Consumers for Dental Choice: Over 50 Groups ask White House to take action against amalgam use by federal agencies

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Frustrated that a year has passed since the US Food and Drug Administration issued its landmark safety communication to drastically limit the use of dental amalgam, over 50 environmental, disability, health, and environmental justice groups have turned to the White House, calling on Council on Environmental Quality to insist that federal agencies providing dental care implement the new federal health policy. Letter: https://mercuryfreedentistry.files.wordpress.com/2021/09/ceq-letter.pdf

FDA, on September 24, 2020, issued a safety communication admonishing the use of amalgam for "high-risk populations": children; women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, and planning to become pregnant; and people with neurological disorders or kidney impairments. Despite the availability of alternatives that are comparably-priced, safe, and environmentally friendly, federal agencies providing dental care to millions of Americans have yet to act! A primitive, pre-Civil War pollutant, amalgam is 50% mercury. 

"One would suppose that our government agencies would be first in line to implement federal health policy -- but the reverse is true," said Charlie Brown of Consumers for Dental Choice. "Dug-in federal bureaucracies refuse to follow federal health policy!"

"The whole life cycle of amalgam adds to cumulative and disproportionate impacts on communities of color," said Nsedu Obot Witherspoon of the Children's Environmental Health Network. "These communities already face higher exposure to harmful chemicals where they live, learn, and work."

"Even a small exposure of a neurotoxin at the wrong time of development can have a lifelong impact, including in the womb and for the breastfeeding baby," said Tracy Gregoire with the Learning Disabilities Association of America.

"Amalgam use by these government bureaucracies means that military bases, Tribal Lands, and federal prisons become increasingly polluted with toxic mercury," said Pam Miller of the Alaska Community Action on Toxics.

"The National Medical Association calls for the immediate end of amalgam use in high-risk populations in all government programs," said Dr. Mark Mitchell, Co-Chair for its Commission on Environmental Health. "A year is long enough."

"No safe level exists ? for people, for food, or for fish," said Eve Gartner, managing attorney for the Toxic Exposure and Health Program at Earthjustice. "Proven and safe alternatives to amalgam are available ? which middle-class Americans already receive."

"The ask to the Council on Environmental Quality is simple: tell the Indian Health Services, Department of Defense, Bureau of Prisons, and the VA to immediately cease placing amalgam in these vulnerable populations highlighted by the FDA," said Katie Huffling, Executive Director of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments.

Amalgam is the largest use of mercury in America today ? yet alternatives make its use unnecessary. Groups signing onto the letter include Earthjustice, the Sierra Club, and Greenpeace.

The 50+ organizations highly commend the FDA, which also issued Infographics, https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/dental-amalgam-fillings/dental-amalgam-fillings-recommendations-graphics

Contacts:
Charlie Brown. Consumers for Dental Choice, 202-246-7642, [email protected]
Tracy Gregoire, Learning Disabilities Association of America, 207-504-2556, [email protected]
Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, Children's Environmental Health Network, [email protected], 202-543-4033

SOURCE Consumers for Dental Choice