Okay. All 120 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 right, then. Thank you for your testimony.
Could I -- one other thing is, I just read an article 6 that shows eight percent of dentists in this country still use elemental mercury. What that means is, they have bottles of liquid mercury in the office that they mix with the alloy to still make the filling material. Twenty-five years ago I switched to the pre-capsulated. Why did they take so long? They don't want to change. That's why this is so important to protect the people of Philadelphia and give them an option, because dentists really don't -- people don't want to change, quite honestly, and sometimes you got to force them to do that. Thank you very much.
Thank you for your testimony. Please proceed. 121 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904
Dr. John Tierney, Penn State, Delaware County Campus. I just want to start -- I will be brief and I'll just start by telling you that mercury in all of its forms, as a practicing chemist, is toxic. You can look that up for yourselves online in the Aldridge Chemistry Handbook. They sell all forms of mercury to chemists. Chemists are trying to avoid using it in chemical reactions. I'll avoid talking too much about chemistry, but I would like to read you something. The detrimental health effects of mercury have been known for a long time and reference has been made to those adverse health effects in the popular literature. In 1865, Lewis Carroll first published Alice in Wonderland. One of the characters in there was the Hatter, and he was mad, and the reason for that is that it was an indirect reference to the cumulative toxic effects of mercury, 122 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 which were known in the mid 1800's. And I'm now quoting medical references to the effects of mercury sorts that hat makers came into contact with. "Nitrate was used to make or to cure felt in hat making, and prolonged exposure to the mercury caused mercury poisoning. The hat makers developed severe and uncontrollable muscular tremors and twitching limbs, and it was called hatter's shakes. Other symptoms included distorted vision and confused speech. Advanced cases developed hallucinations and other psychotic symptoms." Now, this has been known since the mid 1800's. It's been referred to in the common literature, not the scientific literature. I will finish by saying one thing in rebuttal to some of the testimony that I've heard by the medical staff that's come to the table so far. They seem to have forgotten their basic 123 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 second semester freshman chemistry. There is a topic that they learned and it is called "solubility products."
"Solubility products." Solubility products is the study of an area where a material appears to be insoluble, but you quickly learn that nothing is insoluble, even something that is seemingly there and visible to the eye is actually dissolving in solution. So the mercury amalgam -- and there is actual scientific evidence that I even found by Googling to show in Elsevier Publications and Wiley InterScience Publications where saliva has actually been tested and different mercury -- forms of mercury has been detected by analytical chemists in the saliva, and the only source that they were able to identify was the mercury amalgam in the teeth. That's the conclusion of my 124 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 testimony.
Thank you for your testimony. Would you please state your name for the record.
I am Dr. Leander Ellis. I am a psychiatrist who, for the past 40 years, has been digging into the disturbed physiology of disturbed emotionality, and I became aware of the problem of mercury back in the early '90s. At that time, dentists had the reputation for having the highest rate of suicide of any profession. Psychiatrists, by the way, had the highest rate of suicide in medicine, but the dentists had the highest rate in any profession. We speculated about what it was about, and all sorts of fanciful explanations were given, but in the early '90s, the American Dental Association 125 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 realized that it was an occupational hazard from handling mercury, and so they issued a set of guidelines forbidding the dentists to even touch the stuff, advising that he not have a carpet on the floor, because he'd be spelling the vapors of it, inhaling the vapors of it for the rest of the time that he used the office if he dropped a crumb of it on the floor and that any crumb should be stored in a glass container, closed glass container, under liquid as a means of trying to limit outgassing into his office. It was almost like they were handling radioactive material. Very, very careful. They were advised to be very careful with it. Some of the symptoms that had arisen had been nerve pulses from the touching of it. There was a tendency to drift toward alcoholism, anxiety, irritability and depression. At the same time, they said it's perfectly all right to put that 126 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 stuff in the person's mouth, because after all, it was going to be an amalgam. An amalgam is not a solid any more than macadam is a total solid. When they put down a blacktop road, it outgases until it loses enough of the tar that was holding it together so that it fails. The same thing happens with amalgam fillings. It outgases throughout the time that it is in the person's body until it has so little of the mercury left that it can't hold itself together and so then it disintegrates, it fails, it has to be replaced. And so it is an illusion that it is in place. The other thing is that mercury has an exceptionally long half life in the body. It's about 77 days. And that means that half of it is still there after 77 days. After 144 days -- or 154 days, one-fourth of it is still there, and so on. It's a progressive dilution over a period of time. The liver pulls it out of the 127 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 bloodstream, tries to dump it into the intestinal tract. It is 100 reabsorbed, recycled to the liver and goes back into the intestinal tract again and it just builds up there. The kidneys do manage to dump a minutial amount of it, and that's why it takes so long to get rid of it. Most of the other things that I would say have already been answered, already been alluded to, and I won't take up more time.
