufacturer of dental products – has exited the amalgam market. In its annual report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, this industry behemoth quietly noted:

"[W]e have discontinued sales for all amalgam products as of December 2020."

The coup de grâce for Dentsply appears to have been U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recommendation against amalgam use in high-risk populations. As Dentsply explained:

As the first part of the fourth Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP4) is held online Nov. 1-5, the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry welcomes the growing momentum to phase out the use of dental amalgam. The Minamata Convention requires Parties to phase down the use of dental amalgam, a filling material that is 50% mercury. The next step is to prepare for the global phase-out, and there is movement to phase out this toxic and polluting product at the second in-person part of COP4 in Bali on March 21-25, 2022.

After a multi-year strategy, we succeeded in making dental amalgam a major focus of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. FDA's recommendations against amalgam use for children; most women of childbearing age; and people with kidney impairments, neurological disease, and mercury hypersensitivities – a broad swath of Americans – are a gigantic step in the right direction.  We even got infographics to help further spread the word. Now we need to make sure this critical information is getting into the hands of the people who need it most: patients.

Our teammates in the European Union are gearing up for a showdown against the pro-mercury forces as the European Parliament prepares to consider a total phase-out of amalgam.  A creative strategy is needed in the pivotal country of Germany, and our German colleagues are up to the task!  They just launched the Bonn Declaration to End Dental Amalgam, a resolution calling on their federal government to…

• phase out amalgam use by 2025
• ensure that insurance fully covers mercury-free alternatives to amalgam 

Our campaign to phase out amalgam use now reaches into the G7 – the world's seven major economies. In response to the European Union regulation we won requiring Member States to submit a national amalgam plans, the government of Italy has announced that it will phase out amalgam use by 31 December 2024!

Showing its interest in the public learning about its recommendation against amalgam use in children, young women, and people with kidney and neurological disease (plus others), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has released two infographics to reinforce its point.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety communication recommending against amalgam use in people who are at higher risk from the adverse effects of mercury exposure.

The European Union has taken a gigantic leap toward a decision to ban dental amalgam!

The Philippines Department of Health just completed and signed an administrative order that phases out dental amalgam in the Philippines in three years! Furthermore, it immediately bans amalgam use in pregnant women, children under the age of 14, breastfeeding mothers, and persons with compromised renal and immune systems.

To dentists reading this message especially, who for so long had to justify practicing mercury-free dentistry, we can proudly announce that the tables have turned.

We are working from home during the pandemic, but the Consumers for Dental Choice team is still producing victories for mercury-free dentistry.

Now one of the largest African nations in both size and population, Tanzania, has adopted guidelines that will end amalgam use for children and for women of childbearing age.

At a by-invitation-only workshop last Thursday in Brussels, the European Union took a giant step toward phasing out all amalgam use – and Consumers for Dental Choice executive director Charlie Brown was there with our European team to make sure it happened!

The EU amalgam regulation we won in 2017 not only banned amalgam use in children, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers; it also required the European Commission (the staff arm of the European Union) to issue a report on the feasibility of phasing out dental amalgam use by 2030.

Amalgam was center stage at last month’s 3rd conference of the parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury – from beginning to end.

On opening day, the environment minister of Indonesia dramatically announced that its president would sign an order in 2020 ending amalgam use totally. Not to be outmatched, the European Union explained a process it will undertake next year that could result in a recommendation to phase out amalgam. Then the entire African region asked for a worldwide deadline for amalgam use.

We have opened the door for FDA action against amalgam.

After we launched the Chicago Declaration to End Dental Industry Mercury Use at the University of Illinois School of Public Health 18 months ago, the signatories obtained meetings with FDA at high levels, persuading the agency to re-open the amalgam issue. On November 13-14, an FDA scientific advisory committee met to discuss metal implants and specifically dental amalgam.

Our nonstop 18-month campaign focused on getting FDA moving against dental amalgam has borne fruit!

Nepal is the first country in Asia to announce its plan to phase out amalgam use.

Joining several other nations in Europe, Asia, and Africa, Nepal recently declared it is banning amalgam use right now in children under 15, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers. Then Nepal is going further: It will finish with amalgam use, on a plan being implemented over a five-year period, as alternatives become fully available there and while it revamps dental school curriculum to focus on mercury-free filling materials instead of amalgam.

