The Referral of a Lifetime – AppendixAs all members of our Business After Business South Jersey Group know, our next meeting will be a discussion of the first four pages of goal from the book, The Referral of a Lifetime. To make matters simpler for all, I have copied them here.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
U.S. government calls for the phase-out of amalgam!
In an extraordinary development that will change the global debate about amalgam, the United States government has announced that it supports a “phase down, with the goal of eventual phase out by all Parties, of mercury amalgam.” This statement – a radical reversal of its former position that “any change toward the use of dental amalgam is likely to result in positive public health outcomes” – is part of the U.S. government’s submission for the upcoming third round of negotiations for the world mercury treaty.*
While couched in diplomatic hedging – remember it is still early in the negotiations – this new U.S. position makes three significant breakthroughs for the mercury-free dentistry movement:
The U.S. calls for the phase-out of amalgam ultimately and recommends actions to “phase down” its use immediately. Incredibly, the government adopted three actions that the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry and Consumers for Dental Choice proposed at the negotiating session in Chiba, Japan. Our key ally, The Mercury Policy Project, laid the groundwork for this success at a World Health Organization meeting in 2009!
The U.S. speaks up for protecting children and the unborn from amalgam, recommending that the nations “educat[e] patients and parents in order to protect children and fetuses.”
The U.S. stands up for the human right of every patient and parent to make educated decisions about amalgam.
What does this mean? Our position – advocating the phase-out of amalgam – is now the mainstream because the U.S. government supports it. Who is the outlier now? It’s the pro-mercury faction, represented by the World Dental Federation and the American Dental Association. With the U.S. continuing its leadership role in this treaty, we will broadcast the U.S. position to other governments around the world, encouraging them to support amalgam “phase downs” leading to phase-outs not only globally, but within each of their countries.
We applaud the U.S. government. But tough work lies ahead. For example, we must demonstrate to the world that the available alternatives – such as composites and the adhesive materials used in atraumatic restorative treatment (“ART”) – can cost less than amalgam and will increase access to dental care particularly in developing countries.
For now though, let’s mark this watershed in the mercury-free dentistry movement: the debate has shifted from “whether to end amalgam” to “how to end amalgam.”
– Charlie
Charles G. Brown
National Counsel, Consumers for Dental Choice
President, World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry
5 April 2011
* The full text of the U.S. submission is available at http://www.unep.org/hazardoussubstances/Portals/9/Mercury/Documents/INC3/United%20States.pdf Here is the excerpt on amalgam:
“We are aware that several delegations at INC-2 suggested mercury amalgam should not be included in Annex C, noting a number of difficulties and complexities related to this issue. The United States supports further consideration of dental amalgam by the INC such that the agreement is able to achieve the phase down, with the goal of eventual phase out by all Parties, of mercury amalgam upon the development and availability of affordable, viable alternatives. To the extent that Annex C is not structured to accomplish such a goal, the United States believes that a number of obligations could be considered within an appropriate operative paragraph of the agreement itself. Such a paragraph could commit Parties to phase down the use of mercury amalgam or address mercury releases through conducting and promoting further research on alternatives, mandating the use of separators in dental offices, promoting and incentivizing prevention strategies, educating patients and parents in order to protect children and fetuses, and training of dental professionals on the environmental impacts of mercury in dental amalgams, and to report on their progress in doing so to inform the Conference of the Parties on the progress being made to phase down amalgam use.”
By Fred Tasker
McClatchy Newspapers
Posted: 01/26/2011 01:00:00 AM PST
Naidelys Montoya didn’t wait for her son’s baby teeth to fall out. She took the boy to an oral surgeon to have two loose ones extracted.
“He was a bit scared,” said Montoya, of Hialeah, Fla. “He’s not that brave.”
The dentist shipped the teeth in a temperature-controlled steel container to a lab in Massachusetts, where their stem cells will be spun out, frozen to more than 100 degrees below zero and stored — in case her son, Raul Estrada, 6, might need them for a future illness.
“I believe in this,” Montoya said. “I did it as a precaution against things that could happen.”
Montoya and her son have joined a major new medical movement.
In South Florida and around the world, dentists are extracting baby teeth, wisdom teeth and even healthy adult teeth, and researchers are spinning out stem cells that they believe can be used to regrow lost teeth, someday even to repair damaged bones, hearts, pancreases, muscles and brains.
