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Old November 25th 06, 01:54 AM posted to misc.health.alternative,sci.med.dentistry,misc.kids.health,talk.politics.medicine,uk.people.health
Jan Drew
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Default Over 2,000 flood FDA with reports of illness from mercury dental fillings ,but agency still in denial, claiming secret pandemic is "rare"


"Peter Bowditch" wrote in message
news
"Jan Drew" wrote:


No I wrote in full.

"Jan Drew" wrote in message
om...
Over 2,000 flood FDA with reports of illness from mercury dental fillings,
but agency still in denial, claiming secret pandemic is "rare"


Thank you for taking the time to speak with me about the health risks of
mercury dental fillings and the recent FDA hearings, an issue which
deserves
widespread public awareness. As mentioned, I've been involved in educating
the public about thiese dangers since 1998 when I was suddenly stricken
with
double vision and diagnosed with MS, Lupus and Myasthenia Gravis, as a
result of dental treatment with a mercury fillings seven days prior to the
onset of neurological symptoms. My story:
http://www.toxicteeth.org/forms/mainLineToday.pdf

Marie Flowers, a Roanoke area resident, reported of her mercury filling
related illnesses in a September article: see also became seriously ill
from
cronic exposure to mercury from her silver colored fillings.
Unfortunately,
consumers aren't informed that silver fillings contain 50% mercury, a
known
neuro-toxin. According to recent Zogby Poll conducted in January 2006, 76%
of American consumers still don't know that mercury is the main ingredient
in "silver" fillings and 77 % of those polled would choose alternatives to
mercury fillings, even if they cost more.

In Roanoke Times article:
Mouthful of mercury sparks activist's fight, the American Dental Assoc.
executive directer, Dr. James Bramson,stated:
"The more well-designed studies that are considered, the better the pool
of
evidence for making treatment recommendations to patients," . "First and
foremost, we want scientific evidence to lead the way when it comes to
health care treatment."

Thousands of credentialed studies have been submitted to the Food and Drug
Adminstration by the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology
(www.iaomt.org) as well as hundreds of other scientific sources, however,
the FDA only chose 34 studies which they admittedly located through a
search
on the internet. Hence the rejection of their White Paper by the expert
panel:

Two specific votes the panelists took in replying to two separate
questions
said it all. The questions we

1. "Does the draft FDA White Paper objectively and clearly present the
current state of knowledge about the exposure and health effects related
to
dental amalgam?"
2. "Given the amount and quality of information available for the draft
FDA White Paper, are the conclusions Reasonable?"
In both instances, seven panelists voted "YES" and thirteen voted a
resounding "NO."

As we discussed, I will contact mercury free dentists and patients in the
Roanoke area for possible interviews. Please feel free to contact me
should
you want additional information..

Sincerely,

Freya Koss, Consultant

Consumers for Dental Choice (www.toxicteeth.org)

International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (www.iaomt.org)



INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF ORAL MEDICINE AND TOXICOLOGY

CONSUMERS FOR DENTAL CHOICE



For Immediate Release Contacts: Freya
Koss, (610) 649-2606

Wednesday, November 15, 2006 Peter
Kelley, (202) 270-8831



Over 2,000 flood FDA with reports of illness from mercury dental fillings,

but agency still in denial, claiming secret pandemic is "rare"



Consumers charge cover-up, press for ban starting with pregnant women and
children



WASHINGTON, Nov. 15-Since two expert panels of the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration voted Sept. 7 to reject staff conclusions that mercury
tooth
fillings are safe, the FDA docket has received more than 2,000 filings
from
members of the public reporting adverse health effects, agency officials
confirm.



The reports include many heart-wrenching accounts of dental patients who
suffered painful and long-term debilitating illnesses after receiving
mercury fillings, many of whom recovered after their fillings were
replaced
with non-mercury fillings and others who were unable to fully regain their
health due to a lifetime of mercury exposure. Most of the reports demand
public awareness and government intervention.