Dr. Michael McGrath of Syracuse, New York is looking for a dedicated, experienced dentist to purchase his exceptional dental practice. The practice offers the patient health-focused treatment options. For more information, check out Dr. McGrath's ad and contact 303-699-0990 and ask for Pam Sletten or contact her by email: pam@lifetransitions.com.

For the Minamata Convention on Mercury, now in its implementing stage, Consumers for Dental Choice executive direct Charlie Brown proudly serves as president of the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry – the umbrella uniting grassroots groups from every part of the globe.

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.

The Minamata Convention on Mercury is the world’s game changer, our path to bringing mercury-free dentistry to all people. As president of the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, Consumers for Dental Choice executive director Charlie Brown was proud to lead a talented and united team from five continents at the second conference of the parties in Geneva during the U.S. Thanksgiving Week.

Dental patients are exposed to mercury when amalgam is implanted in their teeth – but the amalgam problem doesn’t stop there. By making toxic mercury their foundation stone, the American Dental Association and the pro-mercury dentists are wreaking havoc in our communities.

Some of the saddest phone calls we get here at Consumers for Dental Choice are from mothers and fathers whose young sons and daughters have received amalgam – and it wasn’t until afterward that their parents learned it contained mercury. They echo the concerns raised by FDA’s dental amalgam rule

Dental amalgam releases an ongoing dose of mercury vapor into our bodies after it is implanted in teeth. But the mercury exposure from amalgam doesn’t stop there.

With the European Union banning amalgam for children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, Consumers for Dental Choice now spearheads the campaign to get the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) bureaucracy to catch up!  We kicked it off with a petition* calling for FDA to ban mercury fillings in these vulnerable populations like the European Union did.  

Last year, the European Union adopted a regulation banning amalgam use for children under age 15, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers beginning 1 July 2018. That day is here!

Experts hailing from 21 nations assembled in Bangkok last month to present case studies, exchange ideas and discuss strategies for ending the use of amalgam in “women, children and, through them, future generations.”

Joining a distinguished group of colleagues at the University of Illinois School of Public Health, we announced the new Chicago Declaration to End Dental Industry Mercury Use – a statement by 50 organizations calling for action on amalgam.

It’s National Consumer Protection Week!  There’s no better time to raise awareness of the importance of finding a mercury-free dentist – the best way to protect yourself from one of the greatest consumer scams of all time: mercury amalgam fillings.

We’ve been kicking off the new year here at Consumers for Dental Choice with some positive exposure for mercury-free dentistry!

This month, the American Dental Association Foundation again kicks off its Give Kids A Smile program.  Participating mercury-free dentists will make sure underserved children get the non-toxic fillings they need. But some pro-mercury dentists will try to use mercury amalgam – also deceptively called “silver fillings” or “silver stars” – in these children instead. 

Greeting from Geneva, where we are participating in the first conference of the parties for the now legally-binding Minamata Convention on Mercury!

History has taught us that protecting children, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers is a major leap toward banning amalgam use for everyone.  The entire European Union just took this first step.  With your help, the U.S. can do it too!  

In the dental amalgam arena, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prefers to sit and watch from the sidelines

By an overwhelming 663 to 8, the European Parliament voted last week for a comprehensive package to reduce mercury use, as required by the Minamata Convention on Mercury. Under this new European Union regulation:

The three major institutions that decide regulations for the European Union – the European Parliament, the European Commission, and the Council of the European Union – have reached a provisional agreement to partially ban amalgam use. After an intense negotiating session (known as a trilogue) that went well into the night on December 6-7, these institutions decided that as of 1 July 2018:

Over the years, I have talked to many of you who were surprised to learn that your dental insurance would not pay for mercury-free fillings. You are not alone. Last summer, Consumers for Dental Choice conducted a survey asking for your opinion on dental insurance. Here’s what we found....

We’ve reached another landmark in the march toward mercury-free dentistry for Europe. Just hours ago, the European Parliament's Environment Committee voted overwhelmingly to phase out all amalgam use by December 31, 2022.

