ADA Attacked for Mercury Denialism
January 19, 2016
Story at-a-glance
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The American Dental Association continues to claim
mercury fillings are safe and affordable, but the
research says otherwise
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People with certain genetic variants appear to be more
at risk from harm from long-term, low-dose exposure to
mercury
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Children with certain genetic variants who received
mercury fillings performed significantly worse on tests
of memory and concentration than children who received
mercury-free alternatives
By Dr. Mercola
More than 100 million Americans have
mercury fillings, also known as amalgams, in their teeth.
As evidence grows showing that implanting mercury — one of the
most toxic elements — into your body (and mere inches from your
brain, no less) is indeed harmful, you might expect the American
Dental Association (ADA) to take action.
Yet, the ADA continues to state that amalgam is "considered a
safe, affordable and durable material," and "has established a
record of safety and effectiveness."1
As reported by journalist Greg Gordon for McClatchy DC:2
"For decades, the American Dental Association has
resolutely defended the safety of mercury fillings … even
muzzling dentists who dared to warn patients that such fillings
might make them sick.
The association has lobbied the Food and Drug
Administration [FDA] to ensure the fillings, which contain one
of the world's most menacing toxins, receive a government seal
of safety and wouldn't be tightly regulated.
For years, the ADA also resisted Environmental Protection
Agency rules that would force dentists to stop dumping tons of
mercury debris down public sewer lines, even as the United
States and 128 other nations negotiated a treaty to curb
mercury's global spread."
Four in 10 People May Have Genetic Traits Making Them Especially
Vulnerable to Mercury
A series of little-publicized studies by researchers from the
University of Washington revealed that people with certain genetic
variants are at particular risk from long-term, low-level release of
mercury from fillings.
Initial results, published in 2006, found a genetic polymorphism
of coproporphyrinogen oxidase (CPOX4) appeared to affect
susceptibility for specific neurobehavioral functions associated
with mercury exposure.3
A related study of 330 children with the CPOX4 variant, published
in 2012, found that those with mercury fillings performed
significantly worse on annual tests of memory, concentration and
other neurological activities compared to children who received
mercury-free treatments.4
At least two other studies also showed a link between this
genetic variant and heightened risks from exposure to mercury
fillings. McClatchy DC reported:5
"The results, in four papers published in scientific
journals from 2011 to 2014, have escaped public attention,
although the authors say up to 40 percent of the population has
at least one of the genetic traits and could be affected.
Diana Echeverria, a scientist who collaborated with
University of Washington toxicologist James Woods and others in
the reassessment, said the susceptible groups face 'a lifetime
risk' of neurological damage.
'We're not talking about a small risk,' said Echeverria,
who works for the Seattle-based Battelle Centers for Public
Health Research and Evaluation."
In all, at least a dozen common genetic polymorphisms may worsen
the effects of mercury on behavioral process in children, the
researchers noted. Males appear to be particularly susceptible to
the effects, as girls were able to excrete more of the mercury in
their urine.
In response to the findings and the new Minamata Convention on
Mercury (which requires the phase down of amalgam use), the European
Commission's Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified
Health Risks advised dentists to use mercury-free fillings in
children and pregnant women.
But in the U.S., even though the FDA described the study as "well
conducted" and FDA acknowledges that:
"The developing neurological systems in fetuses and young
children may be more sensitive to the neurotoxic effects of
mercury vapor.
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."6
But despite these acknowledged risks, FDA said the evidence
wasn't yet strong enough to justify an amalgam ban.
Charlie Brown, who brought the lawsuit that forced FDA to
classify amalgam, says "FDA acknowledges the neurological risks to
these particularly vulnerable populations, but continues to permit
its unrestricted use — essentially using them as guinea pigs."
FDA Proposal Warning Against Mercury Fillings Blocked by U.S. Health
Officials
The U.S. FDA has a long history of siding with industry to
support the use of mercury filings, including the deceptive
marketing of mercury amalgams as "silver fillings."
In 2011, after multiple citizen petitions and an FDA advisory
panel continued to express concern over amalgam risks and the FDA's
reluctance to protect vulnerable groups, the FDA drafted a "safety
communication" on mercury fillings.
The proposal urged dentists to avoid using mercury fillings
whenever possible, but especially among particularly vulnerable
groups, including pregnant women, nursing moms, children under 6,
and people with mercury allergies, kidney diseases or neurological
problems.
Unfortunately, the proposal was kept largely secret and was
ultimately rejected by officials with the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS).
The HHS claimed the alleged slightly increased cost of
non-mercury fillings could put an unfair burden on low-income
Americans, who then might neglect to have their oral health problems
treated at all.7
This is a similar argument used by the ADA. As a result,
low-income and middle-income people, Native Americans living on U.S.
Reservations, and our soldiers and sailors — even the pregnant ones
— continue get mercury fillings based on this bogus
"cost-savings" argument.
And this is just one example of how the ADA continues to
stand in the way of efforts to remove toxic mercury from dentistry.
McClatchy DC continued:8
"Over the years, the ADA has:
— Argued against FDA safety warnings about mercury
fillings for pregnant women and small children.