It could put the Tooth Fairy out of business.
“These are teeth we’ve been discarding as dental waste,” said Dr. Jeffrey Blum, the Miami Beach oral surgeon who pulled Raul’s teeth. “We might as well get some use out of them.”
“I can’t help but feel excitement for their potential use in regenerating different tissues in the human body,” said Dr. Jeremy Mao, director of the Regenerative Medicine Laboratory at Columbia University. Mao also is chief science adviser to StemSave, a New York City company that freezes the stem cells and stores them for later use.
Costly and speculative
There are concerns. It’s expensive, costing $590 upfront plus $100 a year to store the stem cells from up to four teeth for up to 20 years. It’s speculative, with the first FDA-approved practical use of such stem cells years away.
“Every treatment using dental stem cells is still in the clinical testing phase, and won’t be ready for general use for at least five years,” said Art Greco, StemSave’s CEO.
Montoya understands: “Things are evolving so quickly, who knows what they will be able to do in 15 or 20 years?”
Other researchers welcome the new source of stem cells.
“Perhaps it does make sense to save” dental stem cells, said Dr. Joshua Hare, director of the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute at the University of Miami Medical School, who is not involved with dental stem cells. “Within human adults and children, there are lots of reservoirs of stem cells. We get them from bone marrow; others use umbilical cord blood. It seems teeth are also a good source.”
The National Institutes of Health concluded in 2003 that teeth are a rich source of stem cells. Every child has about 20 baby teeth that fall out between ages 6 and 12. Adolescents have wisdom teeth that often are removed between ages 14 and 25 because they crowd the jaw or grow in crookedly.
Blum and other oral surgeons must extract baby teeth before they fall out naturally, so they still have a blood supply to keep them healthy. He puts them in a temperature-controlled steel container and overnights them to the StemSave facility.
Body’s repair system
Stem cells are the body’s repair system, Hare said. Stem cells beneath the skin are constantly spinning off new skin cells to replace skin that is sloughed off or damaged in daily life. The same is true for hearts, livers, pancreases — except that as the body weakens from age, injury or disease, those stem cells start to lose the ability to keep up and need help. Today, stem cells from bone marrow, blood and now perhaps teeth can be reprogrammed to help those ailing organs.
Also, by using these stem cells, researchers avoid involving human embryonic stem cells, which are controversial because their creation involves destroying human embryos.
The first practical use of dental stem cells probably will be to repair human teeth and jawbones, researchers say. At Boston University’s School of Dental Medicine, researchers have used stem cells from baby and wisdom teeth to generate dental pulp, the soft interior of a tooth, and dentin, its hard white casing.
Now they are inserting the material into a broken human tooth and implanting it into a mouse to access a blood supply. When the technology reaches humans, the pulp material would be injected into a spongy “scaffold” where a tooth has been removed and prompted to grow into a human tooth. It’s at least five years away.
Life-saving stem cells
Across the world, the use of stem cells to heal the human body is exploding. At the University of Miami’s med school, Hare is doing human trials using stem cells from bone marrow to inject around hearts damaged by heart attacks, hoping to regenerate damaged heart tissue.
For years, stem cells from umbilical cord blood have saved the lives of patients with leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, aplastic anemia, sickle cell and other diseases.
So far, only private banks are storing dental stem cells, although Mao says a public bank would be valuable and appropriate.
The American Dental Association, while cautiously optimistic about the potential of dental stem cells, urges parents considering banking their children’s dental stem cells to consider both the cost and the rarity of use before joining private donation programs.
“That’s the question people have to ask themselves,” Blum said. “Am I saving this for no reason? Is it worth what I’m paying? Essentially, it’s an insurance policy.”
This interesting information brought to you by Dr. Markus of The Centre for Dentistry.
Subject: Why did the chicken cross the road?
What is your opinion?
SARAH PALIN: The chicken crossed the road because gosh-darn it, he’s a maverick!
BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for change! The chicken wanted change!
JOHN MC CAIN: My friends that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.
HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure right from Day One that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn’t about me.
GEORGE W. BUSH: We don’t really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.
DICK CHENEY: Where’s my gun?
COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.
BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with that chicken.
AL GORE: I invented the chicken.
JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken’s intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.
AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens.
DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won’t realize that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he’s acting by not taking on his current problems before adding new problems.
OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I’m going to give this chicken a NEW CAR so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.