A new study out of the University of Georgia shows that if you have more than eight “dental surface restorations”, they can raise the level of mercury in your blood. (Note that each filling can have more than one surface. So even if you have fewer than eight fillings, this study still applies to you!)

In Hartford last Wednesday, Consumers for Dental Choice stood shoulder-to-shoulder with environmental justice activists, health professionals, and patient advocates on the steps of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to protest the state’s failure to stop pro-mercury dentists from willfully violating the law. (Click here to watch a video of Charlie Brown’s speech.)

You have a right to know that amalgam dental fillings are 50% mercury but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t want you to know.  FDA denies you this right by refusing to provide dental consumers with direct information – i.e., patient labeling – about amalgam’s mercury content. In its 2009 dental amalgam rule, FDA goes so far as to illogically claim that providing this information directly to consumers would somehow prevent dentists and patients from discussing treatment options. 

Working with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, Consumers for Dental Choice urged governments around the world to phase down – and ultimately phase out – dental amalgam use at a side event during the seventh meeting of te intergovernmental negotiating committee for the Minamata Convention on Mercury (INC7) in Dead Sea, Jordan.

The International Indian Treaty Council and Consumers for Dental Choice filed a petition calling on the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs and the Secretary of Health and Human Services (who runs the Indian Health Service) to end the use of amalgam – a dental filling that is 50% mercury – in Indian Health Service Clinics and on Tribal lands.

The pro-mercury American Dental Association is under fire in the mainstream press – finally!  As reported by Mercola.com, leading news publisher McClatchy DC exposed the ADA's unscientific defense of mercury fillings. Specifically, the publisher pointed to how

Here’s a report of Consumers for Dental Choice's progress in 2015

Consumers for Dental Choice has filed a new petition calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conform with the Minamata Convention on Mercury. We were joined by other petitioners including the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, Asian Center for Environmental Health, African Center for Environmental Health, and Mercury Policy Project.

Sixty environmental groups from the United States and around the world sent a letter urging Secretary of State John Kerry to bring the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) into line with the U.S.’s commitment to reduce dental amalgam use.

I am delighted to have worked with Charlie Brown and Consumers for Dental Choice under the umbrella of the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry since the negotiations for the Minamata Convention on Mercury. By working together with Charlie as our president, we made sure that amalgam is internationally recognized as the toxic pollutant that it is!

In honor of Mercury-Free Dentistry Week, I have invited colleagues to tell how the mercury-free dentistry movement is changing the world.  Below is a message from Dr. Jessica Saepoff, DDS, a former member of Washington state’s dental board. 

This Mercury-Free Dentistry Week, let’s all take a moment to recognize everything our mercury-free dentists do for their patients and their communities! You know they keep your teeth healthy, but did you know that....   

In honor of Mercury-Free Dentistry Week, I have invited colleagues to tell how the mercury-free dentistry movement is changing the world.  Below is a message from Sue Ann Taylor, the co-founder of Consumers for Dental Choice and president of our board. 

~ Charlie Brown, Consumers for Dental Choice

Yesterday’s Hartford Courant, Connecticut’s #1 newspaper, featured an op-ed exposing yet another injustice resulting from the traditional dental industry’s obsession with mercury: the resurgence of separate but “equal” dentistry.

For the first time, the European Commission’s scientific committee on health is recommending the use of mercury-free dental fillings instead of amalgam for children’s baby teeth and in pregnant patients.  

The European Union government asked the general public to comment on how to fulfill the EU’s obligations under the Minamata Convention. The European Commission launched an online public consultation that asked EU citizens: Should we phase down amalgam use…or should we phase out amalgam use? Now the results are in!  And the people of the European Union said….phase out amalgam use!

In York, Pennsylvania – the headquarters city for the #2 U.S. amalgam manufacturer – a broad-based coalition of community, faith-based, and environmental groups called on Dentsply International to cease making amalgam fillings.

“In its fight to protect amalgam, the American Dental Association is losing ground – even in its own hometown of Chicago (where it is headquartered).  We are delighted that one of America’s major newspapers, the Chicago Tribune, is covering this important issue in the wake of our ground-breaking progress at the mercury treaty talks.  As the article explains, “momentum is building to phase out dental amalgam”!  Please share the Chicago Tribune article with your patients, family, and friends.  Let them all know that times are changing in dentistry.