Thank you for your testimony. Could Mrs. Moore, Mrs. Ward and Ms. Kreider and Ms. Palmer, please come forward. Ms. Ward, could you please identify yourself and state your name for the record.
Yes. My name is Carol Ward. I'm Vice-President of Dental Amalgam Mercury Syndrome. It's a national non-profit group. We've existed 128 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 since 1987. I'll try to be quite brief. I'm here representing the 2,000 members of Dental Amalgam Mercury Syndrome. Many -- in fact, all of the people have recovered either fully or partially after having their fillings replaced, especially the coordinators and the activists in our group. People have said over and over again that mercury is a 50 percent component of amalgam fillings. I would like to say that I have had composites in my mouth for years. They have held up 15 very well. So I don't really believe 16 that they're as unstable as we have heard 17 here. 18 I had a life-threatening 19 breakdown from the amalgam fillings. No 20 one could figure out why. I was in my 21 40's. I had been a hiker and a jogger. 22 I went downhill in one year's time and became a bedridden invalid. My symptoms were a lot like MS. They were brain fog, confusion, digestive problems, 129 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 equilibrium problems, and I guess if I hadn't been such a fighter, I would have simply given up and that would have been that. But I had a feeling that it was caused by something that I did not contribute, and finally after five doctors gave up trying to diagnose me, I was diagnosed by a biochemist nutritionist as having a sensitivity to my amalgam fillings. Those fillings, 12 because I was not genetically the kind of 13 person who could excrete efficiently, 14 built up in my system so that I could not 15 get rid of the mercury. I was placed on 16 a special regime. I had my mercury fillings replaced by composites and I began to get well. This was an expensive process. I count myself fortunate that I had the income to do this. And I think that's why I feel so strongly that we should get rid of this so that other people don't have to spend this kind of time and go through the suffering and the stress 130 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 involved in all of this. I have fielded myself. I have five notebooks full of testimonies of people who have gotten well from having their amalgams replaced. So I have absolutely no doubt about what I'm saying to you. I'm in favor of this bill, and I hope it's put in through for the best results for this City. Thank you.
Thank you for your testimony. Sara Moore, please state your name for the record, if you could come forward. Thank you.
I want to commend Councilman Brown and yourself in terms of proposing this bill. I think it's a huge contribution to the 131 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 community. I'm a graduate of Swarthmore College and Hahnemann Graduate School here in the City. I'm a psychotherapist in Pennsylvania. I'm a member of Sanctuary Church of the Open Door. And, Councilwoman Brown, thank you for your very eloquent speech the other day at our church.
I practiced 22 for over 25 years as a therapist here in 23 Pennsylvania with individuals and 24 families. I've served on two mental 25 health boards in the state advocating for 132 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 professional standards, including for licensure, for professional counselors and marriage and family therapists. Eleven years ago I was in excellent health and physically active. My life was happy, personally and professionally, and who would have suspected that a few visits to the dentist would have resulted in years 11 of an unexpected and devastating damage to my health? My local dentist had decided to repair and replace about three or four amalgam fillings, and I felt good that I caught up on some long-needed dental work. Within one to two months, my energy had began to slowly deteriorate and I began to experience flu-like symptoms almost all the time. D. said he had no idea what was happening to me. 133 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 Over the next four years, my energy worsened into exhaustive chronic fatigue, creating great difficulty even getting out of bed in the morning and getting through my workday. Eventually I could no longer walk around the block. I came down with frequent colds and illnesses, and when I did get the flu, I wondered at times if I would survive. I had to begin to cancel personal and professional appointments at the last minute. I started experiencing bouts of depression, which I had never had in my life, worry and anxiety out of nowhere. I also noticed that I didn't have my usual emotional resilience and calm state of mind. Clearly, something was having a powerfully negative effect on my whole body and no one seemed to know what it was. My hair began to fall out and I noticed it was becoming a challenge to focus or concentrate. My memory started declining and I was no longer able to 134 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 easily do checkbook calculations. So as a graduate of Swarthmore and Hahnemann, that was clearly a dilemma and a big question mark what was going on here. Other problems emerged: thyroid and adrenal damage, tachycardia, chest pains, none of which I had had before, and chronic painful, urinary tract infections. I wondered if I could ever get well. It took me four years to be properly diagnosed. , and the accurate diagnosis was mercury poisoning from the silver amalgam fillings, and the tests bore this out. I had trusted that my amalgams were safe, as many other dental consumers do, with blind trust. Because my immune system had been so damaged from the mercury, it turned out, it took about a year to safely and slowly replace the mercury fillings with white composite fillings. 135 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 The healing process over the last few years has occurred slowly, inconsistently and with frequent disappointing setbacks. I am better. Not completely better. Subsequent testing has indicated a gradual decrease in the mercury level burden in my body and associated gradual health improvement. Thanks to the mercury removal and special daily supplementation, which I'm still on -- very expensive, by the way -- I can work full-time again. My life is slowly resuming its original quality, thank goodness. The entire detox, mercury detox, process created significant emotional and financial burdens, as it does with many mercury-poisoned patients. The devastation to my health was not necessary and should not have happened. My question is, how can other people be spared and protected from this internal mercury amalgam assault? 136 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 As having sat on other professional standards boards, I believe that this issue of mercury amalgam is a significant consumer protection and public safety issue. Please take responsible steps to protect consumers from being exposed to mercury amalgam fillings. Please enact procedures, regulations and/or laws regarding informed consent that will educate consumers about the potential health dangers of amalgam fillings.