And yet, Susan Runner, FDA's Branch Manager of Dental Devices, still
maintained in a telephone interview this week with a representative of the
non-profit group Consumers for Dental Choice, that health effects from
mercury fillings are "rare," although she said it's "reasonable" to assume
that 5 percent of the U.S. population are affected (15 million people).



In another highly publicized case, the FDA two years ago issued a public
health advisory for Paxil and Prozac after studies showed that barely 1
percent of patients experience akathisia, the severe agitation that can
lead
to suicide, which FDA at the time reportedly considered a "frequent"
event.



Runner also described the submissions to FDA as "anecdotal," although many
accounts are from dentists themselves, such as Dr. Robert Boe, DDS, who
reported to FDA that, "I have seen dramatic improvement in patients
diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, tachycardia,
tinnitus, acne, rheumatoid arthritis, sinusitis, chronic fatigue, systemic
candidiasis, and multiple chemical sensitivities, after the amalgam was
removed from their teeth and the mercury chelated from their bodies. In my
opinion, this could not be a placebo effect because white blood cell
counts
were also affected."



One of the strongest statements came from Don Washkewicz, Chairman and CEO
of Parker Hannifin Corporation, a Fortune 200 company headquartered in
Cleveland, Ohio, who discovered that many of his health ailments were the
result of his mercury fillings. After research and regaining his health
following the fillings' removal, he wrote FDA, "I felt ethically compelled
to help my North American workforce (60,000 employees plus family
members)."
Finding that most were still getting mercury fillings, he changed the
company dental plan to cover 100 percent of the cost of composite
(non-mercury) alternatives.



A registered nurse of 23 years charged that, "The ADA, AMA [American
Medical
Association], and FDA have failed to protect the American people from
mercury poisoning.The FDA should require full disclosure of the known
dangers of mercury."



Meanwhile, the agency appears to have ignored 762 similar patient reports
of
adverse reactions to mercury fillings, which were submitted to its medical
devices division in 1993. This led Consumers for Dental Choice today to
charge an ongoing cover-up at least since 1993 - if not for the 160 years
that the dental and medical establishments have debated the safety of
mercury fillings. "No other pandemic health issue has been intentionally
swept under the rug for more than 160 years," said Freya Koss, a
spokeswoman
for the group, whose account is one of the more than 2,000 the agency
received this fall. "Why does the FDA continue to suppress documentation
about the adverse health effects of tooth fillings containing 50 percent
mercury, a known neurotoxin? Is it because they find it hard to admit they
have been wrong for so long?"



In contrast to the thousands of reports now flooding FDA's Dockets
Division,
the American Dental Association has maintained for years that "there have
only been 50-100 reported cases of allergic reactions to amalgam," as it
said in a patient brochure entitled "Silver Fillings." Likewise, in the
September 2006 public hearings on the topic in Gaithersburg, Md., the
FDA's
Dr. Richard Canady perpetuated the agency's longstanding position that
there
are "exceedingly small numbers of allergic reactions." And Runner said
this
week that such people are "allergic," although researchers say that term
doesn't apply.



Alfred Zamm, M.D., a Kingston, N.Y. practicing allergist and dermatologist
who has previously testified before FDA, says the term "allergic reaction"
is a misnomer, because "mercury is a biological poison and not an
allergen."
Zamm says "some individuals are more genetically sensitive and less
resistant than others, causing even a small amount of mercury emanating
from
silver/amalgam fillings to induce a variety of symptoms, some extremely
disabling such as fatigue, central nervous and immune system dysfunction,
inappropriate coldness, gastrointestinal disturbances, rhinitis,
dermatitis,
and asthma." This group, he says, "should serve as a marker that warns of
the potential dangers of dental mercury to the rest of the population who
are also at risk, but may not yet exhibit symptoms."



One or the other of two genetic traits that predispose people to mercury
toxicity occurs in as much as 20 percent of the U.S. population, according
to Boyd Haley, PhD, a researcher and chemistry professor at the University
of Kentucky in Lexington.



