The Damaged Brain 'Red Flag' That Millions Still Don't Know About
Story at-a-glance
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Mercury-Free Dentistry Week is an initiative to encourage
consumers to reject amalgam, which is 50 percent mercury. We
encourage you to choose mercury-free dentists, thus using
economic clout to push all dentists to abandon amalgam.
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Consumers for Dental Choice leads the charge against mercury
fillings in the United States and around the world. This
non-profit group is breaking barriers so all consumers will
have access to mercury-free dentistry
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Amalgam continues because dentists, aided and abetted by the
U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), refuse to tell them
that amalgam has mercury. Instead, amalgam is deceptively
sold as “silver” fillings.
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Until August 22, 2015, Dr. Mercola will match all donations
to Consumers for Dental Choice up to $100,000. Every dollar
you give will be doubled!
By Charlie Brown and Sylvia Dove
Consumers for Dental Choice
Amalgam dental fillings are 50 percent mercury and have been
causing a wide range of problems for the past 150 years.
Amalgam:
- Damages your teeth. Amalgam requires
the removal of more healthy tooth tissue, weakens tooth
structure, and can crack teeth as it expands and contracts –
leading to higher dental bills later.
- Exposes you to mercury. Dental amalgam
releases mercury, a neurotoxin. Children, the unborn, people
with kidney disorders, the hypersensitive, and dental
personnel are especially vulnerable to the
toxic effects of mercury.
- Pollutes the environment. Dental
amalgam constitutes the largest amount of mercury in use in
the United States today, and most of this mercury ends up
polluting our air, soil, and water. Mercury pollution
indisputably can cause health problems, especially for
children and the unborn.
Fortunately, all of these problems can be avoided.
Mercury-free fillings, especially composite fillings, are
widespread. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
doesn’t want you to know about them...
Consumers for Dental Choice Battles FDA Head-On
According to the FDA, the problem with amalgam fillings is
not the mercury. The real “problem,” said FDA Assistant
Commissioner for Public Affairs back in 2011 “is that there will
be no end to [Charlie] Brown” of Consumers for Dental Choice.
FDA’s solution? Do “a communications end game re: Brown.” But
the FDA’s attempt to silence Charlie and Consumers for Dental
Choice failed.
Charlie continued to exercise his First Amendment right to
challenge FDA’s callous failure to protect the public from
mercury. And that FDA Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs?
He was out of FDA within the year.
In September, Consumer’s for Dental Choice will launch an
ambitious plan to tackle the FDA, and they need your help to do
so. I will be matching every donation dollar for dollar. The
goal is to raise $100,000.
Donations are tax-exempt and can be made online, or by
mailing your check to: Consumers for Dental Choice, 316 F
Street, N.E., Suite 210, Washington, DC, 20002
The Campaign for Mercury-Free Dentistry
The sole mission of Consumers for Dental Choice is to end the
use of mercury fillings. Back when this non-profit advocacy
organization was founded in 1996, dentists had their licenses
threatened – or even taken away – because they were speaking out
for mercury-free dentistry.
But Consumers for Dental Choice’s executive director,
attorney Charlie Brown, argued that their speech was protected
by the First Amendment right to free speech, and the courts
agreed.
Then Consumers for Dental Choice launched a grassroots
strategy to obtain laws requiring dentists to distribute amalgam
fact sheets to patients, and succeeded in passing fact sheet
laws in Maine, Connecticut, California, New Hampshire, and the
city of Philadelphia.
Building on this success at the state-level, Consumers for
Dental Choice turned to the national colossus: the FDA. For more
than three decades, the FDA refused to issue a rule on dental
amalgam, even though it was legally required to do so.
Without a rule, there was nothing to protest. It was just
endless meetings with low-level FDA administrative staff saying
they would continue to study the issue... and then study the
issue some more.
So Consumers for Dental Choice organized plaintiffs and sued
FDA in 2008. And won! The court ordered FDA to issue a rule on
dental amalgam by the court-mandated July 2009 deadline.
Reluctantly, FDA did issue a rule a few hours before that
deadline. The resulting FDA rule was a severe – although not
unexpected – disappointment. It failed to ban amalgam use
or acknowledge many of the serious problems caused by amalgam.
But in its rule, the FDA did concede one thing: amalgam puts
children and unborn babies at risk, stating:
“The developing neurological systems in fetuses and
young children may be more sensitive to the neurotoxic
effects of mercury vapor.”
Furthermore, the FDA admitted there is no scientific evidence
that amalgam is safe for these most vulnerable populations:
“Very limited to no clinical information is available
regarding long-term health outcomes in pregnant women and
their developing fetuses, and children under the age of six,
including infants who are breastfed.”
And that’s when a new phase of the cover-up began...
FDA’s Long History of Suppressing Warnings About Mercury
Fillings
Having buried the warnings about risks to children and unborn
babies deep in its wordy amalgam rule, the FDA failed to
highlight these warnings in its media roll-out of the rule, so
very few dental consumers or parents found out about them.
Needless to say, there was a lot of protest from the public.
