By Dr. Mercola
This week, September 15-21, is Mercury-Free Dentistry Week.
The Natural Health Research Foundation, which I founded, will
match every contribution received this week to the nonprofit
group Consumers for Dental Choice, who runs the Campaign for
Mercury-Free Dentistry.
Last year’s Mercury-Free Dentistry Week was quite a success.
With your help, the Campaign for Mercury-Free Dentistry met the
match goal of $50,000, which we matched dollar-for dollar. So
this week, I up the ante by $25,000.
I pledge to match all contributions received – up to $75,000!
Dental amalgam is a primitive, pre-Civil War, polluting
product that cracks and damages your teeth. In 21st-century
dentistry, it owes its continued use to the machinations of the
American Dental Association (ADA).
The ADA is a trade group created in the Civil War era with
the goal of advancing mercury fillings as dentistry’s mainstay;
to maintain its hold, the ADA resorted to deceptive and
manipulative techniques.
These include strategies like acquiring patents on amalgam,
adopting a gag rule to order dentists to stand silent about
amalgam’s mercury, and handing out brochures deceptively
promoting amalgam as “silver fillings” rather than the accurate
term “mercury fillings.”
ADA’s Stronghold Over Amalgam Is Finally Crumbling
As its power reached monopoly status, the ADA became the
puppeteer for amalgam. Its string-pulling caused regulators to
dance, lawmakers to speak, and the mainstream media to stay
silent. Following the ADA line, state dental boards enforced the
gag rule at the threat of license removal.
Choosing to please the ADA and hence defying its legal duty
to classify amalgam, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drew
the wrath of a United States District Judge.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), instead of trying to
reduce mercury pollution, cut the infamous “midnight deal” with
the ADA so dentists could continue to pollute instead of buy
separators.1
ADA’s actions gave license to profiteering ADA members to reap
quick and easy profits by, in the generations-old dental school
joke, the method of “drill, fill, and bill.”
Enter Consumers for Dental Choice, the nonprofit group led by
attorney and advocate Charlie Brown. In their first campaign,
they destroyed the gag rule, freeing up dentists to talk to
patients and the public about the value of mercury-free
dentistry.
Later, they sued the FDA, and a federal judge forced the
agency to classify amalgam. At the dawn of the International
treaty on mercury talks, they organized the World Alliance for
Mercury-Free Dentistry, so they could go toe-to-toe with the
pro-mercury World Dental Federation (the ADA is its major
member).
Then came 2013, and things started to fall apart for the ADA.
In the past nine months, this pro-mercury trade group has
suffered a succession of humiliating defeats -- at the mercury
treaty, in the mainstream media, and in the public health
community.
In Geneva in January, at its fifth session stretching over
three years, 140 nations reached an agreement on the language of
the mercury treaty on amalgam. Here is why our side won at the
mercury treaty, and why the ADA side lost:
- For the first time, nations have acknowledged that
amalgam waste management is not enough. The final treaty
language calls for nations to take measures “to phase down
the use of dental amalgam.”
- Amalgam is the only mercury-added product in
the treaty with a road map for how to phase down
its use, providing nations with specific guidance on what
measures can be taken to transition to mercury-free
alternatives. That’s how seriously the nations are taking
this issue.
Phase-down measures listed in the treaty include adopting
national objectives to minimize amalgam use, promoting the
use of mercury-free alternatives, training dentists and
dental students on alternatives, encouraging insurance
policies that disfavor amalgam, and ending the use of
unencapsulated bulk amalgam.
- The American Dental Association (ADA) fought hard to
keep amalgam out of Annex C, the part of the treaty that
will be regularly reviewed and can be easily amended. The
world alliance led by Charlie Brown pushed hard to get
amalgam into Annex C – and won! So now, the treaty’s amalgam
provision that currently calls for a phase-down can be
upgraded later… to set a phase-out date that will end
amalgam use once and for all.
Amalgam’s Days Are Numbered...
The American media was quick to understand the value of the
treaty. Even in its hometown of Chicago, the ADA is facing
stories saying amalgam’s days may be numbered. The Chicago
Tribune2
ran a long article on amalgam, explaining that “momentum is
building to phase out dental amalgam.”