David Carpenter, M.D., professor of environmental health and toxicology at
the University of Albany's School of Public Health, also disputes the
description of these people as "allergic" to mercury. "It is not that one
becomes allergic to mercury, but rather that the continuous leaching of
mercury from amalgam fillings can alter the immune system and bias it
toward
hypersensitivity and allergies," he said. "The extreme hypersensitivity
reaction is expressed as autoimmune disease, where one becomes allergic to
your own body. This is most often expressed as autoimmune kidney disease,
but may also be expressed as lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid
arthritis
and autoimmune thyroid disease."



Carpenter added, "There has been no scientific evidence that mercury
fillings are safe, but there are many studies that indicate that it may be
very harmful. Therefore the responsible action of the FDA should be to
apply
the precautionary principle, which is the principle that in the face of
incomplete evidence of danger to human health the appropriate action is to
avoid exposure and to stop using mercury amalgams."



The FDA is facing action on several fronts for its failure to address the
hazards of mercury fillings:

a.. Four nonprofit groups and two state officials sued the FDA on April
27, 2006 over its inaction on mercury fillings, in Moms Against Mercury v.
Leavitt , before the Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. (see
http://www.toxicteeth.org/Petition_FDA_042006.pdf ). The case has been
accepted on the merits and is proceeding to discovery.
b.. On June 1, 2006, the plaintiffs filed a motion asking the court
itself
to ban mercury fillings until FDA complies with the Food Drug and Cosmetic
Act and the National Environmental Policy Act (see
http://www.toxicteeth.org/FDA_Motion..._June2006.pdf).
c.. Members of Consumers for Dental Choice, the Mercury Policy Project,
and the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT),
filed
a petition with FDA on Sept. 5, 2006, seeking an immediate ban on the use
of
mercury tooth fillings in pregnant women to protect the development of
their
unborn babies. Under the federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act, the FDA has
six
months to respond, or until March 2007.
d.. Members of two FDA expert scientific panels voted 13 to 7 on Sept. 7,
2006, following two days of public hearings, to reject the agency staff's
White Paper, calling it "unreasonable" to consider mercury fillings safe
in
light of the gap of literature presented, testimony of U.S. and
international researchers, and poignant reports of more than 50 people who
testified to the panels about illnesses due to their mercury fillings,
many
of whom recovered following removal of the fillings.
e.. The IAOMT formally requested after the hearings that the commissioner
of FDA reconvene them to hear more testimony, since the staff failed to
consider all peer-reviewed studies finding hazards from mercury fillings -
including European research, although the FDA since 1990 had promised to
consider international science on the subject. The IAOMT, which sponsors
independent research on the topic, has not received a reply on its request
to reconvene the panels.
The so-called "silver" fillings still applied some 70 million times a year
in the United States contain about three-quarters of a gram of mercury
each,
or about as much as an old-fashioned thermometer. A person with eight
fillings has the equivalent of six grams of mercury in his or her body, a
concentration sufficient to shut down a school chemistry lab or bring a
toxic clean-up crew to a lake.



While "white" composite fillings are becoming more prevalent today,
largely
for aesthetic reasons, there is concern that less-educated, lower-income
populations will be subjected to mercury fillings indefinitely unless the
government intervenes and traditional dentistry's insistence that mercury
is
safe is challenged.



"There is clear evidence the mercury vapor is released from amalgam
fillings
and is ingested, inhaled, and converted to methyl mercury by bacteria in
the
mouth and gastrointestinal tract," Carpenter said, citing a study in the
Journal of Nutrition and Environmental Medicine (6:33-36: 1996), "causing
chronic low-dose exposure to mercury. The most serious harm is to the
developing nervous system, resulting in a reduced IQ, learning
disabilities
and behavioral problems in children. Adults are also vulnerable."



The World Health Organization and United Nations Global Mercury Assessment
Working Group concluded that mercury in fillings is hazardous both to
human
health and the environment, and that "dental mercury fillings constitute
the
main mercury exposure risk to humans, exceeding food, air and water
sources
combined."



