Cent4dent Blog

Near-final Draft:

Let me explain why we are here: collectively we are here because around 1830 MDs in this country advocated against the use of mercury in anyone’s head because of the newly imported technique of the use of dental amalgam. The blacksmiths and barbers who also treated oral pain therefore formed a guild whose support of mercury could today be compared with the ADA. The ADA has in its Code of Ethics the fact that it is Unethical to speak out against the use of fillings which contain mercury. Perhaps that is why so many dentists don’t even bother thinking about the consequences of their continued use of mercury.

Personally, I am here because my eyes were opened, and my head came out from the sand when I read about the Vimy study, performed in Canada over 20 years ago. Using a radioisotope of Hg in amalgams placed in sheep Vimy sought to prove that the the mercury became inert To his surprise he found that it distributed to all organ systems,… but crossed the blood- brain barrier much more than it distributed to the body. It crossed the placenta to an even greater degree. The guild disputed the results by claiming sheep were different than humans. Vimy’s results were then repeated in primates.

You, the panel are here because despite the last panel’s rejection of your own white paper in 2006, and the admission by the FDA’s author of said white paper that the reason all information presented to that panel was so one-sided and pro-amalgam was that, “he was only following orders!”. The FDA is under the influence of sinister forces that are trying to undermine health. Whose? The guild’s?

I know as both a citizen and a dentist, the decision last year by the FDA not to modify the protocols used, not just for the placement of mercury amalgam, but also to advocate for a safe removal process smacks of corruption.

The FDA asked me after the last time I spoke here, what I though about a ban against the placement of Hg fillings in the heads of children under 6 years old, and in pregnant women? I told them it was a start, but did not go far enough. All the teeth in the head of a child at age six have begun to fall out. So what that proposed regulation did was permit the placement of Hg fillings into teeth that were going to remain in the body forever.

They wanted to prevent it’s placement in pregnant women. I told them that regulation should have begun at first menstruation, ended after menopause, and was also sexually discriminatory.

So what the FDA did was nothing. The status quo. I have seen enough patients’ conditions of depression, memory fog, Meniere’s Disease, fatigue and more, eliminated after the proper protocols are followed to remove the mercury. I have seen others, where the dentist acceded to the patients’ request for Hg filling removal, and their conditions worsened because proper protocols for removal were not followed.

You had the opportunity to correct a 150 year old wrong last year, and the powers that be succumbed to this 150 year old sinister plot to poison Americans whose dental care is governed by a 150 year old guild, of which I am a member, through the unquestioned use of a material that 150 years ago was known by medicine to cause neurotoxicity.

How can I have any trust in government and any faith in the FDA when important decisions requiring simple protocol changes are not advocated for by a government organization that is supposed to have the best interests of its citizens, not sinister lobbies, at the forefront of their resolutions?

FDA Accused of ‘Rigging’ Advisory Panel to Favor Amalgam

by Jim Dickinson

FDA is frequently accused of “stacking” advisory committees to maximize the chances that they will vote the way agency staffers want them to (see, for example, two recent stories here and here). FDA rarely dignifies such complaints with a response. So it is again with next week’s (12/14-15) meeting of CDRH’s Dental Products Panel. Two petitions the meeting will discuss accuse the mercury in amalgam of being a cause of Alzheimers Disease, multiple sclerosis and other hard-to-study diseases affecting human fetuses and infants through maternal blood and milk. FDA found amalgam safe and effective in a controversial rulemaking 8/09, provoking the two petitions, one of which trashed the caliber of FDA science. The American Dental Association, whose membership stands to face professional liability lawsuits if FDA condemns amalgam’s safety, thanked FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg for the rule and reportedly has two members on next week’s advisory panel.

Consumers for Dental Choice national counsel Charlie Brown told FDA Webview 12/6 the meeting represents “another way” for FDA “to pretend mercury fillings never hurt anyone.” In an email message, he said FDA is limiting public testimony at the meeting to three minutes. “Some people are begging for more time, while others are canceling their trips. These are people who are intent on telling the scientific panel how mercury from amalgam has had devastating impact on them and their families.

“FDA originally discouraged testimony by telling everyone who asked, (1) we may have a lottery, and (2) no one will be told until early December. For the average American, who can get to Washington only on cheap airline tickets and by making plans far in advance, the combination of the lottery threat and the very late answer (they could have done rolling acceptances instead) discouraged testimony.

“Now FDA says: You get three minutes. That should mean, under the FDA original plan of two four-hour periods of public testimony, that 160 people asked to testify. I smell a rat. I believe FDA condensed the time for public testimony – in order to invoke its cruel three-minute limit. Certainly, FDA knows this limit means many people will cancel when they are told their big trip to Washington — those not already deterred by the ‘lottery’ letter.”

