Cent4dent Blog

As BP and government leaders rush to hang a “Mission Accomplished” banner on the BP drilling disaster, troubling environmental and community impacts have not been addressed by BP, state or federal leaders. To view it, click here, or go to You Tube, and search Gulf Network or Healthy Gulf.

This episode of GRN’s Gulf Tides covers plans for over 100 miles of dredged sand berms to block oil from Louisiana’s marsh. We interview Len Bahr, Ph.D., of LACoastPost.com, the coastal science advisor to 5 former Louisiana Governors, who questions the wisdom and effectiveness of the berms, while GRN’s own Matt Rota underscores the unintended negative impacts of other decisions made in the coastal area, such as cutting oil & gas canals through the marsh.

We also spend time with Boat People SOS’s Danny Lee, who discusses the challenges the Vietnamese commercial fishing fleet has had joining BP’s Vessels of Opportunity Program to get work on the clean up effort. With many commercial shrimpers choosing to forgo the August shrimp season (which opened yesterday) due to concerns about the shrimp and the seafood markets
The Gulf Restoration Network remains committed to bringing you authentic voices and views from the Gulf’s affected communities. This episode features great local music from NOLA’s Anders Osborne, Stanton Moore and Irvin Mayfield. We are once again honored to have Academy Award-winning actor Tim Robbins narrate the series.

Our call to action for this YouTube episode links to supporting our campaign to make sure the story doesn’t fade once the media move one. Once you’ve watched and shared Gulf Tides, please click through and support GRN’s work with a donation!
So please watch the video, and learn more about the sand berm proposal, and the challenges facing the Vietnamese shrimping community. Then, please share the video with your friends, family or facebook.

Dr. Steve Markus, of Haddon Heights, NJ has joined forces with dental colleagues across the country to extend the following offer: ALL NEW PATIENTS WHO VISIT OUR OFFICE BETWEEN NOW AND THE END OF OCTOBER WILL HAVE 10% OF THE FEES THEY PAY DONATED TO SUPPORT THIS INDEPENDENT NON-PROFIT THAT HAS BEEN OVERSEEING THE GULF FOR OVER 16 YEARS. VISIT THE WEBSITE FOR “SMILES FOR WILDLIFE” WHERE YOU WILL FIND MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS PROGRAM, AND LINKS TO GULF RESTORATION NETWORK.

For the Gulf, our coast, and communities
Aaron Viles
Campaign Director

Dear Friends,

After months of preparation and an overwhelming response from you when we asked for help to get our movement to the world mercury treaty negotiations, we had an enormous impact at the first negotiating session in Stockholm, Sweden (to view photos click here*). We had our first opportunity to address a hundred nations at once about our cause during our opening speech to the governmental delegates (to watch speech click here). Our highly talented and energetic international team of advocates and mercury-free dentists from seven nations ran an information booth, distributed literature, gave presentations, networked with like-minded organizations, educated delegates, and convinced the world that it must find a solution to the dental mercury problem:

— The United Nations Environmental Programme officials observed that dental amalgam drew more interest than any other single issue during the session. As a result, substantial attention will be devoted to dental mercury between now and the next session in January.

— The Scandinavian nations pointedly asked the world’s nations to join them in phasing out amalgam.

— Leaders from four developing nations asked us to assist them in organizing pilot programs for phasing out amalgam, a critical step according to the UN.

— Diplomats from the U.S. State Department and top officials from the U.S. EPA were engaged in our message and requesting more information.

— The leaders of the World Health Organization shifted from defending amalgam use to outlining the steps it endorses to reduce its use.

I can’t say enough about the team we assembled in Stockholm. We were tutored by Elisabet Carlsson, the advocate whose work led to the Swedish ban on amalgam. Dentist Graeme Munro-Hall of Great Britain, co-author with his wife Lilian of ToxicDentistry Exposed, eloquently explained the science supporting mercury-free dentistry. We joined forces with the dedicated leaders of our movement in other major countries, such as Servando Pérez-Dominguez of Spain, Marie Grosman of France, and Angela Kilmartin of Great Britain. The multi-lingual talents of Anita Vazquez Tibau of California and Kathy Huddlestone of France allowed us to reach out to even more delegates. And so many other outstanding folks stepped in to help out.