— Imposed a gag rule barring member dentists, including
those specializing in the safe removal of mercury fillings, from
telling patients the compounds could harm their health …
— Cut a deal in the final days of George W. Bush's
presidency that put off the issuance of regulations requiring
dentists to install mercury "separators," so they can properly
dispose of their mercury debris, in favor of a voluntary
approach."
Why Does the ADA Love Mercury Fillings? It's the Money!
ADA's irrational support for mercury fillings baffles many
observers, but looking behind the cover, as Dorothy did with the
Wizard of Oz, the answer becomes self-evident. First, the ADA owns
patents on amalgam (patent # 4,018,600 and patent # 4,078,921).
Second, ADA's revenue is built on a system of kickbacks; its
"Seal of Acceptance" is a pay-to-play endorsement scheme similar to
one abandoned 20 years ago by the American Medical
Association on the grounds of ethics.
Third, the ADA was created as an amalgam-using organization in
the mid-19th century, whereby the amalgam-using "dentists" defeated
the anti-mercury "physicians of the mouth" who used gold (in those
days, the gold had to be melted, making its implanting quite
uncomfortable).
In his landmark book "Mercury-Free," Florida dentist James Hardy
refers to the introduction of amalgam and the creation of the ADA as
a "twin-birth." Fourth, dentists make more money from each tooth,
because amalgam destroys good tooth matter and can lead to expensive
mouth clean-up work later.
Fifth, the most ardent of the pro-mercury dentists choose to
bypass training and forego learning in order to focus on a sure bet;
at public hearings they notoriously claim mercury is not in amalgam,
or the mercury is locked inert in the amalgam fillings — both being
bald-faced lies.
To hold its power and to continue to ram amalgam down the throats
of the American people, the ADA has a threefold modus operandi:
maintain monopoly control over the profession, strong-arm dentists
to keep using amalgam, and conceal the mercury from America's
consumers.
Today, however, this strategy of winning-by-intimidation is
falling apart. First, the percentage of dentists in the ADA has
declined, as dentists drop out of this pro-mercury trade group.
Second, up to half of American dentists never use mercury fillings;
they are "mercury-free."
Third, the percentage of consumers who are aware of the mercury
in amalgam doubled between 2006 and 2014, according to a Zogby poll
which asked that same question eight years apart. Charlie Brown of
Consumers for Dental Choice says:
"The tipping point is about here. Soon, the number of
mercury-free dentists will exceed 50%, and the number of
consumers who know 'silver fillings' are really 'mercury
fillings' will exceed 50%. At that point, the ADA has a choice;
Either it abandons this primitive, pre-Civil War pollutant,
which cracks teeth, and leapfrogs from the 19th century to the
21st, or the ADA falls on its proverbial sword for amalgam."
Even a Ban on Mercury Fillings Won't Stop Mercury Pollution Anytime
Soon
The use of amalgam fillings has been falling steadily, from an
estimated 157 mercury fillings placed in the U.S. in 1979 to fewer
than 20 million in 2015.9
Yet, it's estimated that 181 million Americans still have 1.46
billion mercury fillings in their teeth, which represents an
estimated 1,200 tons of mercury.
When these people die, if their bodies are cremated the mercury
will be released into the air.
According to McClatchy DC, "By 2025, incineration of corpses
could send as much as 12 tons of mercury per year into the air,
according to an analysis by the Vermont-based Mercury Policy
Project, an environmental group."10
Other estimates suggest seven to nine metric tons of mercury per
year escape into the atmosphere during cremations, and it is
estimated that, left unchecked,
crematoria will be the largest single cause of mercury pollution
by 2020.
Sweden now mandates that all mercury fillings be removed prior to
cremation for this very reason, and The European Environment Bureau
is calling for crematoria to be included in new pollution-control
standards for incinerating waste.11
There are even more sources of mercury pollution than
this, sadly. For instance, did you know that, in the U.S.,
dentist offices are the largest source of mercury in wastewater
entering publicly owned treatment works? Dental amalgam continues to
be the leading intentional use of mercury in the U.S.
Mercury Levels so Bad in Some Dentists' Office Air That Patients and
Workers Should Be Wearing Respirators
Alex Hummell is the CEO of Mercury Instruments USA Inc., a
company that makes equipment to detect airborne levels of mercury.
At industrial sites, employees must follow strict protocols to avoid
exposure to even tiny amounts of mercury, but at dental offices
mercury levels may soar — and patients and employees are oblivious
to the risks.McClatchy DC reported:12
"'I've seen in dental offices what would make these other
offices have to shut down,' said Hummell, CEO of Mercury
Instruments USA Inc. 'They would be closing their doors and
getting respirators on.' Instead, he said, 'there are kids
running around everywhere. It's nuts. It's the exact same toxin,
and it's being treated totally differently. Why is it being
allowed to be so unregulated?'"
While industrial sites typically also monitor mercury levels at
work sties, few dental offices do the same. It's so bad that
Hummell, a father of five, says he won't bring his children into
just any dentist office, lest they be exposed to mercury even for a
second.
In an experiment to determine mercury exposures at a dentist's
office, Hummell found mercury levels up to 30 times the OSHA limit
could be released during a procedure to remove mercury fillings.
