For the 10th
year in a row, we now celebrate our annual Mercury Awareness and
Mercury-Free Dentistry Week. During the week of August 23 through 29,
2020, we will match your donations to Consumers for Dental Choice,
dollar for dollar up to $150,000
Spearheading
the campaign in Europe, Consumers for Dental Choice led the coalition to
win the banning of dental amalgam in children under 15 and pregnant or
breastfeeding women across 27 countries in the European Union. The
battle now upshifts to winning a full phase-out
Consumers for
Dental Choice founded the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, a
coalition of nonprofit groups from all over the world dedicated to
banishing amalgam use. During the past year, eight more governments
either banned amalgam now or set a final date for its use, notably the
Philippines and Ireland
Realizing it is
out of step with the world, and under unrelenting pressure from
Consumers for Dental Choice, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has
reopened its abysmal 2009 amalgam rule
Fresh off
winning protections for dental consumers in Maine, Consumers for Dental
Choice launches an offensive in other states, filing petitions to
enforce state laws in Wisconsin and Connecticut
For the 10th consecutive year, we now
celebrate our annual Mercury Awareness and Mercury-Free Dentistry Week.
With us again is Charlie Brown, executive director of Consumers for
Dental Choice and former attorney general for West Virginia.
As in previous years, during this week of August 23 through 29,
2020, we will double your donations to Consumers for Dental Choice,
matching it dollar for dollar up to $150,000. I’m committed to doing
this annual fundraiser because eliminating dental mercury is such an
important effort for both human and environmental health.
Over 20 years ago, Brown committed his life to this advocacy, to
help improve the lives of millions of people, and your generous
donations are what allow him to continue this crucial humanitarian
work.
He’s made great progress this past year, which he details in this
interview. You will be delighted to know your past donations have been
put to good use, and it is thanks to you that this stellar nonprofit
group has been able to have such a sustained impact.
This has in part been accomplished through the founding of the World
Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, a coalition of nonprofit groups
from all over the world, which elected Charlie Brown as its president.
As explained by Brown:
“We were able to go nationally to international. We were able to
shift from dream to reality and the international successes have come
one after another. Those that read our stuff have seen that. Eight
countries just in the past year have either ended amalgam totally or
have announced a specific phase-out date.
The push-back on the United States is huge. The U.S. Food and
Drug Administration knows it's way behind and that's why, under our
unrelenting pressure, they reopened the FDA rule [on dental amalgam].
We certainly see a different approach from the FDA now than the
silence, which has been deafening, for so many years.”
International Progress
Internationally, the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry’s
success in including amalgam as a plank at the Minamata Convention on
Mercury — a global treaty to protect human health and the environment
from the adverse effects of mercury signed in 2013 that went into
effect in 2017 — has led to actions by governments across the world.
Notably, the 27-nation European Union in 2018 banned dental amalgam in
children under 15 and in pregnant or breastfeeding women.
Health Canada also passed guidelines years ago against the use of
amalgam in children, pregnant women and in those with kidney disease
but, regrettably, Health Canada seems to have lost interest in using
its own guidelines.
Ten governments have gone further and implemented either immediate
bans or a precise phase-out date. In the past year, the Philippines,
Ireland, Nepal, Slovakia, Finland, New Caledonia, Moldova and the Czech
Republic have all joined Norway and Sweden in the winner’s circle.
It gets better: At the third Conference of the Parties of the
Minamata Convention in Geneva in November 2019, all Parties to the
treaty (well over 100 countries, including the U.S. and Canada) were
instructed to redouble efforts and accelerate the phase-down of
amalgam.
To facilitate the global phase-out of amalgam, the World Alliance for
Mercury-Free Dentistry helped create centers to coordinate the
implementation of mercury-free dentistry in each region. There’s the
Asian Center for Environmental Health in Bangladesh, the European
Center for Environmental Medicine in Berlin, the African Center for
Environmental Health in the Ivory Coast, and the Latin American Center
for Environmental Health in Uruguay.
A specialized campaign is tailored to the island states in the
Caribbean, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean. All of this is coordinated
by Consumers for Dental Choice, which serves as Secretariat to the
World Alliance. The ultimate goal of the Minamata Convention is the
total ban on amalgam everywhere.
“We are nonstop implementing and I make it my point to do that by
finding the best environmental group leaders to implement the program
on the ground. None of this can be done by me showing up in the
country. I do go to many countries, but we show up to work with an
excellent team on the ground of experienced people who do their job and
know how to win.”
