Cent4dent Blog

Shareholder challenges, legal risks, growing for Danaher/Kerr, #1 amalgam mfr

Danaher Corp., whose subsidiary Kerr is the largest manufacturer of toxic mercury amalgam, faces the twin specters of shareholder dissatisfaction and litigation exposure.

1. Shareholders oppose Danaher’s pro-amalgam policy

Sister Valerie Heinonen of the Ursuline Sisters, Michael Bender of the Mercury Policy Project, and I attended the Danaher annual meeting on May 5, presenting our resolution that the corporation consider a phase-out of manufacturing amalgam. Our proposal got 16.49% of the shareholder vote, an astonishingly high number for a first-time out. Clearly, many shareholders want Danaher to give amalgam the heave-ho.

President Obama tells agencies to stop pre-empting victim remedies

In a reversal of Bush Administration policies, President Obama has directed agencies to preserve consumer remedies when it writes regulations. This is one advantage of the FDA rule issuing this year rather than last. (The Supreme Court has ruled that consumer remedies are pre-empted with Class III devices, Riegel v. Medtronic, 552 U.S.__ (2008), but allowed with Class II devices, Medtronic v. Lohr, 518 U.S. 470 (1996)).

3. Throughout 2009, Consumers for Dental Choice has been laying the groundwork for litigation should Danaher continue to dig in its heels

* At the annual meeting last month, I presented a memorandum to each member of Danaher’s board of directors, stating why Danaher should exit manufacturing mercury amalgam, highlighting the legal exposure. www.toxicteeth.org/DHR_presenttn_5-5-09.doc

* In January, I wrote the general counsel of Danaher, laying out why Danaher was acting against the interest of its own shareholders in protecting amalgam. www.toxicteeth.org/Brown_to_Graham_Jan-4-2009.doc

*Also in January, two trial lawyer association journals published my article presenting a blueprint for litigation against Danaher and the other major manufacturers, Dentsply and Vivadent. www.toxicteeth.org/mercury_fillings_toxic_tort_2009.pdf

Danaher has both tarnished its reputation and increased its legal exposure by mounting a callous defense of two-tiered dentistry (what an NAACP witness before Congress called “choice for the rich and mercury for the poor”); www.toxicteeth.org/Danaher_supports_Two-Tiered_dentistry.doc At the Danaher board meeting, we challenged — and we will continue to challenge — this immoral position.

Charlie

30 May 2009

Charles G. Brown, National Counsel
Consumers for Dental Choice
316 F St., N.E., Suite 210, Washington, DC 20002
Ph. 202.544-6333; fax 202.544-6331
charlie@toxicteeth.org,
www.toxicteeth.org
Working for Mercury-Free Dentistry

For Further information, visit the mercury links page of our website.