News you won't see in controlled mainstream media.

Health Canada’s Approving Amalgam Fillings: Don't Let It Happen

I have been contacted by colleagues fighting for the amalgam issue who asked me to help distribute the following information to encourage Canadians to contact their local MPs. Please take a look.

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What I did was a whipped up a letter for my MP and the NDP Environment Critic. I will add that letter here so you can use it yourself and just change the necessary info accordingly. Feel free to use it, parts of it, or none of it.

How to find your MP
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC
by postal code

Liberal Environment critic:
http://www.liberal.ca/mp/gerard-kennedy/

NDP Environment critic:
http://www..ndp.ca/lindaduncan

and, of course the good old Gov of Can Health Department itself:
http://www..ec.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=DA294545-1

in each link there is their email address, snail mail, phone and fax

Now here is the letter I sent to Ms. Duncan of the NDP. I had also used it for my MP Dr. Bennet and changed the appropriate references and names. Also I signed it as a Canadian citizen but will from this point forward, write on behalf as the Canadian Chapter of the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry. I also did a letter to the Canadian chapter of the Sierra Club if you would like to see it. I think it would be prudent to build relationships with other health/environmental groups to get numbers on this.

So here is the letter to our government officials. See below.


February 28th, 2011

Dear Ms. Duncan,

I am emailing you today because of this story I just read on the CBC new's site.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/02/28/environment-mercury-ban.html

Here is an excerpt from the story that I wish to bring your attention to, Dr. Bennet,

"The sale of thermometers, thermostats and batteries containing mercury would be banned in Canada under new regulations proposed by the federal government. The proposal, announced Monday, would ban the manufacture, import and sale of most mercury containing products starting 2012. "Keeping products that contain mercury out of the marketplace helps protect the health of Canadians," said Health Minister Leona Aglukkuq in a statement. Aglukkuq said mercury is a neurotoxin and ingesting methyl mercury — the biologically active form of the metal — can adversely affect the brain development and learning ability of small children."

Health Minister Leone Aglukkuq states, correctly, that mercury is a neurotoxin and that ingested, can adversely affect the brain development and learning ability of children. That is why I am in complete awe in the lapse in logic when the story goes on to report that the Canadian Government is going to give a "pass" to mercury amalgam fillings - that they will NOT be any restrictions or bans placed on their usage. How can this be?! You, as a doctor, Dr. Bennet, can see, of all people the complete lack of reason in this argument.

Health Canada has tried to state that mercury amalgam is a manageable dental device by stating usage recommendations on it's website,

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/md-im/applic-demande/pubs/dent_amalgam-eng.php

which says that it should not be used in children, pregnant women, in people with kidney disease or those people who with a sensitivity, if you will, to mercury. By their own recommendations they not only imply but directly assert that mercury amalgam fillings are NOT safe overall and are especially hazardous in children. Here the Minister says she is protecting the health of children by making sure mercury in medical measuring devices is eliminated (which they will rarely be subjected to) but gives a free pass to dental mercury amalgam, which are usually comprised of 50% mercury that vaporizes at room temperature and thusly, continuously emits mercury vapor into the oral cavities of children.. That makes no sense and leads one to question the motivation of the amalgam pass.

Health Canada, and the Minister of that department, also assert, through this news release that the majority of mercury in the ecosystem is due to sources other than mercury amalgam. Getting information directly from the Environment Canada Government site suggest that mercury amalgam waste IS a significant contributor to the mercurial load in our ecosystem, much more so than any mercury that escapes from measuring devices.

Ms Duncan, how can mercury amalgam waste, either left over from placement of mercury fillings in our mouths OR old amalgam taken out of our mouths and flushed down the drain (or amalgam seperator that some dentists have in their offices, but not all) be considered toxic hazardous waste, yet when it is our mouths it magically becomes inert. As a doctor and medical scientist you KNOW this to be impossible. The old line the old dental schools have stated are that the mercury becomes bound in the metal composite by other metals (not true) and/or that saliva covers the tooth and thereby, keeps the vaporizing mercury from escaping into the oral cavity. Again, not true, never been proven.

We have FAR superior dental composite filling devices that are non-toxic, long lasting and safe. There is NO REASON other than pro-amalgam lobby groups (pro amalgam dentists and amalgam manufacturers) trying to keep the status quo, and using their ability to maneuver within government to secure amalgams place in the market place and dentists office even though they are 50% mercury, a PROVEN neurotoxin that is continually released into the oral cavity of any child or pregnant women.

I contacted, by phone, the Health Minister's office today and voiced these same concerns. I stated that amalgam should NOT be given a pass, that it is and does contain mercury that either way, through the individual or through dental separators, mercury is released via air and water systems.

Lastly, Ms. Duncan, this is a very contentious issue, that of mercury amalgams. Powerful lobby groups (pro-amalgam dentists and the manufacturers of dental amalgam) make a substantial profit from mercury amalgam as it is very cheap to produce and profit margins are wide in it's implementaion. I am including the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology link here.

http://www.iaomt.com/

They explain why dental amalgam is so unsafe and damaging. I am pretty much begging you to please check them out and force the government to reverse it's decision on giving a pass on this very dangerous dental device, that of mercury dental amalgams. If it gets passed, children will continue to be harmed, especially if their mother gets amalgam placed or has amalgams while carrying them and also by direct placement, and our environment, waterways, fish, land and air will continue to be laden with mercury. If amalgams get banned then the positive effects on both Canadians health and our environment will be long lasting and immediately effective.

Please look into this Ms. Duncan.

Very gratefully yours,

Gwen ***

A Canadian Citizen