Progress in the US
Following these international successes, the Chicago Declaration to
End Mercury Use in the Dental Industry was created in the U.S. The
declaration was signed by 50 organizations, including the Sierra Club,
Clean Water Action, Greenpeace and Learning Disabilities Association of
America. With these signatories onboard, the FDA finally sat up and
took notice.
“We were able to meet with the FDA director for the center for
devices. They agreed to reopen the rule. They had full hearings in
November of 2019,” Brown says.
“We brought a team of 16 experts, city and county commissioners,
professors, a former dean of a dental school, the National Medical
Association representative, the Children's Environmental Health
Foundation, Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice, four
different lawyers, each with a different legal angle on this and so on.
And they listened. In fact, the experts at the end of that
hearing recommended the FDA break its silence and get the word out that
this material is mercury and has some serious health effects.
More so they said, ‘The FDA needs to get much more specific for
the vulnerable,’ including children … Here is FDA's chance to catch up.
Those who listen, probably say, ‘Well, we've been down this road
before. FDA is starting and stopping.’
That's true. But this time we were much readier. We had our
camera man there. We videoed every minute of it so they couldn't say
‘this happened’ when it was really something else. We followed up, to
the top of the agency, again ... We are interacting with the team.
FDA has now created a team to look at this issue. The Chicago
Declaration continued to weigh in as did an expert in environmental
justice issues, pointing out the real disparate use of amalgam in
children, [especially] children of color and other low income children,
Indian reservations, Medicaid, as well as lower income adults — those
in prisons, soldiers and sailors, those who are left behind.
We have no excuse. We have no excuse for treating our soldiers
and sailors and airmen and Marines this way. We think FDA, this time,
is about to turn over a new leaf. If they don't though, we've got a
multitude of strategies going on in the states and we've already turned
up the heat there.”
Efforts in Maine, Connecticut and Wisconsin Redouble
Brown expects we’ll get a ruling from the FDA by the end of 2020. If
not, action within various U.S. states have redoubled. For example,
the petition by Consumers for Dental Choice to the Maine dental board
resulted, this year, in an official rule that all pro-mercury dentists —
those still using amalgam — must provide written disclosure about the
mercury in amalgam to all patients, parents or guardians.
The patient must sign this disclosure, acknowledging they understand
the risks before having amalgam placed in their teeth. That will
undoubtedly cut back usage substantially.
“That's now the law in Maine. We've now headed into Wisconsin.
We've headed into Connecticut. We are heading other places to be on the
offensive and get disclosures, or in the case of Wisconsin and
Connecticut, more than disclosures,” Brown says.
"Connecticut actually requires, mandates, mercury fillings in
people on Medicaid. It's just morally, legally outrageous. But we've got
a really good partner there and we're going after them.”
Interestingly, Wisconsin actually has a law banning the sale of any
product with elemental mercury aimed at children. Brown’s team is
focused on applying this law to dental amalgam use, arguing to state
officials that the law means use of this mercury product must end in
Wisconsin children.
African Region Poised to End Amalgam
On the international level, coming up in 2021 is the fourth
Conference of the Parties of the Minamata Convention. The stars of the
show could well be the African Region. Its 51 governments sponsored an
amalgam phase-out amendment in Geneva last year, and are poised to do
the same in Bali, Indonesia, next year. Brown comments:
“They've been wonderful. They are united. They want amalgam to
end. They proposed that the third Conference of the Parties to end
amalgam, and we got a very good compromise. We didn't have the votes
yet to end it, but we are building to have the votes in the 2021
session, which will be in Indonesia, November 2021.
We bring a great team there, but we work through the governments
who support us. The entire African governments does. But I think
they're going to have a lot of allies. The EU campaign is in high gear
and here's where we are with the EU: They have already ended it for
amalgam for children, pregnant women and breastfeeding women.
Five of the countries in the Union have ended it, but now they
are making the decision whether to phase it out [in all 27 EU nations].
I was at a conference in Brussels in January of 2020. I was the only
non-European invited. And the indication from the European Commission
is they want to phase this out. They are poised to make a
recommendation.
They're a little late because of the [COVID-19] pandemic, but
they will make a recommendation. There's the European Commission,
European Union and the European Parliament. The three have to agree. It
starts with the Commission, and we have a really great campaign.
We work with the European Environmental Bureau [and] the
European Center for Environmental Medicine. We also have nonprofit
groups that we work with in Spain, Poland and Sweden and so on. And we
intend to work, just like we did in 2016, to get the first law passed,
which set up the process.
We won that by going to the parliament. This year, under whatever
the procedures are for going to parliament, maybe it's all virtual, we
will do that. But we intend the European Union to win the campaign in
2020 and get an end date [for amalgam].