NANCY GRACE: That chicken crossed the road because he’s guilty! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.
PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.
MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer’s Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.
DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I’ve not been told.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain, alone.
JERRY FALWELL: Because the chicken was gay! Can’t you people see the plain truth? That’s why they call it the ‘other side.’ Yes, my friends, That chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the Liberal media whitewashes with seemingly harmless phrases like ‘the other side.’ That chicken should not be crossing the road. It’s as plain and as simple as that.
GRANDPA: In my day we didn’t ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.
BARBARA WALTERS: Isn’t that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish it’s lifelong dream of crossing the road.
ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.
BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken2010, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken2010. This new platform is much more stable and will never reboot.
ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?
COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?
…and the question continues….
State and Local Public Officials Mercury-Free Caucus
316 F St., N.E., Suite 210-B
Washington DC 20002
March 24, 2010
Joshua Sharfstein, M.D. Principal Deputy Commissioner
U.S. Food and Drug Administration –
via e-mail JMSharf1@fda.hhs.gov and fax 301-847-3531
Re: FDA should not try to block state and local amalgam fact sheet laws
Dear Deputy Commissioner Sharfstein:
We regret that last year the Food and Drug Administration chose to adopt a rule allowing amalgam to be sold without even informing dental patients and parents that it is mainly mercury. Fortunately, legislatures in several states and some city councils feel otherwise, and have mandated fact sheets be distributed so dental patients and parents will know about the mercury and know they have alternatives such as resin.
We understand you are writing a letter to the City of Philadelphia about its fact sheet.
We urge you to respect the right of states and political subdivisions to write consumers protection laws that differ from your personal views about disclosure. Any effort by FDA to block state legislatures and city councils from making disclosures about amalgam continues to take our country down the wrong path, and may be of questionable legality. Instead, we urge you to focus on rewriting the rule you adopted last year.
Sincerely,
Hon. Daylin Leach, State Senator, Pennsylvania
Hon. Blondell Reynolds Brown, Councilwoman, Philadelphia (author, Philadelphia
amalgam fact sheet ordinance)
Hon. Jay Goyal, State Representative, Ohio
Hon. Michael J. London, Councilman, Trumbull, Connecticut
Hon. Marvin L. Van Haaften, former Director, Iowa Governor’s Office of
Drug Control Policy (“Drug Czar”); and former Sheriff, Marion County, Iowa
Hon. Ann Clifton, RN, BSN, former Assessor, Thurston County, WA
Hon. Charles G. Brown, former Attorney General, West Virginia
Hon. Ron King, DDS, former Member, Minnesota Board of Dentistry
Hon. Kevin Biggers, former Member, Dental Board of California
Hon. Chester L. Yokoyama, DDS, former Member, Dental Board of California
Interview: ‘WHO can hardly ignore the decision to negotiate a mercury treaty’
by Daniel Zimmermann, DTI
Recently, an agreement in concept was reached by a World Health Organization convened international expert group meeting, supporting the phase-out of dental mercury use worldwide. Dental Tribune Group Editor Daniel Zimmermann spoke with Prof. Lars Hylander, Associate Professor at the University of Uppsala in Sweden who attended the meeting, about the agreement and strategies for future biomaterials use in dentistry.
Daniel Zimmermann: Prof. Hylander, you recently attended a joint meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that aimed to assess the latest clinical evidence on dental restorative materials. Could you tell us about the outcome of this meeting?
Prof. Lars Hylander: Most participants agreed that amalgam should be phased out or at least phased down. Dr Poul Erik Petersen, Responsible Officer for Oral Health at the WHO, however, raised several good questions, such as what to tell people in poor countries who cannot even afford dental amalgam fillings. At this point, the room grew rather silent.
A similar consultation was held more in Geneva than ten years ago. What has changed since then
concerning the manner in which dental restorative materials are perceived?
Allergic reactions from amalgam fillings in some patients have been acknowledged by proamalgamists.
Mercury leakages and emissions from dental amalgam into the environment have been fully acknowledged, particularly after dental amalgam was banned in Norway and Sweden, and restricted in Denmark and other places. Proof of methylmercury formation in wastewater from dental clinics is a third factor that makes the continued use of amalgam less justified. Another factor is that alternative tooth filling materials are now available or in development.
What has been decided regarding dental amalgam?