When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration showed up at the Stockholm session to protect mercury fillings, our international team was right there to expose the flaws in the agency’s amalgam defense. Back in the United States, FDA was already facing a grassroots outcry from the American people and three separate petitions filed by Jim Turner, by Bob Reeves and Jim Love, and by emeritus University of Virginia professor Dr. Richard Edlich. With the Scandinavians announcing that “dental treatment without mercury is becoming the norm” and other health departments at least putting limits on amalgam use, FDA realized that it is the pariah on the dental mercury issue (countries such as Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands have phased out amalgam; Germany and Canada direct dentists not to use it in vulnerable populations; Japan uses it in less than 4% of fillings; etc.). In an attempt to save face the day before the negotiating session ended, FDA announced that it will hold hearings in December before the next UN session to consider whether American children, pregnant women, and other vulnerable populations should be protected from dental mercury exposure.

We could not have come this far without all our grassroots activists and supporters, both national and now international. In the words of FDA Webview, your efforts have been “unprecedented”: “No final rule in FDA’s modern history, or perhaps ever, has attracted this kind of organized opposition.” Thanks to all of you, our movement has made FDA realize that the mercury fillings issue is not going away.

– Charlie

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

* also available at http://toxicteeth.org/World-Mercury-Treaty-Gallery/
**also available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HIrjoaWpTE

for further information, visit the mercury issues page of our website

Victory in Philadelphia!
We foil dental association attempt to remove
neurological warnings from city fact sheet

In a ringing defeat for the American Dental Association, the Philadelphia Board of Health rejected the ADA’s strong-armed lobbying tactics and retained neurological warnings on the city’s fact sheet, at its meeting on May 13. The victory was doubly-important because the Food and Drug Administration asked the City to hold off weakening the fact sheet’s language. Freya Koss organized a terrific local strategy and grassroots effort, while here in Washington we did the same at the national level.

The state and city fact sheet laws in America stand as a testament to the power of the fully informed consumer: disclosure of the mercury and its neurological risks to consumers can mark the beginning of the end of amalgam. In Philadelphia, the fact sheet was working. The pro-mercury dentists were complaining that the fact sheets were interrupting the operation of their “drill-fill-and-bill” dental factories. The fact sheet made it necessary for these cut-rate dentists actually to talk to parents – and try to convince them that implanting a neurotoxin in their children’s bodies was a good thing. Of course, many parents are outraged.

As the battle opened in America’s fourth-largest city in February, the stakes for both sides were enormous. While we fought for consumers’ right to know that amalgam contains a risky neurotoxin, the pro-mercury dentists asked the City of Philadelphia to throw out the neurological warnings in order to keep parents uninformed – and to keep their socially irresponsible businesses running profitably. Then in a power grab of both moral depravity and dubious legality, the Pennsylvania Dental Association endorsed cutting off all dental care to children with disabilities if their parents refused to consent to amalgam.

Board of Health members — perhaps intimidated, perhaps in the pocket of the state dental association — appeared poised to cave in and eviscerate the fact sheet. Of course, such a move would have emboldened the ADA to wreck fact sheets coast-to-coast. Seeking cover, the Board’s chair said he would contact his friend Principal Deputy Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein at FDA.

So we began a national campaign to deter FDA from wrecking state fact sheets – and we succeeded! Our best argument: President Obama’s Executive Order directing federal agencies to respect state and local consumer protection laws. At that May 13 meeting, the Philadelphia health board chairman announced that FDA requested he remove no warnings from the fact sheet. We won several other important victories. The Board promised it would make no clandestine attempts to change the fact sheet without public hearings. The dentist member of the Board of Health — a pro-mercury dentist who appears to read from a script handed to her by the ADA — excused herself from the meeting altogether, appropriately recusing herself from future considerations of the issue. Furthermore, the Board publicly condemned dentists who were misrepresenting the fact sheet as a consent form for amalgam and then denying treatment when parents refused to sign.

Thanks to our outstanding Philadelphia team, led by Freya Koss, we successfully defended our rights from the ADA attack! Our advocates showed up in force for the Board of Health meetings. We had more dentists on our side at the May 13 meeting than the ADA did. Even mercury-free dentists who couldn’t come submitted letters of support. We plastered the meeting room with our posters (which we held up during the meeting) and distributed flyers with the neurological warning. Luke McConnell taped the February Board meeting. Judy and Al Roberson broadened our coalition by alerting disability rights advocates; we were delighted when we gained help from Barb Dively of the Acquired Brain Injury Network of Pennsylvania, then from German Parodi of Disabled in Action of PA. We appreciated everyone’s hard work on this project.