This resulted in the FDA holding a two-day hearing to
re-evaluate its rule on mercury fillings in December 2010.
There, FDA’s own hand-picked panel of scientists – including
neurologists, toxicologists, epidemiologists, and environmental
health specialists – told the agency to stop amalgam use in
children, pregnant women, and hypersensitive populations.
Panelist after panelist laid out their concerns: Dr. Kotagal
said there is “no place for mercury in children”... Dr. Ismail
said “in children less than six years of age, I would restrict
it significantly”... Dr. Thompson said “definitely not in
pregnant women and definitely not in those below six years of
age”...
Dr. Fleming said we need contraindications for pregnant
women... Dr. Burbacher said, “why put amalgams in children if we
know they're going to live with that for the rest of their
lives? And we don't know what that's going to do.”
Not a single panelist agreed with FDA's 2009 rule that
permitted unrestricted amalgam use in children and pregnant
women. FDA has heard that message before. In 2006 its scientific
advisory panel concluded – by a 13 to 7 vote – that amalgam is
not generally safe for all. And now that FDA was hearing it a
second time, presiding FDA official Anthony Watson announced the
FDA would act quickly in response to concerns raised by the
panel. Instead, the FDA failed to do anything at all.
So in 2011, Consumers for Dental Choice took yet another
approach. The FDA was attempting to garner good publicity for
itself by convening town hall meetings in Texas, Florida, and
California. Presiding, appropriately, was the FDA official in
charge of reconsidering FDA’s abysmal amalgam rule: Center for
Devices Director Jeff Shuren. Consumers for Dental Choice
flooded the audience at each meeting with mercury-free dentistry
supporters demanding that FDA change the amalgam rule.
In response, Dr. Shuren admitted that:
"Now, the [FDA scientific] panel did … point out that
there may be certain populations who are more sensitive to
dental amalgam, like young children and pregnant women."
Adding:
"We may decide to change our current regulation and
that could include changing the status of dental amalgam,
which means it comes off the market or has other controls on
it or we may decide to leave things as they are."
Finally, he stated that FDA would make “an announcement by
the end of the year.” That deadline passed. Then another three
years. No announcement ever came. Every day the FDA fails to
act, children are unnecessarily exposed to this source of
mercury, a known neurotoxin. That is why Charlie Brown and
Consumers for Dental Choice are not only battling FDA head-on...
they’ve launched a multi-pronged attack to overcome FDA’s
horrific policy.
Consumers for Dental Choice End-Runs FDA with the Minamata
Convention
While directly challenging FDA’s ongoing scheme to protect
amalgam use, Consumers for Dental Choice is also going around
the FDA. Five years ago, Consumers for Dental Choice learned
about an amazing new opportunity: the nations were negotiating
an international treaty dedicated solely to addressing mercury.
But so far, amalgam was not in the treaty as a mercury product
whose use needed to be reduced. Consumers for Dental Choice was
determined to change that.
To accomplish this goal, coordination was key. Consumers for
Dental Choice helped found the World Alliance for Mercury-Free
Dentistry as the umbrella coalition uniting non-governmental
organizations dedicated to phasing out amalgam. For three years,
the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry has grown steadily
as a talented team of non-governmental organization leaders
worked in every region of the world to make this treaty a
turning point for the mercury-free dentistry movement.
It was three years of countless one-on-one meetings with
government officials around the world... letters to
governments... detailed memos on effective amalgam phase out
steps... strategy sessions... regional meetings... economics
studies... workshops for stakeholders... consultations with
experts... late night international telephone conferences...
scientific literature searches... research summaries...
outreaches to other non-government organizations... submissions
for delegates... and coalition-building.
Then the team on the ground worked with governments from
around the world, literally night and day, at the five
negotiating sessions (the meetings went until past 3 AM some
mornings) to ensure the treaty included requirements for
amalgam. And all that hard work paid off! Now the new Minamata
Convention on Mercury requires every nation signing it to phase
down amalgam use. The U.S. has ratified the Convention, which
takes effect after 50 nations sign (which usually takes a few
years). So the FDA is going to have to act in order for the U.S.
government to live up to its treaty promises.
Consumers for Dental Choice Shows FDA Is an International
Embarrassment
The FDA’s refusal to protect even children from the toxic
mercury in amalgam fillings is an international embarrassment
that continues to grow. Already many other nations –
including Canada, Australia, and Denmark – are warning dentists
and parents about the risks of amalgam fillings in children. And
now the European Union is joining them. 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.
In its final opinion on amalgam, the European Union
government’s Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly
Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) concluded that “use of amalgam
restorations is not indicated in primary teeth, in patients with
mercury allergies, and persons with chronic kidney diseases with
decreased renal clearance.”
Additionally, “it can be recommended that for the first
treatment of primary teeth in children and for pregnant
patients, alternative materials to amalgam should be the first
choice.” We’ve come a long way since 2008, when this same EU
scientific committee had promoted amalgam as safe for all.
