European Union Is Banning Dental Mercury Amalgams Starting In 2025: What are the prospects for the USA and other nations?

CBS 60 Minutes was a rare truthful media event 

In 1990, CBS 60 Minutes did a resounding episode on the dental amalgam issue that was seen on TV by 30 million viewers. The ADA agreed to be interviewed on the show provided that Hal Huggins was not included in the program as one of the amalgam critics. The program catapulted the amalgam issue into public prominence and fueled the growth of holistic dental practices, the growth of scientific investigations, and a surge in consumer activism. DAMS, Dental Amalgam Mercury Solutions was formed in 1990, to educate the public, complementing the work already being done by the professional academies, IAOMT, IABDM and Holistic Dental Association. All of these groups emphasize the importance of having your amalgams removed safely, by a well-trained, well-equipped biological dentist, if they are going to be removed at all. (2)

Witchhunts of the 1990s

But the 1990s saw major attacks by state dental boards against Hal Huggins in Colorado and against many other dentists in many other states. In 1995, the Colorado Dental Board took away Huggins’ license to practice, and the boards in many other states acted similarly. It was an era of “witchhunts,” with dentists who were removing dental amalgams of their patients being accused of practicing outside of the “standard of care” and of being “unethical.” The local media generally went along with the portrayal of Huggins and his followers as both being driven by greed and going against what the science says – science as described by the ADA.

The Watson-Burton bill 

In 2003 a Congressional panel held hearings on the dental amalgam issue and what science actually says. Republican Dan Burton and Democrat Diane Watson jointly became chief authors of a bill to phase out dental amalgam fillings. It was assigned to the House Commerce Committee where it languished and died because it did not get nearly enough co-sponsors to get it a hearing in the committee. Sadly, the media let the issue whither for lack of attention; ever since the CBS 60 Minutes show in 1990, the major media has either ignored the issue or tells the ADA’s biased side of it.

The CATs media multimillion dollar blitz

In April of 2006, some very biased NIH-sponsored studies known as the Children Amalgam Trials (CATS) were completed and published, followed by an immediate media/public relations campaign claiming that, with the two studies, dental amalgams had definitely been shown to be safe for children (the implication being that they must be safe for everyone, so what should adults be worried about?). The DAMS newsletter published a detailed analysis showing that the study’s toxicological questions had not even been completed yet, and the data itself showed signs of mercury retention, particularly in boys. Critics of the studies said that these clinical trials were highly unethical pointing to the experimentation on young children from an orphanage, lured into participation with incentive gifts. But the big media ran with it without mentioning the research defects.

2009 FDA issues an amalgam rule 

For decades, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had been dancing around the dental amalgam issue, failing to classify it (i.e., moderate risk, highest risk -requiring a proof of safety?), and finally on July 28, 2009, it did come out with an amalgam “rule.” It offered no protection to the public, and it looked like it had been written by the amalgam industry and the ADA.

The rule said: there was no reason to be careful of amalgam use in children (citing the defective CAT studies); no reason to be cautious about its use in pregnant women; no need for caution for people with neurological disorders (mercury is a notorious neurotoxin) or kidney problems; and no need to inform the patient that amalgam fillings contain mercury.