As in many medical care where we all expect to be informed about any surgery going into or any important medical procedures, dental patients also have a right to informed choices. Sweden banned amalgam fillings as of this January '07 and other European countries are following suit. If you look at the independent research -- and this is not research from ADA or any of the state dental associations. And by the way, I brought copies which I would 137 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 like to submit, if I may, to you, to Council.
Thank you, sir. This independent research indicates great concern, and this research, by the way, has been going on in Canada and United States for over 15 years. It's always interesting to me 16 that the American Dental Association 17 never can seem to find it, because many 18 of us have found it. And it concludes 19 many things, and I'll be very brief on 20 this. Among those things are that mercury amalgam fillings contain at least 50 percent or more mercury, each one, and has been demonstrated to be more toxic than lead or even arsenic, that the fillings continuously leach or -- I'm 138 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 sorry; that the mercury leaves the fillings continuously throughout the lifetime of the filling, especially when you drink hot liquids like coffee or tea, or chew gum, that more the mercury vaporizes off the filling is breathed in, goes into the bloodstream and poisons the body. Mercury vapor -- this is all from research now. Mercury vapor is the main way that it comes out of the amalgams, and the vapor is absorbed at a rate of 80 percent through the lungs into the blood. It also crosses the fetal placenta in the pregnant mother and it also crosses into breast milk for the breastfeeding infant. Scientific studies also show that mercury is absorbed into the brain that passes through the blood brain barrier, thus being implicated in Alzheimer's, depression and anxiety disorders, as has been alluded to by the doctor and other people who testified. 139 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 Mercury kills cells and can severely harm the nervous, reproductive and immune systems, also the kidneys, the heart, thyroid, adrenals and other systems in the body. Again, the World Health Organization, which is highly respected, maintains that mercury from amalgam fillings is the single greatest source of mercury for the general population. Ideally, these fillings should be banned. There are safe dental alternatives that truly serve our citizens well. And in conclusion, those of us who have been adversely affected by mercury fillings will remain deeply concerned about this issue until everyone is safe from this toxic substance, which is a neurotoxin, that can greatly damage the bodies and lives of any of us. I believe that in every walk of life and in every profession, there are certain crucial times when there is a need for leaders to emerge who take required 140 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 action. Regarding the issue of amalgam, now is the time for those who can and will to take such informed, responsible action. Now is the time to resist the pressures of vested interests and to take the higher ground and to act wisely and courageously based on the research, and to do so will serve and deeply benefit tens of millions of Americans across the nation, including women and children. Thank you.
