Contribution of European Associations about IPEN Views on a Global Mercury Treaty

International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) proposes that an international treaty should define a list of measures to be implemented to protect human health and ecosystems from mercury exposure. It is surprising that this paper does not mention the primary source of human exposure to mercury in developed countries, namely dental amalgams (1).

There is now enough evidence that amalgams continuously release elemental mercury.
- Oral Bacteria partially transform elemental mercury into methylmercury (2) which will then be ingested and almost entirely absorbed within the intestine.
- Mercury in vapor form is inhaled, 80% passing into blood and crossing the blood-brain-barrier. This neurotoxin thus cumulates gradually in the brain. For people with many amalgams, brain mercury impregnation is more than 10 times higher than among those having few fillings (3), as the half-life of mercury in the brain can attain tens of years. Many scientific publications highlight exposure to dental mercury as being a crucial factor in the development of neurodegenerative illnesses, including Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis (4, 5).

- Elemental mercury makes its way through the placenta easily, and concentrates in fetal areas such as the placenta, meconium, and organs such as the liver, kidney, retina, cerebellum, pituitary gland ... (6, 7, 8, 9, 10). It may lead to fetal hypothyroidism which can have serious consequences for brain development (11, 12).
 
- Amalgams are the primary source of mercury in breast milk, leading to levels in excess of WHO reference levels in many breastfed infants (13, 14, 15, 16).
- Mercury permeates the extremely vulnerable brain of infants, where its concentration correlated to the number of fillings the mother has (8).
This early exposure to dental mercury is strongly suspected of increasing the risk of hyperactivity, autistic syndrome and neurocognitive deficits (17,18).
 
Continuing to say that methylmercury (MeHg) is the only dangerous form of mercury ignores generally accepted scientific data:
 - Just as for MeHg, elemental mercury is a dangerous neurotoxic, immunetoxic, reprotoxic, endocrine disruptor.
- Just as for MeHg, elemental mercury accumulates in the human body.
- Just as for MeHg,mercury, vapor exposure in even low doses leads to neurocognitive deficits (19).
However, fish provides firstly selenium, an element protecting against the harmful effects of mercury, and secondly omega-3 fatty acids, essential for proper brain development. This is why the number of fish meals consumed by a mother correlates with better performances of her child. On the other hand, the impregnation of mercury during pregnancy or existing in
umbilical cord blood (of which maternal amalgams are the main source) is inversely correlated to the cognitive performances of the child (20, 21).
 
We know, moreover, that a concomitant prenatal exposure to mercury vapor and to methylmercury compounds the risks to a fetus (22).
Scientific knowledge now permits us to assert that early exposure to low doses of elemental mercury is as least as dangerous as exposure to small amounts of MeHg.
It is indisputable that we must urgently reduce human exposure to all forms of mercury, whatever their origin: food (fish MeHg), medicinal products (thiomersal in vaccines), environmental (chlorine industry, gold mining, power plants...). But it would be incomprehensible and completely aberrant to ignore the primary source of mercury exposure, the one that overwhelmingly contributes to the impregnation of human bodies in many areas of the world (23), including children: dental amalgams.
An immediate ban on amalgam usage would drastically reduce human exposure, especially early exposure, to mercury, thus preventing loss of intelligence in children and preventing numerous neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.
This ban must be implemented globally if we want to prevent dental care from becoming an important source of mercury exposure in developing countries in the next few years, due to the increase of tooth decays among children in these countries: if we don’t pay attention to this, the market for mercury amalgams will migrate to the South, since the banning of dental amalgams in the North looks inevitable (it is already in place in Scandinavian countries).
The International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) justly fights for a free-toxic future. As European Associations we support their aims and ask that IPEN call for an immediate world-wide ban on mercury amalgams, in conjunction with the development of non-toxic alternatives.
French Associations:
Un immediato divieto dell’utilizzo di amalgama porterà alla drastica riduzione dell'esposizione umana, in particolare dell'esposizione precoce al mercurio, evitando così la perdita di intelligenza nei bambini e prevenendo numerose malattie neurodegenerative come l'Alzheimer.
Tale divieto deve essere attuato a livello globale, se vogliamo impedire che nei prossimi anni le cure dentali diventino una fonte importante di esposizione al mercurio nei paesi in via di sviluppo, a causa dell'aumento di carie tra i bambini in questi paesi: se non prestassimo attenzione a questo, il mercato degli amalgami di mercurio migrerà a sud, dal momento che il divieto di amalgami dentali al Nord sembra inevitabile (è già in vigore nei paesi scandinavi).
The International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) giustamente combatte per un futuro privo di tossicità. Come Associazioni Europee diamo il nostro sostegno al loro obiettivo e chiediamo che IPEN richieda che immediatamente venga bandito l’uso di amalgami dentali al mercurio in tutto il mondo, in concomitanza con lo sviluppo di alternative non tossiche.
French Associazioni:
 
Tossicologia Associazione Chimie1 http://atctoxicologie.free.fr/
Coordinamento nazionale di medicina Ambiente e Salute http://cnmse.ouvaton.org/
N. mercurio dentale http://www.non-au-mercure-dentaire.org/
Associazione di AKUT Lussemburgo asbl http://www.akut.lu/
Associazione Italiana: www.infoamica.it AMICA
Associazione spagnola: www.mercuriados.org asociation MERCURIADOS
Tedesco Associazioni:
Zu Hilfe Verein UmweltbedingtErkrankter http://www.umweltbedingt-erkrankte.de/
Praxis für Umwelt und Integrative Medizin http://www.zahnklinik.de/umwelt_integrativ
Associazione Federale dei centri d'informazione per le tossine ambientali
http://amalgam.de.ki http://www.bbfu.de und
1 André Picot, presidente di ATC Tossicologia, responsabile della ricerca CNRS, il treno esperto francese della UE sulle norme delle sostanze chimiche sul posto di lavoro, (DGV Lussemburgo) ed esperto di ex interferenti endocrini (AFSSET).

Some citations:
“…it is quite unacceptable, in my view, to continue inserting such a potentially toxic substance in people's mouths when safer alternatives exist”. Marios Matsakis, a forensic pathologist, Dr. in microbiology and biochemistry, protractor of the European Commission on the Environment, the Public Health and Food Safety of the European Parliament (March 14, 2006), as part of the "Community Strategy Concerning Mercury”.

“The unrestricted application of amalgam for dental restorations in women before and during the child-bearing age should be reconsidered”. Drasch et al, 1994 (8)
“Dental amalgam fillings in girls and women of reproductive age should be used with caution, to avoid increased prenatal Hg exposure”. Palkovicova et al, 2007 (24).
“With reference to the fact that mercury is a multipotent toxin with effects on several levels of the biochemical dynamics of the cell, amalgam must be considered to be an unsuitable material for dental restoration. This is especially true since fully adequate and less toxic alternatives are available.
With reference to the risk of inhibiting influence on the growing brain, it is not compatible with science and well-tried experience to use amalgam fillings in children and fertile women”. Official report from Maths Berlin, 2003 (25).

Source: http://www.non-au-mercure-dentaire.org/actualites-non-au-mercure.php