Amalgam fillings face ban across Europe
Amalgam dental fillings – which contain mercury – are expected to be phased out across Europe in the next few years.
The
European Parliament is likely to opt for a complete ban by 2013, which
will come into affect by 2018, following a damning report by a European
Commission agency.
Although the Bio-Intelligence Service (BIS) is recommending the ban primarily on environmental grounds, it has highlighted a range of health problems the fillings cause. These range from allergies, neurological diseases, kidney diseases, autism, autoimmune diseases and birth defects. Pregnant women and children are especially susceptible to amalgam’s health threats, it says.
Despite the levels of mercury in fish we eat and in the enviornment, dental amalgam is “by far the main source” of our total mercury load, the report’s authors continue.
Its conclusions are a severe embarrassment to dental groups such as the British Dental Association which for years has maintained that amalgam fillings are safe.
Despite its assurances, Sweden and Denmark introduced a blanket ban on the use of dental amalgam in 2008, while Austrian and German dentists do not use it in children, pregnant women and people with kidney problems. Norway, not an EU member state, also banned it in 2008.
(Source: Study on the Potential for Reducing Mercury Pollution from Dental Amalgam and Batteries, European Commission Bio-Intelligence Service, July 2012).
Although amalgam dental fillings have been in widespread use for
around 150 years, this started to change in the mid-1980s, when evidence
began to emerge that mercury vapour was being released from these
fillings. However, there was not much supporting evidence at that time.
Indeed, as recently as 1997, the World Dental Federation (FDI) and the
World Health Organization joint consensus statement on dental amalgam
stated: "No controlled studies have been published demonstrating
systemic adverse effects from amalgam restorations.”
However, recent advances in technology have allowed the mercury-Alzheimer’s theory to be tested directly on brain tissue samples from known sufferers of the disease. Two independent university laboratories have now shown that minute amounts of mercury can damage the membranes of growing brain cells.
A team of Swiss and Belgian scientists exposed brain cells to minute amounts of mercury and observed changes that mimicked “all the biochemical lesions of AD” (J Neurochem, 2000; 74: 231-6).
A year later, University of Calgary researchers found that mercury caused the "neurofibrillary aggregates" characteristically found in the brains of AD sufferers (NeuroReport, 2001; 12: 733-7).
In response to the concerns these findings raise, Sweden has banned mercury fillings, and Austria and Germany have restricted their use. The latest legislature to consider a ban is California’s, where there’s a bill in place to outlaw the use of mercury-containing dental fillings starting in 2007
However, recent advances in technology have allowed the mercury-Alzheimer’s theory to be tested directly on brain tissue samples from known sufferers of the disease. Two independent university laboratories have now shown that minute amounts of mercury can damage the membranes of growing brain cells.
A team of Swiss and Belgian scientists exposed brain cells to minute amounts of mercury and observed changes that mimicked “all the biochemical lesions of AD” (J Neurochem, 2000; 74: 231-6).
A year later, University of Calgary researchers found that mercury caused the "neurofibrillary aggregates" characteristically found in the brains of AD sufferers (NeuroReport, 2001; 12: 733-7).
In response to the concerns these findings raise, Sweden has banned mercury fillings, and Austria and Germany have restricted their use. The latest legislature to consider a ban is California’s, where there’s a bill in place to outlaw the use of mercury-containing dental fillings starting in 2007
http://www.wddty.com/amalgam-fillings-face-ban-across-europe.html
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