Thank you for 141 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 hearing testimony in consideration of a bill that would require mercury separators in dental office sinks to prevent it from entering the City water supply. I am here today to put a face to the hypothetical female of child-bearing age we always hear about who should be protected from mercury exposure. As a consumer, I was exposed to mercury in amalgam fillings from an early age. Raised in the Philadelphia suburbs, my parents took me to see a dentist biannually. Because my teeth were misaligned, I wore braces for four years in my teens and subsequently underwent wisdom teeth extraction. By age 30 years old, I had accumulated about 12 amalgam fillings, many of them multi-surface type. Since I was leaving a job that had, quote, good dental insurance, my dentist, who was retiring soon, advised me to get porcelain crowns. He said they would have a nice, natural appearance and last 142 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 for many years. I deferred to his judgment and invested in the six crowns. I brought a poster with me that was taken years ago when I was 30 6 years old in Vilnius, Lithuania. I 7 wanted to point out that -- this is prior 8 to having neurologic damage. That 9 picture was taken in the fall of 1987, 10 approximately six months after the crowns 11 were placed. It was one month prior to 12 my earning a third degree black belt in 13 Shotokan Karate recognized by the Japan 14 Karate Association. When I entered 15 Abington Memorial Hospital School of 16 Nursing a few years later, my Cumulative 17 Health History Physical Exam dated June 18 of 1990 noted that all body systems were 19 within normal limits. 20 That soon changed. In September 1990, as mandated by the School of Nursing, I simultaneously received a hepatitis B vaccine and tetanus booster, not knowing that each contained 25 micrograms of mercury in the 143 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 preservative, thimerosal. October 1990 I received another bolus dose of mercury in my second hepatitis B shot, followed by yet another bolus dose of mercury two weeks later in a flu shot. By the third and final hepatitis B shot received March 1991, I was starting to complain of numbness and tingling in my fingers and toes. I was employed as a nurse extern at Chestnut Hill Hospital that spring. Their Department of Occupational Medicine recommended that I receive the MMR vaccination series despite that I now had massively elevated anti-nuclear antibodies, meaning that my immune system was creating antibodies attacking the nucleus of my own cells. In May and June of 1991, I received those shots. Thankfully, they do not contain thimerosal preservative, because mercury is a cytotoxin and would, therefore, kill the live viruses. Fall of 1991 I had my final flu 144 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 shot containing another microgram bolus of mercury in the preservative. The sum total then was 150 micrograms of mercury that I received by intramuscular injection in a 15-month period. At the time, I had an estimated five to six grams of mercury in my teeth. And at this point, I'd like to point out that I have photos actually taken by a dentist here that show the dental amalgam that was underneath the porcelain crowns that I was unaware of. Since spring of 1991, I was evaluated regularly at the Abington Memorial Hospital Rheumatology Clinic and, since then, have had extensive neurologic work-ups, including a sural nerve biopsy at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, leading to a diagnosis of undifferentiated connective tissue disease and severe peripheral sensory neuronopathy. By 1994, I was walking with a cane and needed hand controls in order to drive my car, 145 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 because I couldn't tell where my feet were.
In 1994, I filed a VAERS -- that's Vaccine Adverse Event Report -- and learned that the hepatitis B vaccine was not covered by the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program despite that the vaccine was given to newborn babies since 1991. The Table of Compensable Vaccines expanded in August of 1997, although the FDA did not apprise me of this, and I filed a complaint to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program within five weeks of my statute of limitations expiring in August of 1999. It was not until attending a hearing about vaccine safety by a United States Department of Congress Oversight Committee in August 1999 that I learned from an attendee about mercury in my dental amalgam. I had only just learned about the mercury in the vaccine preservative. It was overwhelming to learn this, that this could happen in a 146 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 developed country. I was gobsmacked. Prior to having my dental amalgam removed in March of 2000, I had a Clifford Material Reactivity Test to ascertain which dental materials would be most appropriate for replacement. The tests confirmed on two separate occasions that I am reactive to mercury, along with formaldehyde and aluminum, also in the vaccines. I have attached those test results. And I'd also like to point out -- and this is not written -- that what it states in these tests is that I'm allergic or reactive to the mercury group. It does not specify whether it's metallic mercury, methyl mercury, ethyl mercury, whatever. I'm reactive to the whole group. On February 1, 2007, this year in other words, I finally had my onset hearing for the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to establish that my new neurologic disability developed at 147 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 the same time I received the series of vaccines so many years ago. " I agreed in earnest. "Yes, I do. " Despite the admission, I prevailed in court, the ruling exceeding my lawyer's expectations. Now the case is being reviewed by potential expert witnesses. We needn't continue to use mercury in dentistry now that safer materials are available. The few dollars difference in up-front costs do not compare to the heartbreak of disability and many dollars spent attempting to correct resulting pathology which will vary among individuals depending on life-style and genetic makeup. With emerging epidemics of autism and Alzheimer's on both ends of the age spectrums, we don't have time to ignore 148 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 obvious improvements in the delivery of healthcare. Also, I wish to comment on the recklessness of administering mercury in either vaccine or dentistry in a society deemed increasingly violent in nature, and I'm citing the work of the late Harris L. " In closing, I would like to say that I have maintained my state licensure as a registered nurse since 1993 and additionally am a certified professional coder employed the past nine years at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, most recently as the Surgical Clinical Nurse Reviewer for the American College of Surgeons' National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. My views are my own. I feel that vaccines are somewhat protected, held sacred from objective scrutiny, but I hope that the winds of change are blowing. 149 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 Thank you.
Thank you for your testimony. Karen Burns and Ms. Koss, please come forward.
Quick question. Please forgive me. I didn't know that you were all finished. Have you had a chance or any opportunity to share your stories with the ADA or the Pennsylvania Dentistry Association, any one of you at any time?
I've testified in front of the FDA in September. There were two days of public hearings.
In the Washington area, Baltimore, Maryland. 150 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 It's always interesting to me that the ADA folks and the state folks sort of always walk out and never end up hearing some of the additional information, which I find is not a coincident and unfortunate that they're not informing themselves.
