{"id":2316,"date":"2018-04-17T11:16:07","date_gmt":"2018-04-17T05:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/esdo.org\/?p=2316"},"modified":"2018-04-17T11:16:07","modified_gmt":"2018-04-17T05:16:07","slug":"momentum-builds-to-end-the-largest-mercury-use-in-u-s-a-dental-amalgam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/momentum-builds-to-end-the-largest-mercury-use-in-u-s-a-dental-amalgam\/","title":{"rendered":"Momentum builds to end the largest mercury use in U.S.A. – dental amalgam"},"content":{"rendered":"

16 April, 2018,<\/strong> Chicago:<\/strong> A coalition of 50 environmental, public health, and children\u2019s rights groups called for an end to the controversial filling material \u2013 dentalamalgam \u2013 inAmerican children, and for a two-year general phase-out in its use in the United States.\u00a0 Supporters include many major national nonprofit groups, including Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Health Care Without Harm, Clean Water Action,Consumers for Dental Choice, and Learning Disabilities Association of America.<\/p>\n

The paper, known as the Chicago Declaration, was unveiled at a news conference heldat the University of Illinois at Chicago and chaired by Charlie Brown, president of the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry,Brown noted, \u201cStarting July 1, the European Union bans amalgam for children under 15; the U.S. needs to act just as aggressively.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

Once the mainstay of dentistry, amalgam is now in sharp decline and is discontinued in several countries.\u00a0 Despite its deceptive name \u201csilver fillings,\u201d amalgam\u2019s main component is actually mercury, a neurotoxin and a heavy metal.<\/p>\n

Jessica Saepoff, DDS, former Commissioner of the Washington State Dental Quality Assurance Commission, said, \u201cMercury-free dentistry is practical, it is a superior technology and it is tooth-friendly\u00a0\u2013 minimally invasive \u2013while amalgam is not.\u00a0 As a good citizen concerned about the environment and as an employer who doesn\u2019t want her staff exposed to mercury vapor, I won\u2019t use amalgam in my patients, and haven\u2019tdone so for 25 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other organizations signing onto the Chicago Declaration in support include Environmental Working Group, Mercury Policy Project, Organic Consumers Association,International Indian Treaty Council, Physicians for Social Responsibility – Chicago, Organic and Natural Health Association, the Environmental Justice Health Alliance, the Ecology Center, and Alliance for Natural Health-USA. Key state-based environmental, public health, and children\u2019s groups represent half the states.<\/p>\n

Peter Orris, M.D., of Health Care Without Harm and a participant in the news conference, said, \u201cMercury\u2019s impact on young people\u2019s health through its presence in fish remains an unresolved problem in this country and around the world.\u00a0 Reducing and eventually virtually eliminating mercury use in \u2018silver\u2019 dental fillings by replacement with other effective restorative materials will go a long way in removing this environmental threat to our children in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

As other mercury uses decline, dental amalgam has become the single largest use of mercury in the U.S., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.\u00a0 Once amalgam is released, \u201ccertain microorganisms can change elemental mercury into methylmercury, a highlytoxic form that builds up in fish, shellfish and animals that eat fish\u201d according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.<\/p>\n

The Chicago Declaration calls for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to act on currently idled petitions.\u00a0 \u201cBut we don\u2019t need FDA to act,\u201d said Beth McGaw, President, Learning Disabilities Association of America.\u00a0 \u201cEvery parent in America needs to insist their dentists only use mercury-free dental fillings for their child.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chicago dentist Dr. Timothy Crowe spoke at the news conference, expressing confidence that the term \u201cChicago Declaration\u201d is well-earned.\u00a0 \u201cChicago dentists increasingly recognize the need to transition to mercury-free dentistry.\u00a0 In my experience practicing both on the South Side and downtown, the alternatives are affordable, effective, and available,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a>https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/Chicago-Declaration<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

16 April, 2018, Chicago: A coalition of 50 environmental, public health, and children\u2019s rights groups called for an end to the controversial filling material \u2013 dentalamalgam \u2013 inAmerican children, and for a two-year general phase-out in its use in the United States.\u00a0 Supporters include many major national nonprofit groups, including Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Health Care […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press_release"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2316"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2318,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2316\/revisions\/2318"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esdo.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}