FDA is declining to release the attendance list before the meeting, or to say how many speakers there will be. Press officer Karen Riley would say only that three-minute limits “are not uncommon.”

In an 11/15 email to CDRH advisory committee designated federal officer Olga Claudio, Pennsylvania Coalition for Mercury-Free Dentistry founder and president Freya Koss gave one example of why she wanted to know in advance if all intending public presenters at the meeting would be both allowed to speak and given more than three minutes to tell their stories.

Her star witness against amalgam, Koss wrote, was one Linda Brocato “who resides in Chicago [and] has been in a wheelchair for more than 20 years because she developed multiple sclerosis and lost the use of her legs due to mercury toxicity from her fillings. She must make travel arrangements for herself and an aide to accompany her. Despite the fact that she wrote to you explaining her disability and told you of her situation, you apparently responded by informing her that she would have to wait until November 29 to learn whether she would be able to speak or not, in spite of her condition. No consideration whatsoever was given to Linda. The longer she waits, the higher the airfares. It would seem that FDA would consider Linda’s disability and hardship and accommodate her. You might be interested in reading a recent news articles about Linda: You can see she is extremely disabled but very capable of speaking her mind about what’s right and wrong.”

Claudio stiffly responded two days later:

“Dear Koss,/ As indicated in the meeting announcement for the Dental Products Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee (75 FR 33315), interested persons have until November 29, 2010 to notify FDA of their interest to speak during the open public hearing. The number of requests that FDA has received is therefore subject to change until November 29, 2010. [Bolding in original.] FDA will notify interested persons regarding their request to speak as soon as possible after the November 29, 2010 deadline, but no later than December 1, 2010 (as stated in the FR notice).”

Interesting that Claudio would choose to address Mrs. Koss as Dear Koss, because my response to her about this lottery was that if they’re going to delimit us to 3 minutes (last time we had 6), these speakers should be drawn equally from both sides of the issue. She addressed my response to Mr. Markus rather than Dr. Markus, when my email to her clearly stated I was a dentist. [sjm commentary to this]

An article recently published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, presenting a large scale systematic review of the literature, makes the case that mercury exposure is significantly associated with the incidence of AD.

Fox News picked up on the report in a news item viewable on YouTube:
Vaccines & Dental Fillings Cause Alzheimer’s

FDA Panel to Weigh Health Risk of Dental Amalgam Again

http://www.medscape.com/medscapetoday

December 7, 2010 ” An advisory panel of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) next week will weigh a study claiming that 67 million Americans with mercury-based dental fillings are exposed to mercury levels exceeding those considered safe by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The study, commissioned by an organization committed to mercury-free dentistry, also calls the EPA’s safety threshold too high. It estimates that 122 million Americans with such fillings would be exposed to unsafe levels of mercury based on what it calls a more realistic threshold used by the California Environmental Protection Agency.

The advisory panel hearing, scheduled for December 14 and 15, promises to be another skirmish in this country’s ongoing scientific war over the health risk of mercury-based cavity fillings ” known as dental amalgam ” that dates back to the mid-19th century, when it divided the dental profession. Declining dramatically in use during the last several decades, dental amalgam accounts for roughly 30% of all fillings as alternate materials have gained popularity, according to the American Dental Association (ADA). Nevertheless, the traditional filling still sparks controversy. Opponents blame it for causing the likes of autism, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Silver-colored dental amalgam is composed of roughly 40% to 50% elemental metallic mercury, as opposed to the organic mercury compounds found in fish, or inorganic mercury compounds such as those used in batteries. The other ingredients of dental amalgam are silver, zinc, copper, and tin.

Elemental mercury releases mercury vapor that at high levels can damage the brain and kidneys, according to the FDA. However, the agency has maintained that dental amalgam is safe for filling cavities for adults and children aged 6 years and older. The ADA agrees, noting that combining mercury with other amalgam metals renders it stable and nontoxic.

A number of consumer and dental organizations do not share these views, however, and instead advocate banning dental amalgam, as Sweden, Norway, and Denmark have done. Even the FDA recently has tightened its controls over the material, which comes under the agency’s regulatory oversight as a medical device. In July 2009, the agency bumped up its classification of dental amalgam from a lower-risk class II device to a moderate-risk class II device. That reclassification entailed label recommendations such as what dentists should tell patients about amalgam benefits and risks, including the risk of inhaling mercury vapor.