We don't know what it will be, but we want to get an end date.
And the indications are, we've got the momentum to do that. If we get
the European Union and the African region, that's a huge part of the
world …”
Asian Successes
We’ve also seen major victories and forward movement across Asia.
Indonesia has promised to end amalgam this year, but they’ve already
stopped promoting it for public health. Indonesia is the fourth largest
country in the world, and its version of Medicaid is far larger than
that in the U.S. If they can end the use of amalgam, so can the U.S.
Use of amalgam will cease in three years in the Philippines and in
five years in Nepal — they serve as guides for the continent. Vietnam
ended amalgam for children and for pregnant and breastfeeding women,
and is working on a “road map” for amalgam’s total demise.
Bangladesh ended all use of amalgam for its entire armed forces and
their families, and most of its dental schools. They now teach only
mercury-free dentistry and have banished the teaching of amalgam from
the curriculum. Here is a great success story from the Central African
nation of Cameroon, all done at the local level:
“We're seeing all kinds of progress, both huge and on the micro
level. The Cameroon Baptist Convention has hospitals all over the
country. I've gone to the headquarters and met with the chief medical
officer. She's a dentist. She ended amalgam in Cameroon for the entire
system 12 years ago. She didn't need us,” Brown says.
“I asked, ‘How did you think of this, Dr. Theresia?’ She
replied, ‘I read and read and read, and I [decided], we're going to
stop using it.’ And they did. It isn't like you need a high-income
country to do this. You need willpower.
The U.S. FDA still needs a little more willpower, but we're
working around them as well as right at them. And we're going to see
this happen here too … [We’re going to] make sure that whatever
guidelines they issue are not going to be ignored because of the
American Dental Association trying to sabotage … as they've done
before.”
Progress in Two Nations With Massive Populations
What about the two nations with a billion-plus people? Brown has
made India a major priority for the World Alliance, partnering with the
nation’s leading environmental group on a national campaign, and
engaging a “model state” campaign in the eastern India state of
Odisha.
The campaign is bearing fruit. The Indian Railway, the largest
employer in the world, which employs thousands of dentists for its
workers, is ending amalgam use. If the world’s largest employer can end
amalgam, it is less complicated for smaller employers to do the same!
The World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry also has allies in China.
“It is true they have a law on nonprofit groups that basically doesn't allow us to come in and participate,” Brown says,
“but we work through our allies. China recognizes nonprofit groups
have a role and environmentalists have a role. They allow them, they
respect them.
They listen to them because China knows they've got to do things
about the environment. Our partners in China are quite active. China,
as you know, is very much top down so we have to convince the
government in Beijing, almost exclusively.”
Join the Fight to End Dental Mercury Worldwide
As you can see, significant progress is being made. We’ve come a
long way in these past 10 years. With your continued support, we can
end the health scourge that is dental mercury, worldwide, thereby
improving the health of literally billions of people.
This is the time to show your support. When you donate this week,
I'm going to double your contribution, dollar for dollar, up to
$150,000. We need to empower dentists who really understand health, and
through that understanding provide the type of care that you and your
family need and deserve. We need to eliminate this poison, and to do
that we need to bring Consumers for Dental Choice across the finish
line. We’re almost there.
Consumers for Dental Choice is a verified 501(c)(3) corporation,
which means any donations to this campaign are tax deductible. For many
of you, that means you not only can leverage your donation by my
doubling any amount you give, but you also can get up to a 40% tax
deduction on your donation. It's a win, win, win all around.
Also, if you’re a dentist who is still using amalgam, please
consider removing it from your practice immediately. Not only is it
harming your patients’ health, dental amalgam is also a significant
source of environmental mercury pollution. As explained by Brown:
“There’s no excuse anymore. First, it's a primitive pre-Civil War
product that harms. It [requires the removal] of good tooth matter.
The alternatives are so much better because they're minimally invasive.
They focus on the life of the tooth, not the life of the filling.
The dentists who use amalgam are also putting their own staff at
risk … And they are the polluter who's not paying. They are putting
this pollution into our environment and saying, ‘We don't want to pay
for this. Let the taxpayers pay for the mercury I'm putting in the
environment.
Let the funeral director buy equipment [to block mercury
emissions] before he does cremation. Let the landlord have the mercury
stuck in the pipes. Let the fishermen not fish.’ It is irresponsible
and unnecessary.”
Opt for Mercury-Free Dentistry
On the home front, you can help this movement by using only
mercury-free dentists. They understand the risks of mercury, refuse to
expose their patients and staff to mercury vapors and protect our
environment from mercury pollution. How do you find one? Here are
several organizations with lists or information:
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