Hello. I'm Karen Burns, and thank you for having me here today. Where did everybody go? These two, the ADA? They don't have to stay and listen to us?
Yeah. We appreciate your testimony, but we did vote the bill previously. I don't know if you were here earlier.
Yeah. I heard 151 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 that. So they don't have to listen to anything else? I don't think they want to hear much of what we have to say.
Good. Thank you for having me. My name is Karen Burns and I was a dental assistant for years 10 on and off until I became too sick to 11 work. I had a mouth full of fillings too 12 before I started working. I had the 13 vaccinations too that were mandatory for 14 the job. 15 I worked with the bottle of 16 mercury that the man said that his father 17 had. I wish he was here so I can tell 18 him that his whole office is probably 19 poisoned just from having that bottle of 20 mercury in the building. Because when we 21 used to mix amalgam that way, it would 22 get everywhere. There were no ways of 23 measuring. It just went everywhere. 24 Remember the days? We had silver pellets and, like 152 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 he said, this bottle of mercury that we would measure out, but it would just spill. Our rings would turn silver. It would get all over the floor. You'd try to vacuum it up with the suction, but vapors were everywhere. And I'm amazed in this day and age, like you asked before, if anyone comes in and actually measures the air quality in these offices. I mean, I just find it amazing in this day and age. I went to dental school for a year to become a dental assistant, so when I first started getting sick, it took three or four years to get a diagnosis. They thought maybe because I had three children and I was a woman that I was just getting a little crazy, but finally I went to a holistic doctor in Manhattan and he had asked what I did for a living and he decided to test me for heavy metal poisoning, which coincidentally I had very elevated mercury. So we started to work on that. 153 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 I had chelation treatment for as long as I could afford it. It's very expensive, like they mentioned before. And for three years I traveled to Brooklyn. I live in New Jersey now. I tried to get workers' compensation to pay for my chelation, but they said there's no proof that I got my mercury poisoning at the dentist. They even asked me if I ate a lot of tuna fish, and I said that I don't have the luxury of eating tuna fish. Earlier I heard someone saying from over there that they don't believe that 50 percent of the mercury is coming from dental offices. This morning I spoke with the EPA -- the DEP, excuse me, in New Jersey, because I wanted to find out the laws there, and they said 50 percent is coming from dental offices, and by September, late August, dentists in New Jersey have the option of either getting a license to dispense mercury or getting the amalgam separators, and they 154 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 believe they're just going to opt for that, because it would be a lot easier. New York, of course, has already passed a law, which I know when I was going to court in Brooklyn. As far as the FDA, I have a lot of pain issues. I have fibromyalgia, Epstein-Barr virus, chronic fatigue. I was prescribed Vioxx, and, thank God, I didn't wait for the FDA to come up with the truth on Vioxx because I might not be sitting here today testifying to you. I could have been like the other -- I don't know how many hundreds, maybe thousands that died from Vioxx. So as far as waiting for the FDA to pass anything or put their little ruling on anything means nothing to me. The amalgam separators, I have never met a struggling dentist in my life, and I've worked for about 20 dentists, because they were known not to give raises. Even when I went to work at compensation court, they couldn't believe 155 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 how many dentists that I worked for, and I explained to them I couldn't get a raise unless I went to the next dentist and said that I was making more money, and that was the only way that I got raises. So I think they can afford the amalgam separators. And like doctors, I think they take the same oath too, to do no harm and to do the best for patients.
So if they really cared about their patients, they would find ways to get composites into children and not poison them and, like they said before, not have mercury three inches from a developing brain. Right? I think it's time. I think it's time Philadelphia goes along with the rest of the states, because you need to have clean water for everybody here. Thank you.