Among other things, the prescribed message states that “the developing neurological systems in fetuses and young children may be more sensitive to the neurotoxic effects of mercury vapor,” although clinical information is scarce as to the long-term health outcomes. The agency has concluded that infants are not at risk if they are breast-fed by women exposed to mercury vapors from dental amalgam.

Amalgam opponents have petitioned the FDA to revisit its 2009 decision, which led to the scheduling of next weeks’ hearing. The agency states that the dental products panel, part of its medical device advisory committee, will focus particularly on potential risks to pregnant women, fetuses, and young children. Issues that may come before the panel include the biocumulative effect of mercury and the adequacy of past clinical studies on dental amalgam.

The hearing next week raises the stakes for the product, considering how opponents have asked the agency to either ban it or classify it as a class III device — one that poses the highest risk to patients. The FDA has stated that class III designation probably would spell the demise of dental amalgam, because manufacturers would likely pull their products from their market instead of going through the time and expense of obtaining FDA premarket approval, as is required for class III devices. In essence, the premarket approval process would force them to prove that dental amalgam is safe.

The FDA can either accept or reject any recommendations that the dental advisory panel issues on the basis of its hearing next week.

Group Commissioning Study Advocates Removal of Amalgam Fillings

The fireworks at the hearing next week will likely be supplied by a study commissioned by the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology, one of several parties petitioning for the new FDA review. Based in ChampionsGate, Florida, the academy not only promotes mercury-free dentistry but also advocates that patients with amalgam fillings have them removed.

The group that conducted the study is the environmental division of a large, publicly traded engineering and construction firm in Ottawa, Canada, called SNC-Lavalin. The lead author, G. Mark Richardson, PhD, has previously authored similar studies for Health Canada, the Canadian equivalent of the US Department of Health and Human Services. That agency states that although dental amalgam generally does not pose a health threat, the primary teeth of children should be filled with a nonmercury material when appropriate. In addition, people with mercury allergies, pregnant women, and those with impaired kidney function should avoid mercury-based fillings, according to Health Canada.

Dr. Richardson’s SNC-Lavalin study estimates mercury exposure for 5 different age groups ranging from toddlers to seniors. Four different exposure scenarios are set forward. The highest-exposure scenario assumes that all restored tooth surfaces are composed of dental amalgam; the lowest-exposure scenario assumes that 30% of persons with filled teeth have no amalgam, and the rest have amalgam in only half their fillings other than nonamalgam crowns.

Using the lowest-exposure scenario, Dr. Richardson estimates that because of the mercury vapor they inhale from dental-amalgam fillings, 67.2 million Americans exceed the mercury dose extrapolated from the reference exposure level (REL) of 0.3 µg/m3 set by the US EPA. However, Dr. Richardson writes that this REL is too high because the EPA based its math on studies of so-called chloralkali workers who make chlorine and caustic soda from brine solutions in a mercury-based process. For them, mercury toxicity would be reduced by simultaneous exposure to chlorine gas.

These chloralkali-worker studies also guided the California EPA in calculating its REL for elemental mercury, although its REL is 10 times lower, at 0.03 µg/m3. Dr. Richardson estimates that 122.3 million Americans with dental amalgam are exposed to mercury levels above this more conservative safety threshold. He notes that the REL set by Health Canada of 0.06 µg/m3 reflects studies of mercury exposure free of concomitant chlorine-gas exposure, making them more reliable.

According to the FDA, a dose that exceeds the REL set by the US EPA “does not necessarily mean that any adverse effect will occur.”

Another recent study about mercury risk that the advisory panel may consider was published in the November issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. That study concludes that inorganic mercury, which the authors define as including elemental mercury, may be a cofactor in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The study, a meta-analysis of 106 other studies, recommended “the removal of mercury from public and ecologic circuits and replacing it wherever possible by less toxic alternatives.”

FDA Must Consider Possible Fall-Out of Ban, Says ADA

The ADA has entered the latest fray over mercury and dental fillings, stating in comments filed with the FDA that “the best scientific evidence continues to support the safety of dental amalgam.” No new research, it contends, has emerged to warrant new regulatory action since the FDA reclassification of dental amalgam last year. Meanwhile, the association faults amalgam opponents for citing research articles that are not peer reviewed or compliant with clinical trial standards, or else focused “solely on subclinical effects at the cellular level.”

To bolster its case, the ADA referred to a report recently published by the World Health Organization that described dental amalgam’s track record for safety in Europe and the United States. However, that report, titled “Future Use of Materials for Dental Restoration,” smacks of faint praise, stating that “dental amalgam remains a dental restorative material of choice, in the absence of an ideal alternative.” The report also recommends that the dental profession help identify safe and affordable substitutes as the use of amalgam is “phased down.” A complete ban, the report states, “may not be realistic, practicable, and achievable.”

