Posted on 06/06/2008 10:03:54 AM PDT by Paleo Conservative
Mercury in dental amalgams may pose health risks to children, fetuses and pregnant women, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning.
The FDA issued a statement, on its website Wednesday, about the potential dangers of dental amalgams.
As part of a legal settlement reached Monday, the federal agency has agreed to release a new ruling on the safety of dental amalgams in July 2009, and alert consumers about potential related hazards. Consumer advocacy groups, including Moms Against Mercury, called for a ban on the fillings in the U.S.
"Dental amalgams contain mercury, which may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetuses," the FDA said.
"When amalgam fillings are placed in teeth or removed from teeth, they release mercury vapour. Mercury vapour is also released during chewing."
The FDA says consumers should not have amalgam fillings removed.
Health Canada says that while amalgam has been shown to release mercury in the body, the levels are not serious enough to cause adverse health effects.
The federal agency says current data does not support hypotheses linking mercury exposure with Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease.
But the federal agency notes patients with kidney disease and pregnant women should avoid dental amalgams given that mercury has been shown to cross the placental barrier and weaken kidney function at sub-clinical levels of exposure.
Sweden and Norway have banned the use of dental amalgams, citing health concerns.
>>>>>Mercury in dental amalgams may pose health risks to children, fetuses and pregnant women, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning.
The FDA issued a statement, on its website Wednesday, about the potential dangers of dental amalgams.
The ADA is probably fearful of billions of dollars in lawsuits from patients who suffered health issues from the mercury toxicity.
The ADA website still posts this:
“While questions have arisen about the safety of dental amalgam relating to its mercury content, the major U.S. and international scientific and health bodies, including the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization, among others have been satisfied that dental amalgam is a safe, reliable and effective restorative material.”
So who is lying the FDA or the ADA?
In 2006, the FDA wrote, “no significant new information” that would change its determination that mercury-based fillings don’t harm patients, except in rare cases where they have allergic reactions.”
In 2008, the FDA wrote, “Dental amalgams contain mercury, which may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetuses,” the FDA said on its Web site.
“Pregnant women and persons who may have a health condition that makes them more sensitive to mercury exposure, including individuals with existing high levels of mercury bioburden, should not avoid seeking dental care but should discuss options with their health practitioner,” the agency said.
What changed in the past 2 years?
Ive had root canals on every tooth that had a mercury filling.
I had all mine removed in 1984 over those same concerns and replaced with ceramin and they have all held up beautifully.
The ADA was formed in 1859 partly to support the use of mercury in fillings.
The earlier American Society of Dental Surgeons opposed its use because of health risks.
My dentist says removing them is more dangerous than leaving them in.
Follow the link to this Natural News article for more of this article.
Mercury Fillings Shattered! FDA, ADA Conspiracy to Poison Children with Toxic Mercury Fillings Exposed in Groundbreaking Lawsuit
Thursday, June 05, 2008 by: Mike Adams (NaturalNews)The FDA has, for decades, ridiculously insisted that mercury fillings pose no health threat whatsoever to children. While dismissing hundreds of studies showing a clear link between mercury amalgam fillings ("silver fillings") and disastrous neurological effects in the human body, the FDA denied the truth about mercury and effectively protected the mercury filling racket that has brought so much harm to so many people. For over a hundred years, a cabal of "mercury mongers" made up of the American Dental Association, mercury filling manufacturers and indignant dentists have reaped windfall profits by implanting toxic fillings into the mouths of children, all while insisting that mercury -- one of the most toxic heavy metals known to modern science -- posed no health threat whatsoever.
Today, that reign of toxicity is about to end. Thanks to the tireless, multi-year efforts of people like Charles Brown, National Counsel for Consumers for Dental Choice (www.ToxicTeeth.org), the FDA has now been forced to acknowledge a fact so fundamental that, by any measure of honest science, it should have adopted the position decades ago. What position is that? Simply that mercury is toxic to humans.
Why the FDA has to be sued to do its job of protecting consumers
The FDA's stonewalling on this issue has been nothing less than a circus of politically-motivated denials, much like the Big Tobacco executives swearing under oath that "Nicotine is not addictive." In similar style, the FDA insisted for decades that "Mercury is not toxic." Both statements, as any sane person can readily conclude, are the outbursts of lunatics. Sadly, those lunatics somehow remain in charge of our nation's food, drugs and cosmetics (and dental care), meaning that any real progress to protect the People must come from outside the FDA.
And that's exactly what just happened. Consumers for Dental Choice teamed up with Moms Against Mercury (www.MomsAgainstMercury.org) to sue the FDA and its commissioner whose name sounds like an evil-minded villian right out of a Marvel comic book: Von Eschenbach. The lawsuit, entitled, Moms Against Mercury et al. v. Von Eschenbach, Commissioner, et al was concluded earlier this week with a reluctant agreement by the FDA to both change its website on the issue of mercury and to reclassify mercury within one year, following a period of public comment (which the agency will no doubt try to drag out as long as possible in order to avoid actually sticking to the terms of the lawsuit agreement).
Remarkably, the FDA's website no longer claims mercury is harmless. The language has now been changed in dramatic fashion, reading: "Dental amalgams contain mercury, which may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetus."
Such faith is misplaced.
I’m inclined to believe the mercury killed my roots over a period of 30 years.
That is what my dentist told me years ago and he is fantastic. He is absolutely an artist, a master craftsman and a doctor in the best sense of the word.
That lawsuits are the gold standard of scientific evidence? Hellooooooo Global Warming!!!
Mercury is a well know preservative - ie it kills living things. It seems perfectly reasonalble to me that over time it could kill teeth roots.
Since mercury in vaccines can’t produce enough hysteria let’s return to the fillings hysteria.
Surely if a lot of something is harmful than a little of it must be harmful too right down to the last atom with no cut off point at which it doesn’t cause harm.
Has there been a series of studies showing filling produce any harm whatsoever? The answer is no, but they “may” and “may” is so close to “does” lets just say the two terms are equal. Just ask Moms Against Mercury!
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