Dental amalgam is a controversial filling material that is approximately 50% mercury (although deceptively marketed as "silver fillings"). On 26 March, at the 4th Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury, a treaty of more than 130 nations, the Parties unanimously agreed to an amendment requiring countries to protect vulnerable populations from further use of dental amalgam:
"…Exclude or not allow, by taking measures as appropriate, or recommend against the use of dental amalgam for the dental treatment of deciduous teeth [baby teeth], of patients under 15 years and of pregnant and breastfeeding women…"
Charlie Brown, president of the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry and executive director of Consumers for Dental Choice, hailed the action: "The world unites to say that mercury is not safe in the mouths of children and their mothers – and its use must stop, this year."
"We salute the nations of Africa, all 54 of them, for initiating and presenting this splendid proposal," Brown said. "Too, we praise the World Health Organization for calling for a worldwide switch to 'minimally-invasive' and mercury-free dental materials."
Brown added that manufacturers and distributors of this toxic product are on notice to stop selling amalgam – because once they sell it, much of it is implanted into children, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers.
"Dentists must stop placing amalgam in children and in young women – now." Brown cautioned. "This new amendment represents a worldwide consensus that dental amalgam is not safe for children and other vulnerable populations – it is not safe in their mouths and it is not safe in their environment."
The US Food and Drug Administration, since 2020, and Health Canada, since the 1990s, already recommend the end of amalgam use for children and for pregnant women.
Contact Charlie Brown, 202.246.7642 (cell), 202.544.6333 (ofc.)
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/consumers-for-dental-choice-salutes-worldwide-decision-to-protect-children-and-pregnant-women-from-mercury-dental-fillings-301515504.html
SOURCE Consumers for Dental Choice
