Newsletter
YORK, Pa., USA: A treaty to reduce the production and use of mercury will be signed this month. However, concerns have arisen that dental companies will dispose of mercury-containing filling materials in Africa, South Asia and Latin America. Therefore, 62 organizations have written to Bret W. Wise, chairman and CEO of DENTSPLY International, asking him to stop selling dental amalgam to developing nations.
According to the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, between 313 and 411 tons of mercury are consumed annually around the globe for use in dental amalgam, accounting for 10 percent of mercury consumption. DENTSPLY International, a global manufacturer of dental products, is one of the largest manufacturers of dental amalgam worldwide and thus a major source of mercury.
In a letter sent last week, nongovernmental organizations from 40 countries around the globe urged the company, which produces many affordable, high-quality alternatives to dental amalgam, to start promoting the use of mercury-free dental filling materials and to stop selling amalgam in developing countries.
The letter was signed by 62 health, social justice, and environmental groups that hope that DENTSPLY will take this most basic step to help prevent developing nations from becoming a dumping ground for dental mercury.
Mercury produced by the dental industry and others enters the environment through many different pathways. For instance, it enters the air via cremation and respiration, water via dental clinic releases and human waste, and soil via landfills, burials and sewage sludge. Microorganisms can change elemental mercury into methylmercury, a highly toxic form that builds up in fish, shellfish and animals that eat fish. It can damage children's developing brains and nervous systems even before they are born.
The treaty on phasing down the use of amalgam was agreed upon by some 140 countries earlier this year. It will be signed next week in Minamata, Japan.
The World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry has started a petition campaign to ask DENTSPLY to stop. To date, over 9,400 people have signed the petition.