He's also found that mercury levels rise when a tooth with an old
mercury filling is gently brushed. As you might expect, the ADA was
not too thrilled to hear about Hummell's findings. According to
McClatchy DC:13
"He [Hummell] said he also showed dentists an American
Dental Association pamphlet urging them to periodically monitor
their offices for mercury, a circular that mostly drew chuckles
and ridicule from the dentists.
'I got a call the day after the convention from the
American Dental Association's lawyer threatening to take me down
if I didn't stop using their publication,' Hummell said. 'I
said, 'I thought the dental association wanted them to know.
Right after that, you couldn't find that publication anywhere
... It disappeared from the Internet.'"
According to Charlie Brown of Consumers for Dental Choice,
"Historically, the ADA has warned dentists about the dangers of
mercury in dental offices, but only when the ADA stood to profit."
For example, Brown cites an ADA brochure titled "You Owe It to
Yourself! Protect Yourself and Your Staff Against the Hazards
of Your Profession with the ADA's Mercury Testing Service." In the
brochure, the ADA acknowledges:
"Office spaces may be contaminated with mercury from
leaky amalgam capsules and from the lingering effects of
accidental spillage. High speed handpieces and ultrasonic
compactors that vaporize mercury can lead to unsuspected
inhalation."
For $75 per person per year, the ADA offered a "complete and
confidential" mercury-testing service:
"The complete ADA service not only covers tests for your
mercury level through regular urinalysis, but also, upon
request, provides specific recommendations for changes in office
procedures and layout that help you to eliminate further mercury
overexposure."
There is no evidence that the ADA has continued this mercury
testing program. "It appears that the ADA found it more profitable
to deny the problem of high mercury levels in dental offices,"
explains Brown.
One Dental Hospital Banned Mercury Fillings Due to Indoor Air
Pollution
Anyone who has mercury fillings in their mouth is at risk from
the mercury vapors they release, however dental practitioners —
including dentists, dental hygienists, dental students, clinical
instructors and even dental supply traders — are particularly
vulnerable to mercury intoxication while working with this toxic
substance.
A study conducted by environmental justice group, BAN Toxics
(BT), in partnership with the International Association of Oral and
Medical Toxicologists-Philippines, World Alliance for Mercury-Free
Dentistry, and Asian Center for Environmental Health, revealed just
how high levels of mercury vapor actually are.
The mercury vapor concentrations in five Philippine dental
institutions and three dental stores exceeded the standard reference
levels set by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).14
As reported by BAN Toxics:15
"It was found that mercury concentration values varied
from 967ng/m3 to a high of 35,617ng/m3 — the majority of which
were at levels beyond recommended reference standards such as
the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
action level of 1,000 ng/m3. Some areas posted a
concentration of >10,000 ng/m3, which is considered as the
evacuation alert level by the US EPA."
The environmental groups called for an immediate ban on dental
amalgam in the Philippines, along with a change to the dental
curriculum so that the future generation of dentists will know how
to use mercury-free alternatives.
Similar to in the Philippines, research conducted in
collaboration with the Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) and the
Sustainable Development Policy Institute found that some dental
hospitals in Pakistan had hazardous levels of mercury pollutants in
the air.16
The study found some dental teaching hospitals with indoor air
levels of mercury between eight and 20 times higher than the
permissible level for human health, posing risks not only to
patients but also to medical staff. In response to the study,
Polyclinic hospital in Pakistan became the country's first to ban
mercury fillings, citing hazards to human health.
What's Lurking in Your Silver Fillings?
It's estimated that 75 percent of Americans are ignorant about
that fact that amalgam fillings are actually 50 percent mercury, and
this is no accident. The American Dental Association (ADA)
popularized the deceptive term "silver fillings" so consumers would
think amalgam is made mainly of silver when actually it has twice as
much mercury as silver.
Mercury is an incredibly potent neurotoxin; it doesn't take much
to cause serious damage because it's an absolute poison. If you were
to take the amount of mercury in a typical thermometer and put it in
a small lake, that lake would be closed down due to environmental
hazards.
Yet, amounts much higher than that are readily put into your
mouth if you receive a "silver" amalgam dental filling, as the
majority of material in the filling is actually mercury. Download
your free copy of Measurably Misleading and learn how the FDA and
dental industry are misleading consumers and why that's bad for
American families and our planet.
Help Support Mercury-Free Dentistry
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. So consider donating your funds
where you know it will get results.
Consumers for Dental Choice take the Holistic Approach to
Advocacy. You wouldn't go to traditional dentist who uses mercury
amalgam fillings. So why would you go to a traditional activist to
fight for mercury-free dentistry? That's why so many people,
including myself, support Consumers for Dental Choice's holistic
approach to advocacy.
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 leader Charlie Brown continue
their full-court-press campaign to bring mercury-free dentistry to
the U.S. and worldwide. If you wish to stay informed, I encourage
you to follow them on
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announcements, you can sign up by
CLICKING HERE
You can help stop dental mercury today! Please consider a
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dedicated to advocating mercury-free dentistry.
© Copyright 1997-2016 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.
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