Thank you for your testimony. I appreciate you coming. Karen Palmer. 156 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904
I'm Karen Palmer. Thank you for your consideration. This is greatly appreciated. As I said, my name is Karen Palmer and I was a dental assistant for many years until I was diagnosed with heavy metal toxicity from mercury and lead in May of 2004. I experienced a very sudden onset of a combination of stroke and heart attack symptoms, including full body tremors in September 1998 that I now know to be caused from chronic mercury vapor exposure. After a five-day hospital stay and numerous tests by several specialists, I was given a prescription for the dizziness and released. The explanation I was given for my episode was, We see this sometimes, we really don't know why, and suggested that I get a stress test. I slowly began to be less dizzy but never really regained the same level of energy I normally possessed, and the 157 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 numbness in my arms still persisted. Then in May 2003, I was struck with pain, numbness, tingling and burning in my lower left jaw, face, mouth and tongue, which eventually spread down the entire left side of my body. While waiting for an appointment to be seen by a neurologist in July 2003, I experienced another sudden onset of symptoms very similar to that in September 1998, except this time the pain in my lower left jaw had radiated to the lower right jaw, face and body. I was seen at another hospital, and they also could not offer any explanation for what I was experiencing and suggested I keep my upcoming appointment with the neurologist. I finally saw the neurologist, and he believed I had MS due to the sensory disturbances that were apparent during my exam. But after all the negative test findings, he referred me to an MS specialist, who concluded that I 158 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 did not have MS, but that my brain was just misfiring and more active on the left side. He suggested I should forget about all what I was feeling and get on with my life. That was January 2004. Three months later at a visit with my chiropractor she discovered a loss of tendon reflex below my left knee and was also concerned with my B-12 levels, because they were three times that of a normal level. She strongly encouraged me to make an appointment with a doctor specializing in environmental medicine. I did act upon her recommendation, and after a very comprehensive health history evaluation and testing and after a full year later, I finally had a definitive diagnosis. I was 1,275 percent toxic from total body mercury burden. Chelation therapy, thankfully, has lowered my toxic levels, but the overall damage from being toxic remains. 159 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 Many dentists are in denial and lack sufficient knowledge and understanding about the dangers of mercury that they are handling daily, but they are also not medical physicians. One would have great cause to wonder and worry about the safety of all the dental school students working with silver mercury amalgam filling material. All dental hygienists release vapor from fillings when they scale and scrape teeth with hand or electronic instruments and when they polish with a rubber cup or bristle brush. As dentists drill, even more significant levels of vapor pour off the fillings. The dust and the particles created from the drilling process contaminate the patients, doctors, staff and surrounding countertops, walls and floors. Much to my discredit, I now know more about mercury toxicity than in all the years I handled it. I knew that the silver amalgam fillings had mercury 160 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 in it, hence the MSDS, the Material Safety Data Sheet, enclosed and the hazardous shipping label. I thought I was protected from any harm to me because I wore a mask and gloves, as per ADA and OSHA-stated guidelines. But I was wrong. Mercury vapor goes right through the mask and gloves. Needless to say, I am outraged to learn this and that there is no safe form or amount of mercury that belongs in the human body.
As a cumulative neurotoxin, all are affected negatively, sadly, in some way. Pregnant women, their fetus and children are especially at risk. Now all the miscarriages in the dental staff by dental staff are better understood. So much of the other medical symptoms and conditions witnessed also make better sense. Current regulations are not always followed or enforced for maximum protection. There is a tremendous need for regular and mandatory testing for 161 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 chronic mercury toxicity exposure. Now I know and realize I was slowly poisoned over time from a profession that I gave the best years of my life. Anyone who has ever filled their car with gasoline has smelled and seen the vapor rising from the pump handle and the posted warnings to avoid inhaling the fumes, unlike mercury vapor, which is odorless, colorless, tasteless and vaporizes at room temperature. How I wish I could have known how damaging this vapor is, but the emphasis and main concern was always on infectious diseases, disinfection control measures and sterilization methods. Optimal evacuation and ventilation devices and equipment are so key for everyone who enters into the dental office. Patients must be told when they are given a choice of filling material options that each silver filling being placed just inches from their brain contains 50 percent mercury and that 162 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 mercury vapor is released when they chew, brush or grind their teeth and also when they eat hot or cold drinks or food. Mandatory informed patient consent is so crucial, because significant levels of mercury vapor can cause permanent damage to the brain and kidneys. I am living proof of that fact. All the paresthesia, toxic neuropathy and chronic fatigue still plague me today. It never occurred to me where all the mercury-laden scrap fillings and dental wastewater ended up and the eventual devastation to the environment. All dental offices, clinics and schools must install amalgam separators as many states have done across the country from Maine to California. This Council has a very unique opportunity to have an enormous positive impact on the current and future health and well-being of the people and environment of the City of Philadelphia. 163 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 There are approximately 266,000 dental assistants practicing nationwide, nearly 3,000 of them in Philadelphia. I hope and pray they know more about neurotoxicity from mercury vapor than I did, because I can't even begin to express in words how sorry I am to all the trusting patients. " Now I can't help but feel to be carrying a huge burden of knowledge, much too late in coming, and the guilt for having directly assisted in the placement and removal of thousands of toxic silver mercury fillings. Now all I can do and must do is anything and everything to help all affected by mercury as a result of modern dentistry at its best. Concerning mercury, it's all bad. Nothing good about it. In this world and life, sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better. To say the least, it is a gross understatement that many people will be 164 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 shocked to hear and learn all there is to know about what's in their mouth. God forgive and help us all. Thank you.
Thank you for your powerful testimony. Please, if we could now hear from Freya Koss, please.