How did so much change in seven years? Here are a few factors:
- SCENIHR specifically cites the Minamata Convention as a
rationale, explaining that its position will “reduce the use
of mercury-added products in line with the intentions of the
Minamata Convention.”
- European organizations, experts, and Consumers for
Dental Choice devoted countless hours to submitting studies,
delivering comments, and following up to make sure that this
opinion protected vulnerable populations.
- This step forward came right on the heels of last
month’s announcement that the people of Europe – including
many of you! –overwhelmingly voted to phase out amalgam use
in the European Union during a public consultation.
This new scientific consensus clearly has the potential to
protect millions of children, unborn babies, pregnant women, and
people with kidney disorders from
dental mercury exposure. But as we know from experience in
countries like Sweden that have ended amalgam use, it is also an
important step toward eliminating amalgam use entirely.
FDA’s Director Shuren – still in charge of the dental amalgam
rule at FDA – backed himself into a corner when comparing the
European and U.S. regulatory systems. He infamously claimed,
“Under the EU system, the public are being used as guinea pigs…
We don't use our people as guinea pigs in the U.S.” But the
European Union is starting to protect its children while FDA’s
own amalgam rule promotes using children as guinea pigs for a
mercury product that FDA knows can cause harm and admits is not
proven safe for children.
That Jeff Shuren felt compelled to deny that FDA
uses Americans as guinea pigs for corporate profits begs the
question. On amalgam, indeed, there can be no doubt that
American children are being treated as guinea pigs. FDA admits
it does not know if a 50 percent mercury device implanted an
inch from the brain is safe for children under six. Yet FDA
green-lights its use with no warnings, no disclosures – and even
says it’s fine to deceive parents by calling these mercury
products “silver fillings.”
Consumers for Dental Choice Is Reforming the Dental Marketplace
Moving the mercury-free dentistry movement forward isn’t just
about battling the FDA. There are also marketplace barriers that
block consumer access to mercury-free dentistry. For example:
- Dental apartheid: Connecticut Medicaid
mandates mercury fillings in molar teeth. Connecticut is the
richest state in America, but apparently also the stingiest.
Mercury-free dentists are ordered to send away parents who
bring their children in for dental care. Working with
Consumers for Dental Choice, Councilwoman Cynthia Jennings
of Hartford is challenging that despicable practice, via an
op-ed in the Hartford Courant and a public hearing scheduled
for August 27 to spotlight this dental apartheid: Choice for
the rich, mercury for the poor.
- Fine print: Oregon Medicaid is better:
if you read the fine print, the choice of mercury-free
fillings is allowed. But hardly anyone knows that! Working
with Consumers for Dental Choice, Commissioner Mary Starrett
of Yamhill County is launching a campaign to make sure
dentists inform Medicaid families that they too have a right
to mercury-free dentistry.
- Penalties: Many Aetna dental insurance
plans charge a penalty for consumers who want mercury-free
dentistry. So if you accept amalgam, your dental plan will
pay for the whole thing, but if you insist on mercury-free
fillings in back teeth, then you have to pay more
out-of-pocket. Aetna knows that many families cannot afford
the extra charge and has no problem consigning them to
getting mercury in the mouth. Consumers for Dental Choice
has launched a
petition drive to end this practice, which we encourage
you to sign. Insurers must quit pushing consumers to get
mercury fillings!
- The “silver fillings” deception:
“Silver fillings” is the great deceiver. About one-fourth of
Americans, quite understandably, think that amalgam’s main
component is silver, not mercury. Thus, deceptive marketing
works, unfortunately! We must stop the dental industry from
using this term, and Consumers for Dental Choice’s campaigns
can do that!
In the year ahead, with your help, Consumers for Dental
Choice will continue to fight to break down these barriers so
all consumers have access to mercury-free dentistry.
Help Support Mercury-Free Dentistry
From August 16th to 23rd we launch the fifth Mercury-Free
Dentistry Week. Mercury is an incredibly potent neurotoxin; it
doesn't take much to cause serious damage because it's an
absolute poison
We believe in inspiring progress — and nowhere is the
progress more evident than the work of Consumers for Dental
Choice and its Campaign for Mercury-Free Dentistry.
The sole mission of Consumers for Dental Choice is to end the
use of mercury fillings. In the year ahead, with your help,
Consumers for Dental Choice will continue to fight to break down
any barriers necessary so all consumers have access to
mercury-free dentistry.
Resources to Help You Find a Biological Dentist
The following organizations can help you to find a
mercury-free, biological dentist:
Let's Help Consumers for Dental Choice Get the Funding They
Deserve
Consumers for Dental Choice and its team have made amazing
progress toward mercury-free dentistry. But there's still hard
work ahead as Consumers for Dental Choice is now breaking
barriers which limit consumer access to mercury-free dentistry,
forcing federal and state government agencies to be accountable,
and organizing briefings for governments around the world.
You can help stop dental mercury today! Please consider
donating to Consumers for Dental Choice, a non-profit
organization dedicated to advocating mercury-free dentistry.
© Copyright 1997-2015 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/08/18/toxic-mercury-amalgam-fillings.aspx
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