The WHO has not been as quick as Norway, who instituted a ban on dental amalgam in less than six months after the proposal of a ban was presented in the country. Thus far, nothing has been decided, but the WHO can hardly ignore the decision made by the world’s governments within the UNEP to negotiate a mercury treaty, which will begin in Stockholm next June. There was some consensus that mercury use in dentistry should be phased down. A suitable way to do this is to begin teaching alternative restoration techniques, other than dental amalgam, in dental schools.
There was a focus on the oral cavity, which thus ignored the environmental aspects such as mercury emissions from crematoria and leakage of mercury into wastewater from dental clinics and the wearing of amalgam surfaces due to everyday chewing. The American Dental Association demonstrated this most clearly in the presentation by Dr Daniel Meyer, in which it was stated that of the 35 tons of amalgam used annually in the US, only a few hundred kilograms are emitted into the environment.
Which restorative materials were considered to have the most potential for use in developed and developing countries?
Composites and other white filling materials have replaced amalgam in several developed nations. Even in countries without any ban, such as in Japan, less than 4 per cent of the fillings are now fabricated with amalgam, for aesthetic reasons. In addition, many patients do not find it sensible to have as toxic an element as mercury just a few centimetres from their brains.
Composites and glass ionomers are also widely used in many developing countries. The question of why such developments progress so slowly in the big nations of the rich world was raised. Atraumatic restorative treatment with glass ionomers and using only hand tools is a promising alternative, not only for developing countries. In countries in which glass ionomers or composites are produced locally, the cost of these fillings is lower than that of amalgam.
Thank you very much for the interview.
FROM DR. TEN PENNY = Dr. Wakefield has never been “anti-vaccine.” His work has always been focused on finding an explanation for WHY so many autistic children have terrible bowel disease.
Dr. Wakefield has always recommended single antigen vaccines. He hypothesized that the three live viruses given together in the MMR vaccine are the source of potential problems in at least SOME children.
Learn more: http://www.cent4dent.com/html/mercury_issues/vaccines.html
Read the whole article: http://drtenpenny.com/Wakefield_Inquisitioners_Have_their_day.aspx
???
controls?
bill domb
New autism treatment shows promise
April 9th, 2008
When University of Louisville researchers pulsed a low-frequency
magnetic field around the brains of people with autism, the patients
later experienced less severe symptoms.
The treatment, transcranial magnetic stimulation, is still in early
testing stages, but has potential to become an effective treatment for
the major symptoms of autism, said neuroscientist Manuel Casanova.
Members of the UofL research team placed a coil on the scalps of 10
people with autism to create a low-frequency magnetic field, which they
then pulsed by reversing the field’s polarity. After receiving a
20-minute treatment twice a week for five weeks, patients showed fewer
symptoms of hyperactivity, sensory overload and repetitive behaviors,
said psychologist Lonnie Sears, a project collaborator.
Full story at:
http://php.louisville.edu/news/news.php?news=1143
ONE LAW ELIMINATES THE DEATH PENALTY IN NEW JERSEY, THE OTHER IS A POTENTIAL LIFE SENTENCE FOR ALL UNWITTING PARENTS
By Steve Markus, DMD FACE
Haddon Heights, NJ
www.cent4dent.com
Abstract: Vaccines and Thimerosal
The death penalty is off the table. The worst you can get is life in prison without parole now in New Jersey. State Health and Senior Services Commissioner Fred Jacobs, New Jersey Department of Health has promoted, and had signed into law four additional vaccinations for pre-school and school age children. Because there are known links between autism and thimerosal (a derivative of mercury, used as a preservative in vaccines) this law potentially imposes a life sentence on the parents of inoculated children. Dr. Mark Geier, a Maryland geneticist and vaccinologist, and his research partner and son, David Geier, estimate the lifetime cost of caring for an autistic person at between $5 million and $10 million. ( 28 ) It also affects the quality of life of the child. But it doesn’t stop there. Because adults can be affected as well (MS-like symptoms and Alzheimer’s Disease have been linked to mercury), this document is intended to educate the public (especially the parents and grandparents living here in New Jersey) about what they need to know about to make an educated decision about what is right for them. Your pediatrician will belittle your concerns. Become an educated parent, before you are spending too much of your time trying to learn how to deal with a normal child who, because of vaccination, has become autistic. It can happen, at the drop of a hat, to anyone.
To read the entire article, click here.