“In its fight to protect amalgam, the American Dental Association is losing ground – even in its own hometown of Chicago (where it is headquartered).  We are delighted that one of America’s major newspapers, the Chicago Tribune, is covering this important issue in the wake of our ground-breaking progress at the mercury treaty talks.  As the article explains, “momentum is building to phase out dental amalgam”!  Please share the Chicago Tribune article with your patients, family, and friends.  Let them all know that times are changing in dentistry.

“We will by the end of the year, we will make an announcement.”

So said Jeff Shuren, Director of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on September 22, 2011.  He is telling the public what FDA plans to do about dental amalgam.

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2013 -- /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Consumers for Dental Choice applauds
Dr. Oz for raising public awareness about dental mercury in the groundbreaking episode "Are Your Silver Fillings making You Sick?".  The consumer group, which leads the international campaign for mercury-free dentistry, calls on the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to keep the promise it made in September 2011 to make an announcement on amalgam by the end of that year [minute 3:14, et seq., on video].

A new economics report The Real Costs of Dental Mercury shows that non-mercury dental fillings are more cost-effective than mercury-based amalgam fillings.  Dental mercury pollutes the environment and contaminates fish.  The report confirms that once these environmental costs are taken into account, amalgam is far more expensive than the environmentally-responsible alternatives. And the governments, taxpayers, and community members are left to pay the price for dental mercury pollution.

Why would a primitive, pre-Civil War polluting product that is 50% mercury and cracks teeth still be going into your mouth?

Dental amalgams, known to many of us by the deceptive term “silver fillings,” are 43 to 54% mercury.  The mercury from amalgam causes far-reaching problems:   

Dental amalgam, a 50% mercury product, currently accounts for between 240-300 tons of mercury entering the market every year.  In the United States, dental offices are the second largest user of mercury – and this mercury eventually ends up in our environment by one pathway or another.  Dental mercury from amalgam pollutes:

(Notes to the Writer: (1) We start with dentist Simone (of Northbrook, Ill.) because he was interviewed by Dr Mercola and his interview is featured that day.  But if the story comes before the interview, maybe you should transition it a different way.  (2) This is footnoted, to shorten your research time; you are welcome to include the footnotes back into the text.    ---Charlie Brown, telephone 202.544.6333)

Political scientists are not surprised.  The evolution from tough regulator to passive regulator to industry captive is a pattern in Washington.  Unless an agency engages in a major system of reinvigoration, the spiral continues.  But FDA seems comfortable being the hand-maiden for industry; it has brought big bucks to the agency and lucrative jobs after time at FDA.

NAIROBI , Kenya , Feb. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- After years of inaction on the environment, global ministers today agreed to negotiate a treaty to control global mercury pollution. The agreement resulted from a dramatic shift in the U.S. position by the Obama administration, which now supports the creation of a mercury treaty, according to NGOs. The Bush administration had stubbornly opposed any legally binding measures.

The dental industry, asked to testify Tuesday about pollution from mercury in tooth fillings, found itself under attack from lawmakers who blame mercury for everything from autism in children to skin discoloration.

World-wide media explosion on our victory at FDA

Silver dental fillings contain mercury, and the government for the first time is warning that they may pose a safety concern for pregnant women and young children. The Food and Drug Administration posted the precaution on its Web site earlier this month, to settle a lawsuit — making the move a victory for anti-mercury activists.

“We seek this ban on amalgam because FDA violates its duty to require proof of safety of this mercury product for pregnant women and children,” says Charles G. Brown, National Counsel, Consumers for Dental Choice, ; “In addition, FDA illegally refuses to do an Environmental Impact Statement on this, the largest source of mercury in America’s wastewater.”

WASHINGTON –Most all Americans – 92 percent – want “informed consent” about potential risks from mercury in dental fillings or alternatives before any treatment begins – not surprising, given that many Americans also believe mercury pollution is a serious problem in the environment, a new poll finds.  "It's very rare that you find 92% of the American public in favor of anything,” said the pollster, John Zogby. “This shows the issue is real, and it really ought to be a wakeup call to dentists and politicians." The poll also finds that 76% of consumers still don't know that mercury is the main ingredient in any “silver” fillings in their mouths. And 77 % of those polled would choose alternatives to mercury fillings, even if they cost more.