We are not done with the Pennsylvania Dental Association — far from it. With manifest evidence of discrimination against the disabled, we are continuing to pursue justice for the children with disabilities who have been denied dental care under the PDA’s policy of strong-arming parents into consenting to amalgam.

Charlie
17 May 2010

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

1. Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart Every hour of every day.

2.. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute!

3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick’s Day
(March 17th) than Target sells all year.

4. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target + Sears + Costco + K-Mart combined.

5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people and is the largest private employer, and most speak English.

6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the World.

7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger & Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only 15 years.

8. During this same period, 31 supermarket chains sought bankruptcy.

9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.

10. Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 stores in the USA of which 1,906 are Super Centers; this is 1,000 more than it had 5 Years ago.

11. This year 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur At a Wal-Mart store. (Earth’s population is approximately 6.5 Billion.)

12. 90% of all Americans live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart.

You may think that I am complaining, but I am really laying the ground work for suggesting that MAYBE we should hire the guys who run Wal-Mart to fix the economy. This should be read and understood by all Americans.

Democrats, Republicans, EVERYONE!!

To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature,

It is now official; you are ALL corrupt morons:

The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775. You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke.

Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke.

Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke.

War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to “the poor” and they only want more.

Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke.

Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke.

The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before. You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure.

You have FAILED in every “government service” you have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax dollars

AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM??

Folks, keep this circulating. It is very well stated. Maybe it will end up in the e-mails of some of our “duly elected’ and their staff
(they never read anything) will clue them in on how Americans feel.

Dear President Obama and AAAS,

You have asked for input into your scientific agenda. I want to suggest to you that the Federal Government has ignored the existing science on the dangers of mercury from “silver” fillings which is added to by mercury in flu vaccines and fish.

A major basis for the continued claims of safety regarding dental mercury by organized dentistry and in particular the ADA is contention that mercury does not cause any disease. That is not true. I say this from personal experience. I am a practicing dentist who suffered with depression until my recently placed mercury filling was removed in 1987. I have addressed the FDA and caused them to reject their own white paper on dental mercury toxicity in 2006. The text of that speech is available on my website at http://www.cent4dent.com/html/mercury_issues/fdaletter.htm Dr. Hamburg, at FDA had a vested interest in ignoring the panel convened in ’06 when she and the FDA failed to classify dental mercury fillings as a Class 3 device, as it is throughout Europe.

Please be sure to read the treatise from Dr. Haley, already submitted. Doctors in 1850 realized that mercury should not be implanted in the heads of humans, 4 inches from the base of the brain. What more evidence do you need. Please be sure to have your scientists visit my site www.cent4dent.com and also there is a wealth of information on www.dentalwellness4u.com

How can we possibly be lagging so far behind other developed nations in health care? What sinister forces are at work here poisoning Americans? How can the ADA tell dentists that scrap mercury needs to be stored under a high-specific-gravity fluid out of one side of their mouth, and get dentists to believe mercury from dental fillings is safe to put in Americans’ mouths? Why then, couldn’t they store their unused mercury scrap in a jar filled with saliva? I think you and I know the answer!

The peer reviewed science now points to mercury as the major factor in causing most neurological disorders, and particular Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis. This is summarized in a Petition for Reconsideration filed with the USFDA September 3, 2009 which can be found beginning on page 24 at: http://www.iaomt.org/articles/files/files314/petition%20for%20reconsideration%20090309.pdf .

And go to pp. 4-23 and in particular p.11-12 to see that Dental amalgams (mercury/silver fillings) are the major contributor to the human body burden of mercury. Thus, mercury/sliver fillings are probably the major factor causing Alzheimer’s disease & multiple sclerosis. Fish and flu vaccines add to our body burden. More personal stories and science can be found at toxicteeth.org, IAOMT.org. (delete these URLs and/or put other URLS here) And before you discount these personal stories remember the a major principal of the scientific method is OBSERVATION.

If you will take time to read the existing science you will be shocked. I can provide you much more detail if you are interested about my personal problems from mercury and the science upon request.
Stephen J. Markus DMD FACE
209 White Horse Pike
Haddon Heights, NJ
856 546 0665

For years the USA has lead the nations of the world in being first and foremost with cases of “modern man illnesses” such as Alzheimer’s disease, Acrodynia, Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, ALS, and now Autism. The rate of Autism has reached incredible levels recently in the USA and yet seems not to be given the attention such a disaster deserves.