The widely-watched Dr. Oz Show aired “Are Your Silver
Fillings Making You Sick?” – an episode devoted to telling
dental consumers the truth about dental amalgam. Dr. Oz,
audience members, and even dentists roundly condemned the
continued use of mercury-releasing dental amalgam. If you missed
the Dr. Oz show, you can watch the episode
here.
In the old days, the ADA would go to the producer, a
retraction would be made, and the status quo ante would
return. This time, it did not work. Dr. Oz stood his ground, and
the ADA threw in the towel,
severing its affiliation with Dr. Oz’s website. The public
health community, an integral part of health care in America,
now realizes the value of mercury-free dentistry. An
American Public Health
Association panel met last month to
review policy
proposals and
soundly rejected one backed by the ADA to “preserve” the use
of dental amalgam. The panel suggested that any revised
resolution “…be reflective for support of eventual phase out
of the use of dental amalgam” and presented
comments from several APHA sections:
- “Recent studies verifying the benefits of
mercury-free alternatives over amalgam (in terms of
longevity, accessibility, and the environment) are
neglected,”
- “Scientific evidence, as well as updated data from
the United Nations Environment Program and other reputable
sources, indicates that amalgam is a significant source of
mercury pollution and largely cannot be prevented except by
source reduction,” and
- From the
Environment section of the APHA: …the [ADA] proposed
resolution is plainly inconsistent with the Association’s
comprehensive, precautionary approach to anthropogenic
mercury use.”
Let’s Keep the Momentum Going!
On Sunday, I wrote about a
major reason to celebrate Mercury-Free Dentistry Week: the
new treaty on mercury includes amalgam; each nation who signed
the treaty (and every major nation and virtually every small one
is indicating support) pledges at least to reduce its use (or
end its use entirely).
Today, I write about another reason to celebrate: the ADA’s
power over amalgam is collapsing -- and their leaders know it.
Please keep this momentum going -- give to the Mercury-Free
Dentistry Campaign. If you give this week, we double the size of
your gift.
That the ADA recognizes its power is dissipating was
illustrated at a treaty briefing in Washington on September 4.
Seven U.S. government agencies hosted a meeting at the August
U.S. State Department for treaty “stakeholders” --
non-government organizations representing business, consumer,
and environmental interests. Among those attending were Charlie
Brown for Consumers for Dental Choice and the outside counsel
for the American Dental Association.
Speaking humbly, the ADA attorney said he had two areas to
address. First, , he asked the Environmental Protection Agency
to move forward and adopt its proposed rule to mandate amalgam
separators. The action is a startling reversal of a 2008 ADA -
EPA “Memorandum of Understanding” -- exposed by Michael Bender
of the Mercury Policy Project in his paper entitled “Midnight
Deal on Dental Mercury.”3
Second, he promised the government agencies that the ADA
would work on phasing down amalgam. That the ADA would make such
promises to seven U.S. government agencies is astonishing. At
the least it is a reversal of the ADA’s previous no-holds-barred
robust protectionism of amalgam, a recognition that their
monopoly power has gone to the dustbins of history.
But will the ADA back up this talk with action? Two things
are clear:
- With their 150 years of protecting mercury-based
dentistry, we must hold their feet to the fire to see if
they are serious. Charlie Brown advises me that we have been
down this road before.
- Consumers for Dental Choice is the team who has gotten
us to this point -- and who will be the ones to work to hold
the ADA accountable,to its promise. I hope you will help
Charlie lead us to the finish line -- mercury-free
dentistry!
How You Can Help Bring Mercury-Free Dentistry to America and the
World
Consumers for Dental Choice and its allies have made amazing
progress in exposing the truth about mercury fillings… a truth
that the ADA masked in myth for far too long. But the battle’s
not won yet – while more and more governments, journalists, and
consumers are now questioning the ADA’s myths, many people still
buy into the ADA’s slick marketing of a mercury product.
You can help stop dental mercury today! Will you please
consider a donation to Consumers for Dental Choice, a 501(c)(3)
non-profit organization dedicated to advocating mercury-free
dentistry?
Donations are tax-exempt and can be made online at
www.toxicteeth.org. Checks can be mailed to:
Consumers for Dental Choice
316 F St., N.E., Suite 210
Washington DC 20002
For updates on the movement for mercury-free dentistry, join
Consumers for Dental Choice on
Facebook
or sign up to receive email
newsletter. Thank you for supporting mercury-free dentistry!
© Copyright 1997-2013 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.