HARTFORD, Feb. 6, 2006 – A New Britain Superior Court judge on Wednesday, February 8 at 11:30 a.m. will hear the opening round in a consumer challenge of a ruling allowing dentists an exemption from a ban on mercury products.

Consumers for Dental Choice, a nonprofit group focused on a transition to mercury-free dentistry, has filed a series of formal and informal petitions calling for FDA to stop hiding the fact that amalgam fillings expose children and pregnant women to toxic mercury. Although deceptively promoted by the American Dental Association as “silver” fillings, amalgams are about 50% mercury by weight and less than 30% silver.

Washington, D.C., Oct. 4, 2005 – As part of National Mercury Amalgam Awareness Week, Consumers for Dental Choice is sponsoring a Mercury Vapor Testing Day this Friday, October 7, to enhance the public’s awareness of the potential toxicity of amalgam dental fillings, which continually emit mercury vapor and which few people even know contain this toxic substance.

PA Coalition for Mercury-Free Dentistry Demands Truth About Dental Amalgams and Warns "Silver" Fillings are a Toxic Time Bomb!

Washington, DC, and Philadelphia, PA Sept. 28, 2005 – The first ever National Mercury Amalgam Awareness Week will take place the week of October 3-10, to enhance the public’s awareness of the issue. In a recent Zogby poll of Connecticut voters conducted for Consumers for Dental Choice, fewer than half of people surveyed could answer affirmatively when asked if amalgam fillings contained mercury.

Zion, IL - October 3rd – 10th, 2005 has been designated “NATIONAL MERCURY AMALGAM AWARENESS WEEK” in an effort to create awareness of the dangers of mercury toxicity from dental amalgams. The www.NAAW.us website provides information for those unaware that each amalgam fillings contain 50% mercury, about 1/2 gram of a known neurotoxin that poses a significant threat to the environment and to the human brain.

TRUMBULL, Conn., July 13, 2005 - The State of Connecticut has backed down in its attempt to prevent a Trumbull dentist from speaking about potential health problems that may result from mercury in amalgam tooth fillings.

HARTFORD, Conn., May 26 -- Mercury from human teeth poisons Connecticut waterways, experts said today, urging the state to recognize that, under current law, dentists are banned from using this deadly neurotoxin. "The purpose of the state's anti-mercury law is clear -- elimination of the discharge of mercury into our environment," said Kathleen Bailey, chair of the Coalition to Enforce Connecticut's Zero Mercury Law. "Here is a perfect opportunity for the state to take the lead in ridding our environment of this toxic metal."

The Oregon Board of Dentistry has been embarrassed into dismissing a sham “investigation” of dentists who tell their patients amalgam dental fillings contain mercury and may cause health problems

Consumers for Dental Choice, Washington-based representatives of the national movement to ban dental mercury, today announced it is joining with The Coalition to Enforce Connecticut’s Zero Mercury Law and other consumer advocates, health professionals and legislators to provide evidence supporting a ban on mercury in tooth fillings in Connecticut.

AUGUSTA – Consumers for Dental Choice today announced the filing of an antitrust petition against the American Dental Association because of a perceived threat that the largest professional association of dentists has made to reduce dental services in Maine if the state bans mercury fillings. The petition was filed today with Barbara Anthony, Director of the Northeast Region for the Federal Trade Commission in New York, and G. Steven Rowe, Attorney General of Maine, in Augusta.

Wynnewood, PA (January 22, 2005) - In an effort to give disadvantaged Philadelphia area children the same dental treatment afforded to higher socio-economic groups, three area dentists will be offering their expertise at Mercury-Free Smile Day, held on February 4, at the dental offices of Dr. Hyo Tony Lim in King of Prussia. Through this one-year program, 14 pre-selected 8-12 year-olds living in Norristown will receive free, comprehensive dental care including evaluation, oral health education and treatment with non-mercury dental fillings.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2004 -- A consultant for the National Institutes of Health today issued a report on the health risks of mercury amalgam while NIH investigates wrongdoing in the process to award the firm the research contract.