• The USA is remarkable in that we now have the highest rate and number of vaccines given the earliest to infants and now have one of the highest rates of infant mortality in the Western nations as well as the highest rate of autism by far.
• In spite of our high level of science and technology in biomedicine we still claim that all of the illnesses given above have “no known cause”——but common sense and a basic understanding of biological science tells us the causes cannot be purely genetic and that a toxic exposure is required, and it is scientifically logical the mercury compounds in our vaccines are the primary cause for early infant death and autism.
• Due to the involvement of the CDC in the vaccine program it is critical that an unbiased group be formed to look at the both the toxic effects of our vaccines and other questions concerning the efficacy of the CDC vaccine program (remember the mumps epidemic where about 85% of those infected were also vaccinated?). The CDC administrators cannot play a controlling role in this evaluation of the vaccine program.
• The autism epidemic started soon after the CDC mandated vaccine program was implemented and it is a good question to ask our health authorities “if the CDC vaccine program prevents significant amounts of infant death from infectious diseases then what are USA infants dying of that place the USA at such a disastrous position in comparison to other progressive countries?”
• It is critical to have an independent research group do an epidemiological study of the rate of autism of non-vaccinated children versus vaccinated children. The CDC has refused to do this and has instead employed foreign researchers to do studies on foreign data bases where the exposure to mercury from vaccines was much later and much lower and where the autism rate was also commensurately lower. This scientifically illogical stand by CDC administrators has greatly damaged the entire reputation of the CDC, especially since two of the foreign epidemiologists who were involved and paid by the CDC are now facing criminal charges.
• Note that autism and other autism spectrum disorders affect boys much more than girls—and it is documented science that mercury and organic mercury compounds are more toxic to the male species. Most toxins show little gender difference.
• I could go on much longer but brevity may be best to focus on the issue that the USA health agencies are more and more losing the faith of the American people and seem unable to solve the problems leading to the causation and prevention of the “modern man illnesses”. This failure is most likely because modern medicine does not want to consider that these illnesses are primarily caused by toxic exposures generated by pharmaceutical based toxins delivered by physicians and dentists. It is the failure of modern medicine to comprehend the toxicity of low level exposures to heavy metals that leads to damaging of our most susceptible citizens, our infants and elderly.

Boyd E. Haley, PhD
Professor Emeritus

University of Kentucky
Chemistry Department
2430 Palumbo Drive, Suite 140
Lexington, KY 40509-1117

Monies raised through Smiles for Life campaign March – June 30 by our office and Crown Council
Dentists across the nation benefit several children’s charities to include St. Jude Children’s
Research Hospital.
In a January 25th, 2010 article on St. Jude’s website, The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
reports the current Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project is the largest
investment to date—estimated to cost $65 million over three years—aimed at understanding the
genetic origins of childhood cancers. Scientists involved in the project will sequence the entire
genomes of both normal and cancer cells from each patient, comparing differences in the DNA
to identify genetic mistakes that lead to cancer.
About St. Jude:
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is the charity ranked highest in trust in the United States,
according to a public survey conducted by the international research firm Harris Interactive.
2
The survey, released March 4, 2010, also reported that St. Jude ranked second among the
nation’s top charities in overall brand equity.
“This is an affirmation of the value of the lifesaving work St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
has been conducting for almost 50 years,” said Dr. William E. Evans, CEO and director of St.
Jude. “The American public has embraced Danny Thomas’ dream that ‘no child should die in the
dawn of life,’ and we have worked tirelessly to advance that mission.” (Next page)
The 2010 EquiTrend® study conducted by Harris measured 1,151 brands, including nonprofits,
and measured brand equity, customer connection, commitment, energy, brand behavior, brand
advocacy and trust. The study was conducted online among 19,708 U.S. consumers ages 15 and
over between January 12 and 21, 2010.
To whiten your smile and brighten the life of a child contact Dr. Steve Markus and the Dental DreamTeam of the Centre for Dentistry to schedule an appointment before the end of June by clicking here on our blog or www.cent4dent.com
ing our office at (855 546 0665)
DDS – Haddon Heights, NJ
ity, state phStev Markus DMD FACE Tne
Thank you,
(Your name)
Make sure you add a photo. Go to our forum at ning.com – look up photos and
Right click and make a copy of the photo. Save it to your computer and upload to FB

The lead author of a key study used by EU and USA health bodies as evidence mercury in vaccines does not cause autism has vanished after it emerged that he fraudulently claimed 10 million crowns ($1.8m) in funds from Aarhaus University in Denmark.

