amalgams: Philly First In The Nation To Require Mercury Disclosures

[Guest guest]

From: Binstock <binstock@...>

Philly First In The Nation To Require Mercury Disclosures

By: JENNY DeHUFF, The Bulletin

05/14/2008

<http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=19686944 & BRD=2737 & PAG=461 & dept_\

id=576361 & rfi=8>http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=19686944 & BRD=273\

7 & PAG=461 & dept_id=576361 & rfi=8

Philadelphia - Freya Koss said she developed

multiple sclerosis, lupus and other health

problems from a silver dental filling containing

mercury. She and several other consumer advocates

and health professionals were at City Hall

yesterday to tell their stories of cavity fillings gone wrong.

The Pennsylvania Coalition for Mercury-Free

Dentistry and Consumers for Dental Choice (CDC)

stood in front of large signs warning of the

dangers of silver amalgam fillings - most notable

for their high levels of the neurotoxin mercury.

In December, Philadelphia City Council

unanimously passed legislation backed by

Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown that

requires dentists to distribute patient brochures

disclosing the dangers of silver amalgam fillings.

" The textbooks don't tell us this, " said Charlie

Brown, spokesman for the CDC. " It is absurd to

think nothing is damaged when a neurotoxin is

placed an inch from someone's brain. "

" I quickly learned of the harrowing effects of

mercury when an old filling was removed and a

silver filling replaced it, " said Ms. Koss,

director of the Pennsylvania Coalition for

Mercury-Free Dentistry. " Seven days later, I got sick. "

Don Robbins operates a mercury-free dentist

practice out of Exton. He called himself one of

the few dentists committed to informing patients

of the risk of silver amalgam fillings. Holding a

jar of dental mercury filling, Mr. Robbins

pointed out the skull and crossbones icon on the

label, warning that the substance is hazardous to

children and to handle the container with gloves and protective gear.

" It's deeply disturbing what's going on in our

profession, " Mr. Robbins said. " Less than 60

percent of dentists in the U.S. belong to the

American Dental Association (ADA). Silver

fillings are 50 percent mercury. If you have two,

three or more silver fillings, you are above the

Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) limit for mercury intake. "

Earlier in the day, consumers protested

statements made by the president of the

Pennsylvania Dental Association. " No dentist

places mercury in a patient's mouth, " he was reported to have said.

The alternatives to these types of fillings are

typically white composite resin fillings, which

are more commonly used today but don't last as long as silver fillings.

DeHuff can be reached at

<mailto:jdehuff@...>jdehuff@....

©The Evening Bulletin 2008

--------------------------------------------------------

Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

Vaccines - http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccine.htm

Vaccine Dangers & Homeopathy Online/email courses