DANGERS OF "MERCURY" AMALGAM DENTAL FILLINGS
In depth interviews about the poisonous effects of silver colored fillings and why consumers should say NO.

Despite the freezing rain, Mike Rosenberg, Phila. Green Group, Carol Ward, VP DAMS & Paul Gilbert, DDS (Penn Dental School Graduate), demonstrated at the Penn Dental School Clinic, telling parents to say NO to Mercury fillings. 

Stung yesterday by a Congressional committee in Los Angeles for stonewalling on the issue of mercury fillings, the Dental Board of California comes under further attack today in San Francisco. African-American and Latino leaders are holding a news conference and calling for “an immediate release to patients of the brochure on so-called silver fillings, so pregnant women and children may be warned about the risks of mercury exposure.”

Washington, D.C. - As part of an ongoing investigation into the risks of medical and dental exposure to mercury, the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness will hold an oversight hearing entitled, "California's Compliance with Dental Amalgam Disclosure Policies", on Monday, January 26, 2004, in the Town and Gown room on the campus of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California at 2:00 p.m.

Stockholm, Sweden - The Swedish Dental Material Commission released a report last week recommending that dental mercury amalgam be banned. Advocates applauded the Swedish Commission's advice and urged the US government to review the safety of amalgam, especially for pregnant women and children.

(NRCM Press Release 5/29/03)

"... Amalgam must be considered to be an unsuitable material for dental restoration."

"Expert demands amalgam ban." On May 8, the Government Sub-committee on Human Rights and Wellness will hear the testimony of Maths Berlin, Swedish professor emeritus in environmental medicine. The former World Health Organization expert joins leading US scientists whose research unequivocally support Berlin's contention that "The safety margin that scientists thought existed regarding health damage from amalgam does not exist." Representatives Dan Burton (R-IN), and Diane Watson (D-CA) will hold the second congressional hearing on the health hazards of mercury and the need for full patient disclosure in dentistry. Thursday, May 8, 2:00 p.m., room 2154 Rayburn House Building.

Picketers concerned about mercury in dental fillings will appear at the Arizona Dental Association (ADA) offices on Tuesday (Apr. 29) at 10:00 am. Their theme is to challenge the ADA to "tell the truth about mercury fillings" and to cease blocking a bill giving disclosure that so-called "silver" fillings are mainly mercury, a toxic substance.

MERCURY-FREE DENTISTS FEAR REPRISAL FOR SPEAKING IN PUBLIC!

Press Advisory: Protect the Children

Corcord, NH-- The New Hampshire legislature passed HB 1251, a bill requiring dentists to notify patients about the risks of mercury fillings and what the alternatives are--and to reduce dental mercury pollution. HB 1251 now awaits the signature of the governor, whose chief-of-staff has expressed strong support for the bill during a recent hearing.

In a bold and exciting move, Governor Gray Davis has picked Dr. Chet Yokoyama to the California Dental Board. Chet, a prominent and reputable mercury-free dentist in L.A., is a member of all three major dental societies who oppose mercury dental fillings: the Int,l Academy of Oral Medicine & Toxicology, the Am. Academy of Biological Dentistry, and the Holistic Dental Assn.

Today the Oregon Dental Board voted unanimously to rescind a rule that has been on their books since 1990. A rule that effectively gagged dentists from discussing freely the potentially harmful effects of mercury exposure eminating from mercury-amalgam dental fillings. The issue was brought to a head by the ACLU protesting to the State Attorney General that the dental board's rule was a clear violation of a dentist's right to free speech under the US and Oregon constitutions. 

(Baltimore, MD, Feb. 21, 2002) A class action lawsuit was filed today in State Court against The American Dental Association and the Maryland State Dental Association for actively misrepresenting and deceiving consumers about the high levels of mercury used in dental fillings. Mercury, a highly toxic substance, is the most widely used substance in dental fillings today. The case charges that the ADA and MSDA misrepresent amalgam dental fillings as "silver," when in fact such fillings contain approximately 50% mercury by weight, thereby posing substantial health risks to certain users. Additionally, the lawsuit charges that the Defendants prevented legally mandated warnings regarding mercury and mercury exposure from amalgam fillings from getting to consumers. The complaint was filed on behalf of plaintiff Lisa Hogan, a Maryland resident who suffered symptoms from mercury dental fillings. After having all her mercury fillings removed, her symptoms subsided. 

