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Maine on
Mercury Toxicity
Maine Passes Legislation Guaranteeing Accurate
Patient Information on Mercury Amalgam Filling Toxicity
Augusta, Maine, August 23, 2001
Maine Governor Angus King today signed the most
advanced bill in the United states requiring dentists to inform
their patients that amalgam dental fillings contain a large
percentage of the toxic element mercury, which can be harmful to the
wearer's health.
In his preliminary remarks before signing the bill,
Gov. King noted that Maine has probably taken more action to get
mercury out of the air and water than any other state in the union.
"And yet we all carry it around in our mouths," he remarked.
Senate President Michael Michaud spearheaded the bill and
Representatives Joanne Twoomey and Steven Stanley, all of whom were
present, spoke at the signing. Consumer advocates Pam Anderson
and Dr. Tom Anderson, a mercury-free dentist from Houlton, ME, who
led grassroots support for the bill, participated in the ceremony as
well.
Senate President Michaud cited the courage of the
many individuals who testified on behalf of the bill, especially the
dentists who came forward to endorse it despite the opposition of
the American Dental Association. "We hope that the U.S.
will take Maine's lead and move forward with legislation at the
national level," he said. The bill mandates that every
dentist's office will feature a poster and a brochure informing
patients about the presence of mercury in amalgam fillings and about
its negative health effects.
Scientific research has shown that dental amalgam is
the chief source of mercury in the human body. For that
reason, Rep. Twoomey described the bill as a major step forward for
women of childbearing age and for children, who receive their first
exposure to mercury in the womb and from their mother's breast milk.
Mercury has been implicated in neurological disorders of children
such as autism and ADD/ADHD, and in fertility problems in women.
"We are delighted that this bill has been signed," said Rep.
Stanley. It is a major step forward to protect the health of
Maine citizens."
Pam Anderson added that the group hopes Maine's next
step would be to ban the use of dental amalgam in all women of
childbearing age and in children. Other participants in the
press conference were Kathleen McGee, Director of the Maine Toxic
Action Coalition; Maine DAMS (Dental Amalgam Mercury Syndrome)
Coordinator Marjorie Monteleone, and New Hampshire DAMS Coordinator
Rosie Cronen; representatives from the Maine People's
Alliance, the Maine Citizens for Affordable Health Care, and the
Maine Department of Environmental Protection; Dr. Gerald
Vermette, mercury-free dentist; Rosemary Fecteau, Ph.D., whose
husband died of mercury toxicity from his dental fillings;
Charles Brown, attorney for the national organization Consumers for
Dental Choice; and New York City DAMS Coordinator Dr. Lydia
Bronte, author of a widely respected book, The Mercury in Your
Mouth: The Truth About "Silver" Dental Fillings.
"The public is being deceived by the terminology
used for these fillings," said Charles Brown in his remarks.
"The ADA calls them 'silver' fillings, but they are really MERCURY
fillings. If people knew the principal ingredient is mercury,
they would not want these fillings in their teeth."
Gov. King compared the current use of mercury in
dental fillings with the 1950's use in shoe stores of powerful X-ray
machines called fluoroscopes, which exposed hundreds of thousands of
adults and children to high doses of toxic X-rays. "Every
child who went into the shoe store to buy new shoes would put his
feet into the fluoroscope so the bones could be seen," King
recalled. "People who worked in the store were exposed to the
radiation all day; children played games around the machine.
Now we realize it was a terrible thing to do, but then it seemed
perfectly normal. Some day we will wonder how we could ever
have put such a toxic substance into the human mouth."
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