Whereas consumers and parents should be aware of the risks
of placing a product containing a substantial amount of mercury in their bodies
or the bodies of their children;
Whereas elemental mercury and mercury compounds are known
to be toxic and hazardous to human health and to the environment;
Whereas mercury is third most toxic substance on the 2007
CERCLA Priority List of Hazardous Substances, behind arsenic and lead;
Whereas dental amalgam, commonly referred to as a
silver filling
, consists of 42 to 58 percent mercury;
Whereas consumers may be deceived by the use of the term
silver
to describe a dental amalgam, which contains
substantially more mercury than silver;
Whereas 78 percent of people in the United States do not
know that mercury is a major component of an amalgam;
Whereas the mercury contained in a dental amalgam is
continually emitted in the form of mercury vapor, and the total amount of
mercury released depends upon the total number of fillings, their age,
composition, and surface area, the intra-oral presence of other metals, dietary
and lifestyle habits, and other chemical and metabolic conditions affecting the
mouth;
Whereas when mercury vapors are inhaled, most of the
mercury (about 80 percent) enters the bloodstream directly through the lungs
and then rapidly deposits preferentially in the brain and kidneys as well as
other parts of the body;
Whereas according to the World Health Organization, the
estimated average daily intake and retention of mercury from a dental amalgam
ranges from 3 to 17 micrograms per day, and is greater than all other sources
combined;
Whereas the California Dental Association, by court order,
requires postings of warnings about mercury fillings in California Dental
Offices as of March 9, 2003;
Whereas the warnings read NOTICE TO PATIENTS:
PROPOSITION 65 WARNING: Dental Amalgam, used in many dental fillings, causes
exposure to mercury, a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth
defects or other reproductive harm
;
Whereas studies show that a variety of commonly found
human intestinal and oral bacteria can methylate mercury and the mercury vapor
from fillings biotransforms into the highly neurotoxic and teratogenic
methylmercury;
Whereas according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry, the mercury from amalgam passes through the placenta of
pregnant women and mercury may accumulate in higher concentrations in the
unborn baby than in the mother;
Whereas absorbed mercury can also pass into breast milk of
a lactating mother and be ingested by the infant;
Whereas the National Academy of Sciences estimated that
over 600,000 children are born each year at risk for adverse
neurodevelopmental effects due to in utero exposure to methyl
mercury
;
Whereas this report urged the need to understand the
relative amount of mercury attributable to a dental amalgam in the body and to
Thimerosal in vaccines;
Whereas mercury is a 50 percent component of Thimerosal, a
preservative found in vaccines, and is still used in trace amounts in influenza
vaccines;
Whereas influenza vaccines are recommended to pregnant
woman and children;
Whereas the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are advising women who may become
pregnant, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and young children to avoid some
types of fish and eat fish and shellfish that are lower in mercury;
Whereas 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the
United States Territory of American Samoa have issued 15,422 fish consumption
advisories to their residents due to mercury contamination as found on the
Environmental Protection Agency’s Fish Advisory website;
Whereas the Food and Drug Administration has issued fish
consumption advisories due to levels of mercury in commercially-caught fish
and, in January 2001, warned pregnant woman and young children not to eat
certain marine fish;
Whereas mercury toxicity is a retention toxicity (total
body burden) that builds up over years of exposure, and is therefore dependent
on all sources of mercury to which an individual may be exposed;
Whereas mercury enters the environment from sewage
treatment plants, dental run-off, vapors from crematoriums, and industrial
pollution;
Whereas mercury wastewater released from dental clinics
has been shown to fail the Environmental Protection Agency's toxicity
characteristic leaching procedure and, therefore, is regulated as hazardous
waste;
Whereas research from the Naval Dental Research Institute
indicates that, when discharged to the environment, conditions may be right for
waste dental mercury to methylate, become bioavailable, and subsequently
biomagnify in fish as methyl mercury, the most toxic form of mercury;
Whereas a report issued on June 5, 2002, by the Mercury
Policy Project, the Sierra Club, Health Care Without Harm, Clean Water Action,
and the Toxics Action Center stated that, because of mercury fillings, dental
offices are now the leading source of mercury in the Nation's
wastewater;
Whereas mercury from a dental amalgam can enter the
environment during any point of the product's life-cycle;
Whereas this includes placement or removal of fillings,
through bodily excretions, when sewage sludge is incinerated, spread on crops,
or dumped in land fills, when vapor is released or land filled, when vapor is
released directly from the filling (which increases with brushing, chewing, and
consuming hot foods or salt), and during cremation;
Whereas currently there are no requirements for mercury
capture before or during cremation;
Whereas the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies
reported human wastes from individuals with dental amalgam fillings to be the
most significant source of domestic mercury entering publicly owned treatment
works, greater than 80 percent of the total contributing factors;
Whereas mercury use by the dental industry increased from
2 percent in 1980 to 22 percent of the total use of mercury in the United
States in 2001, because of drastic declines in mercury use by other industries
over that period;
Whereas amalgam restorations were estimated to be 55
percent of the total mercury product reservoir in 2004 by the Environmental
Protection Agency, and will therefore be a source of environmental
contamination into the future;
Whereas cremation is chosen in approximately 30 percent of
all deaths, and this percentage is expected to increase every year;
Whereas according to industrial hygiene surveys, 6 to 16
percent of dental offices exceed the exposure levels for air mercury permitted
by Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards;
Whereas the National Institutes of Health has concluded
that when inorganic mercury is located in brain tissue, researchers are unable
to demonstrate an appreciable half-life, or decrease, of mercury over time
(more than 120 days);
Whereas the implications of this conclusion are that
dental amalgam exposure will permanently increase mercury body burden;
Whereas the use of mercury in any product being put into
the body is opposed by many health groups, such as the American Public Health
Association, the California Medical Association, and Health Care Without Harm;
and
Whereas as the result of Moms Against Mercury v. von
Eschenbach, the court ruled that the FDA must classify mercury amalgam as a
device by July 28, 2009: Now, therefore, be it
That the House of Representatives
encourages the dissemination of information regarding mercury, its uses, and
its effects to allow consumers to make informed decisions.