Los Angeles, CA, November 5, 2001 -- Congresswoman Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) announced today that she is introducing a bill that will warn consumers about the risks of Mercury in dental fillings and phase out the use of Mercury in dentistry over five years.

Los Angeles -- Anti-Mercury activists are protesting an 11th hour attempt by the lame duck California Dental Board to ram-through an anti-consumer Dental Materials Fact Sheet at a hastily scheduled board meeting taking place this afternoon at the Junipero Serra State Office Building in downtown Los Angeles.

CHICAGO, IL, Friday, September 7, 2001 ­ Calling on the American Dental Association to stop supporting the use of Mercury in dental fillings, the controversy over dental amalgam literally reached the ADA's front door today. A coalition of scientists, consumer groups, and a national dental society, opposed to dental Mercury use, held a news conference in [the Chicago suburb of] Oak Brook, IL followed by a peaceful picketing demonstration at the ADA's downtown [Chicago] headquarters.

BEVERLY HILLS, CA, Monday, August 13, 2001 -- Keeping up the pressure on the state Dental Board, anti-Mercury consumer activists held a peaceful demonstration today at the Dental Board secretary's office, asking Dr. Mark Goldenberg, DDS to resign because of his leading role in covering up the dangers of Mercury in dental fillings.

OAKLAND, CA, Friday, August 3, 2001 -- Anti-Mercury consumer activists and environmental leaders are demanding that the state Dental Board not adopt a draft dental materials Fact Sheet that covers-up the risks of Mercury in dental fillings, and offered its own, patient-oriented, full-disclosure Fact Sheet. The state Department of Consumer Affairs has judged the Board's draft Fact Sheet to be "[legally] deficient in numerous ways."

Los Angeles, CA, Wednesday, July 18, 2001 -- The state Dental Board, facing the threat of a Temporary Restraining Order, has backed down and agreed not to hold a vote tomorrow to adopt a Fact Sheet that Consumers for Dental Choice considers a cover-up of the dangers of Mercury in Dentistry.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (July 16, 2001) The Dental Board of Californiaís (DBOC) revised Dental Materials Fact Sheet that encourages dialog between patients and dental care providers, does not break new ground. It continues to support scientific study that the safety of materials used in restorative dentistry are safe for patients, according to the California Dental Association (CDA) leaders.

Los Angeles, CA, Monday, July 16, 2001 -- Consumers concerned about the health risks of the toxin Mercury in dental fillings have asked the California Superior Court for a Temporary Restraining Order to block the state Dental Board from holding an 11th hour meeting on Wednesday -- on the eve of their extinction -- to adopt a misleading Fact Sheet that would cover-up the dangers of Mercury in dental fillings.

SACRAMENTO, CA -- Calling the state Dental Board "a decaying and rotting agency," several consumer, environmental, and dental organizations have called for the State Legislature to shut it down.

The American Dental Association (ADA) said today that the complaint filed in Los Angeles yesterday against the ADA and California Dental Association (CDA) by Kids Against Pollution and others may prey on the fears of people who have serious medical conditions by leading them to believe that costly dental treatment not based on proven scientific evidence is a cure for such conditions.

Governor Gray Davis' Department of Consumer Affairs, responding to the state Dental Board's cancellation of a meeting at which it was to vote on language warning dental patients of the risks of mercury fillings, has stepped in to hold its own meeting with anti-Mercury activists.

Los Angeles, California, 06/12/01 -- The American Dental Association and its California affiliate were sued today in California Superior Court for their unlawful practice of deceiving patients about the presence of mercury in the most widely used type of dental fillings. The case charges the ADA and its largest state affiliate with deceiving consumers into thinking amalgam fillings are made of silver, when in fact the major component (about 50%) is mercury (see attached ADA brochure, "Answers to your questions about Silver Fillings"). Only about 25% of a mercury amalgam filling is composed of silver.