My name is Freya Koss. I'm the Director of the Pennsylvania Coalition for Mercury-Free Dentistry, a grassroots organization dedicated to bringing public awareness about the devastating illnesses and effects from mercury in dental fillings. In March of 1998, I wasn't aware that my silver fillings were 50 percent mercury. I now know it's a neurotoxin. I learned the hard way. Seven days after having an old amalgam removed and a new one placed, I was 165 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 struck with double vision and shortly thereafter diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, lupus and myasthenia gravis, three devastating autoimmune diseases. When I questioned my doctors about what caused these diseases, they said there was no known etiology. Through my own research of studies and governmental documents, there was no 11 mistake, I was mercury poisoned. And this was supported by a diagnosis of an environmental medical physician who said, You are amalgam poisoned. I learned through my research that mercury from amalgam fillings is constantly released and is inhaled, where it is inhaled into the brain. It has a 27-year half life in the brain. I still have tons of mercury in my brain, and it will take many years for me to get rid of that, and hopefully I will. Mercury dental fillings can impair function of the skeletal muscle, compromising the neuromuscular 166 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 transmission, often diagnosed as myasthenia gravis. Mercury in an upper tooth is only ten centimeters from the brain and can cause neurological symptoms related to vision and illnesses such as sclerosis and epilepsy, two more diseases with no 9 known etiology, according to the medical community. Despite the fact that neurologists told me that I would never recover and be sick for the rest of my life, I had my fillings removed by a specially trained biologic dentist, and I very slowly recovered. There is no reason to continue to use mercury in the teeth of anyone, particularly pregnant women and children. I would like to make some comments in deference to some of the statements made by the American Dental Association and the Health Department. Number one, mercury is not an allergy. Mercury is a poison. It is a 167 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 neurotoxin. Secondly, the American Dental Association -- or it was the Pennsylvania Dental Association was concerned about children, If amalgam fillings are no 7 longer available to children, they won't get any dental treatment. Well, I can tell you that there are pediatric dentists who haven't used amalgam fillings for years, many in this area. Apparently they're successful in treating children with composite fillings. And now we know that 52 percent of the dentists no longer use amalgam fillings. I would assume that they're treating children as well as adults. I'd like to read something here, a statement by Dr. Harold Loe. He was the Director of the National Institute of Dental Research in 1993. He said, Use new composite materials for children's teeth. Quote, "That first filling is a critical step in the life of a tooth. Using amalgam for the first 168 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 filling requires removing a lot of the tooth substance, not only diseased tooth substances but healthy tooth substances as well. So in making the undercut, you sacrifice a lot, and this results in a weakened tooth. And the next thing you know, the tooth breaks off and you need a crown. Then you need to repair the crown. " That's using an amalgam filling. "With the first filling, you should do something that can either restore the tooth or retain more healthy tooth substance. Use new materials for children, composites or materials you can bond to the surface without undercuts. " This is 1993. We are now 2007 and we're still placing poisonous mercury fillings in children's teeth, for no 169 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 reason. I'd like to make another comment in response to insurance coverage for the poor.
The Pennsylvania Department of Welfare pays for white composite fillings. The problem is the decision is left to the discretion of the dentist. The dentist doesn't inform his patient that there is a non-toxic white filling available. Why? I can only assume because he is only given $10 more per filling. In terms of informed consent, the Pennsylvania Dental Association, along with the American Dental Association in their Code of Ethics stipulates that dentists are to give their patients all the alternative treatments so that the patient can be part of the decision-making process. So there is no dispute in your bill, Councilwoman. Patients need informed consent and choice and they are supposed to get it, according to the 170 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 dental profession.
Yes. I had ad-libbed a little bit, but you do. I want to thank you, Councilwoman, for your courage and your commitment to improving the health and quality of life of all Philadelphians. You have always exhibited a true feeling and concern, particularly for women and children, and this certainly will enhance their lives. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
Thank you for that. I thank you very, very much for that. I've tried to make it my business to be a voice for women and children, even for those of us who are not as enlightened as we think they should be, because we need those types of 171 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 voices on this Philadelphia City Council, and this bill is simply another example of why we need to have voices who care about all Philadelphians but are a voice for women and children. So I thank you very, very much, all of you, for your powerful testimony, and we have some enlightenment to do, but that's why we're here.
Could I just say one thing? There are a few people here from the public and we were told that they would be able to make a brief statement. Would that be all right with you?
Yes. We have one final panel. We're more than happy to allow anyone else who cares to put their remarks on the record to do so.