Zamm, who was an expert speaker in 1991 at the FDA's previous hearing on
the
"Potential Toxicity of Dental Amalgam," and was among the 1993 group of
commenters, says that today "we have 1826 dental care in the year 2006
because FDA 'grandfathered' dental amalgam without subjecting it to the
standard 'double-blind-crossover' testing of safety that all modern
medicines have to go through before approval -- the same loophole that
allowed tobacco and lead water pipes to come into our daily lives."



Zamm warns: "If you are suffering from an unexplained illness, put mercury
fillings on your list of possible causes."



As long ago as 1883, William P. Wesselhoeft, M.D., a prominent Boston
physician, presented several case histories of patients who fully
recovered
after amalgam removal from diseases such as severe gastritis, oral and
throat ulcerations, Meniere's disease, tinnitus, hearing loss, vertigo,
drooping eyelid (a diagnostic symptom of myasthenia gravis), and skin
rash.
Every single symptom and disease described by Dr. Wesselhoeft is included
in
the recent submissions to the FDA, including a dental assistant diagnosed
with Meniere's disease who pleaded with the FDA panel to act.



Dr. Alfred Stock, a German chemist, wrote a landmark paper on his ailments
from mercury fillings in 1926, saying, "Since the discovery of our
misfortune I have found out about a dozen certain cases of insidious
mercury
poisoning, just in the circle of my acquaintances. They almost always have
the same symptoms. Often the correct cause was missed and therefore the
correct treatment was missed as well."



Koss herself was misdiagnosed as having lupus, muscular sclerosis and
myasthenia gravis, but experienced rapid remission of symptoms when her
own
mercury fillings were removed, though she still suffers vision problems.
She
has since tested positive for one of the two genetic traits that
predispose
people to mercury toxicity.



"In spite of a plethora of credentialed scientific studies proving health
and environmental hazards of mercury fillings, and thousands of
submissions
to the FDA reporting adverse health reactions, the agency continues to
claim
these commonly used fillings are harmless and related systemic illnesses
are
rare or non-existent," Koss said. "This latest public response should be a
wake-up call to the U.S. government's health agencies and the dental
industry, to heed the science and the wishes of the public and stop the
use
of mercury in teeth, starting with an immediate ban for pregnant women and
children."



The FDA docket remains open for now. Public comments may be emailed to
with the subject, Docket # 2006N-0352 - Mercury
fillings.

###

Comments by Charlie Brown,
national counsel for Consumers for Dental Choice.
Despite the FDA's careful planning for this two-day hearing reviewing
scientific research on the neurolgoical health risks associated with
mercury
silver fillings, the two panels convened and after two days of riveting
testimony summarily rejected the White Paper. Charles G. Brown, the
national
counsel for Consumers for Dental Choice, said the paper consisted of
"shopworn rhetoric, selected studies (some of whom were misinterpreted)
and
out-of-date conclusions about mercury toxicity; in short, the staff paper
argued that mercury fillings were safe."
After the hearing, Brown wrote: "Virtually all expressed concern in one or
more of the following three areas:

(1) the need for informed consent (real informed consent, telling about
the
mercury and its effect);

(2) the need to stop usage for pregnant women and children; and

(3) the reality that a substantial number of persons are severely
hypersensitive. Some highly intelligent and educated consumers testified
that they had no idea that "silver" fillings are mercury - until it was
too
late."



Over 2,000 flood FDA with reports of illness from mercury dental fillings,
but agency still in denial, claiming secret pandemic is "rare"


It's good to see that the FDA isn't being influenced by unsupported
anecdotes and paranoia generated by people selling mercury cures.

--
Peter Bowditch


You forgot the *Thousands of credentialed studies have been submitted to the
Food and Drug
Adminstration by the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology
(
www.iaomt.org) as well as hundreds of other scientific sources.*

Sad you have no compssion for the seriously ill from mercruy amalgams.