The ADA raises similar points in its own defense of dental amalgam. “At present, there is no direct restorative material that works as well as amalgam for large fillings in the back teeth, in very deep fillings, or in fillings below the gum line,” the association states in its FDA filing. Furthermore, current alternatives to amalgam cost more, meaning that a full or partial ban on the material would drive up the cost of dental restorations and price some individuals out of treatment.

“Any rational risk assessment must account for this side of the equation: the cost of regulation,” the ADA states.

Authors and Disclosures

Journalist

Robert Lowes

Freelance writer, St. Louis, Missouri

Disclosure: Robert L. Lowes has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

Costa Mesa, California has become the first city in the United States to call for an immediate end to dental amalgam, the controversial filling material that is 50% mercury. Voting 5-0 on 19 October 2010, the Costa Mesa City Council adopted the resolution* sponsored by Councilman Gary Monahan that (1) calls on federal and state agencies to eliminate amalgam, (2) asks dentists in Costa Mesa to cease using mercury and switch to non-toxic alternatives, and (3) requests that the other 33 cities in Orange County join Costa Mesa in opposing dental mercury. While as a resolution, it does not actually ban amalgam, it is an important step toward ending this health and environmental scourage.

“There are so many alternatives and I can’t understand why we’re putting this in our mouth,” explained Councilman Monahan. “[I]t’s incredibly dangerous to people getting them and to the environment.”

The watershed Monahan Resolution is the first success for Californians for Green Dentistry, a new project of Consumers for Dental Choice. Californians for Green Dentistry has a trio of dedicated leaders: Director Anita Vazquez Tibau spearheaded the strategy leading to this resolution along with dental hygienist Marisa Russo and naturopath Kristy Mills.

Since July, our hardworking California volunteers distributed handouts alerting the public to the problem of dental amalgam, gained the support of numerous local health professionals and businesses, and collected hundreds of signatures on petitions to city council. In response, the Costa Mesa City Council granted us the hearing to address dental mercury. At the city council hearing, our talented team – including dentists, health professionals, injured consumers, scientists, advocates, and even former Californian Dental Board member Dr. Chet Yokoyama – offered poignant testimony calling for a ban on dental mercury.

Our story is told by video that can be viewed by clicking here, and dentist Dr. Jim Rota’s compelling testimony can be viewed in full by clicking here.** We also made the front page of the local news, which can be read online.***

It’s time to take this primitive and polluting mercury product off the market, and we can start in the trend-setting state of California! If you are a Californian and want to join the Californians for Green Dentistry team in the fight against dental mercury, please write Anita and me at announcements@toxicteeth.org . Let us know your name, home county, and home city.

No matter where you are from, please thank Costa Mesa Councilman Gary Monahan for standing up to protect our communities, and especially our children, from dental mercury. He can be reached by email at gmonahan@ci.costa-mesa.ca.us

Congratulations Costa Mesa, California!

For further information, there is a major resource available on our website.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced
it intends to propose a rule to reduce mercury waste from dental offices.
Dental amalgams, or fillings containing mercury, account for 3.7 tons of
mercury discharged from dental offices each year. The mercury waste results
when old mercury fillings are replaced with new ones. The mercury in dental
fillings is flushed into chair-side drains and enters the wastewater
systems, making its way into the environment through discharges to rivers
and lakes, incineration or land application of sewage sludge. Mercury
released through amalgam discharges can be easily managed and prevented.

EPA expects to propose a rule next year and finalize it in 2012. Dental
offices will be able to use existing technology to meet the proposed
requirements. Amalgam separators can separate out 95 percent of the mercury
normally discharged to the local waste treatment plant. The separator
captures the mercury, which is then recycled and reused.

Until the rule is final, EPA encourages dental offices to voluntarily
install amalgam separators. Twelve states and several municipalities already
require the installation of amalgam separators in dental offices.

Approximately 50 percent of mercury entering local waste treatment plants
comes from dental amalgam waste. Once deposited, certain microorganisms can
change elemental mercury into methylmercury, a highly toxic form that builds
up in fish, shellfish and animals that eat fish.

Fish and shellfish are the main sources of methylmercury exposure to humans.
Methylmercury can damage children¹s developing brains and nervous systems
even before they are born.

More information on mercury from dental offices:
water.epa.gov/scitech/wastetech/guide/dental/index.cfm

In our office we have used a mercury separator from DRNA since 1997 (www.drna.com). For more information about how we protect the environment, watch my video at http://www.cent4dent.com/html/mercury_issues/tv.html

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.