Read More: –>>

Thursday, December 10, 2009
LETTER TO EDITOR: Tooth unfairy

The Washington Times’ article about the health czar’s conflicts of interest could just as well have been written about Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, who re-entered government through the revolving door of Henry Schein Inc., the nation’s No. 1 dental-products company (“Obama ‘czar’ was highly paid chief of legally troubled firms,” Page 1, Tuesday).

Having made over a million dollars for the light work of being a Schein corporate director, Dr. Hamburg signed an ethics contract pledging not to participate in any activity affecting Schein so long as she held stock or stock options in that company. Then she figuratively tore up the ethics agreement, participating in the rule-making for dental amalgam (so-called silver fillings), even though Schein sells more amalgam than any other company.

After checking her stock option’s value on June 30, Dr. Hamburg insisted on convening a policy meeting on July 1 about the amalgam rule so that she could provide “feedback” to the staff and review the rule’s “next steps.” She then waited until the rule was a fait accompli before purportedly withdrawing (though never actually filing a recusal document). While telling American consumers that she was recused from the issue “based on the requirements of federal ethics laws and the standard of ethical conduct,” Dr. Hamburg reassured her corporate benefactor that her “friendships” at Schein “will outlast the period of my recusal.”

The resulting amalgam rule allows Schein to market amalgam without disclosing the very presence of mercury to consumers, even though this neurotoxin is amalgam’s chief component. It is a 180-degree reversal of Republican Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach’s pro-consumer policy on amalgam, which included a consumer Web site that warned parents and pregnant women that mercury from amalgam can cause neurological damage to children and unborn babies.

With Dr. Hamburg disregarding her ethical obligations to the industry’s benefit, it’s no wonder that right after the rule issued, Schein’s general counsel e-mailed the commissioner that the company is “indebted” to her for her work at FDA.

CHARLES G. BROWN

National counsel

Consumers for Dental Choice

Washington

You folks smoked out Hamburg … So now Sharfstein must answer

Congratulations to a great grassroots movement. Your phoning and your
e-mails smoked out FDA Commissioner Hamburg. We now know Margaret
Hamburg’s secret about recusal from the mercury amalgam rule: She
never formally recused herself at all! No recusal date — despite
holding, and trading, stock options in the nation’s #1 seller of
mercury fillings, Henry Schein Inc.

Here is what FDA’s press office=2 0told ace reporter Jim Dickinson of
FDA Webview:

From: Jim Dickinson September 02, 2009 9:06 PM
To: ‘Charlie Brown’
Subject: RE: Hamburg’s secret – phoning by Eastern time zone is
Thursday

Press Office told me today there is no recusal date because she didn’t
file a document about it. It is not required. She simply did not
participate, which is the same thing as a recusal, I was told.
Basically, they’re saying recusals don’t have to be in writi
ng or filed
formally with anyone.
0A

Jim Dickinson, Editor
FDA Webview20& FDA Review (www.fdaweb.com)

My late mother used to say, “Oh what a tale we weave when first we try
to deceive.” Remember when we said Margaret Hamburg profited after
she took office, and she denied it? Then she admitted to cashing Henry
Schein stock options in July. Now her claim made in July of recusing
herself is unmasked in September. She has no proof she ever recused
herself, only a self-serving claim she did not participate. Her latest
defense goes something like this: I didn’t participate, or if I did I
didn’t participate substantially, or if I participated s ubstantially I
didn’t participate personally, and if I did participate I stopped, and
even though I didn’t recuse myself you should have read my mind and
figured it out!

We are apprising the Inspector General and appropriate Members of
Congress of this latest round of chicanery at FDA.

Drip by drip, the evidence mounts against Margaret Hamburg and her
maneuvering to protect her benefactor Henry Schein Inc., and turn her
back on America’s children and unborn babies.

So now the questions shift to Deputy Commissioner Sharfstein – he needs =0
D
to open up. How did child advocate Josh Sharfstein come to be in
charge of a rule that puts our children and unborn babies at such a
grave risk of permanent neurologic
al harm? And keeps American parents in the dark about the existence of
the mercury?
0A

Please call or write Deputy Commissioner Sharfstein at 301.796-5040, or
JMSharf1@fda.hhs.gov Ask this:

1) With Dr. Hamburg never formally recusing herself, how could Dr.
Sharfstein know he was in charge of the rule-making?

2) On what date did Dr. Sharfstein take charge of the amalgam
rule-making?