Let us please invite up the final panel and then we'll certainly open it up to anyone else who wants to provide testimony. Karen Salient, Carol McFarland, Theresa Mendez, 172 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 Frank Baird, Fran Hazam, Lisa Crickem and Steve Marcus. If you are here, you're welcome to come forward and --
Not a problem. Anyone else remaining, you're welcome now to please move to the witness table and offer your testimony. Good afternoon, everyone. Please state your full name for the record and then please offer us, if you will, final remarks for this hearing.
My name is Frank Baird. Twenty-six years ago I testified before this Council on behalf of the right to know law. In 1967, I was poisoned at a job working with hot mercury. I have to read this testimony because mercury took away my short-term memory. I have been disabled and unemployed since 1971. Mercury poisoning is forever. The mercury vapor from both 173 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 liquid mercury and dental amalgam accumulates in the pituitary, the thyroid and in the testes. It made me both sterile and impotent. It destroyed my marriage and any hope of having children. This Material Safety Data Sheet from a manufacturer of dental amalgam says, quote, "2-spill mercury contains 650 milligrams of mercury. Vapor pressure 0.0012 millimeters of mercury at degrees Centigrade." That means at 13 that vapor pressure that it will 14 evaporate to a concentration of 18 15 million grams per cubic meter. That 16 concentration exceeds the permissible 17 exposure limit determined by the 18 Occupational Safety and Health 19 Administration -- that's OSHA -- by 180 20 times. Unless they can demonstrate that their amalgam produces 180 times less vapor pressure than their Material Safety Data Sheet states, then OSHA should ban its use in workplaces like dental offices and in the mouths of dental patients. I 174 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 have spoken with OSHA about this and they don't want to hear about it. When the federal government refuses to enforce its own safety standards, then it is up to local government to take the lead. By passing this bill, you will be continuing in the tradition of leadership of the Philadelphia City Council that passed the nation's first right to know bill 26 years ago. Thank you.
Thank you for your testimony. And we have copies of your testimony as well?
My name is Elizabeth Wright and I've come up from Virginia to testify today. I thank you so very much. I would like to -- I'm going to read a letter that is part of the 175 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 submission, but in response to some of the ADA comments earlier today, I'd like to say that four weeks ago today, on May 2nd, I attended a Capitol Hill hearing, a subcommittee hearing, on pediatric dentistry on Medicaid, and one of the reasons why a lot of Medicaid patients don't receive dental care is because they cannot find a dentist that will take them. It's not the cost of the composites. As stated, Medicaid pays -- and I know every state is different in their Medicaid programs, but nationally, Medicaid pays cents on the dollar. So 16 which dentist is going to receive 17 Medicaid patients. 18 The example that was used to 19 bring this to the issue was within a 20 month, two children in Maryland died from lack of pediatric Medicaid dentistry, but the one that absolutely captured the horror of our metropolitan area was a young man, 12 years old, by the name -- young child by the name of Damante. His 176 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 mother tried so very hard for the younger brother. He had six rotten teeth, and the incredible amount of red tape that it took, I'm projecting here -- I'm a former elementary school teacher. I'm projecting that Damante being the middle child didn't want to bother his mother. He never complained about his teeth. For those here that may not know, his dental infection moved to his brain and he died of a brain infection. So as they were discussing this and they said obviously we are failing our Medicaid patients and our children by not funding this, we need to find more funding for our Medicaid patients. And I would like to say that generally a lot of our Medicaid patients come from cities. They said -- one of the things I wanted to say to the ADA dentists that were testifying that day that were local dentists is, why aren't you having some level of compassion and care in opening the door to help these Medicaid patients? 177 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 And I understand it's an economic choice, but for this poor young child -- Representative Diane Watson from Los Angeles was very emphatic and she said, when we get the funding, she's going to see to it to whatever it takes on her behalf that none of that funding will go for mercury amalgams, because there's enough toxicity in our young children. So I would like to state for the record that there are folks in Washington at the national level looking out for our Medicaid patients. Also, real quick about the frustration or the concern of dentists not investing what I'm hearing anywhere from $700 to $2,000 to install these separators, that's a business expense. They are spending other funds for marketing, et cetera, et cetera, but this is a business expense. And I'd also like to state for the record that I am -- I've been through my own situation with the mercury 178 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 toxicity and, yes, the thousands of dollars to get it out of the body, and it's not all out, but I'd like to say that if I had testified ten years ago, within five minutes three times I'd have to ask you what did I just say. That's one way that mercury affected me. It would just shut off my brain. It was like the light switch had been thrown and I couldn't remember until you jogged my memory. That would be approximately three times every five minutes. And I'm happy to report I'm no longer tripping up stairs, my food is not dropping off my fork. I still have numbness in my hands and feet, but I was pre-diagnosed with MS in 1995 and it took until '99 for me to figure out that it might -- after all the conventional doctors didn't have any answers, I started to go to alternative health -- that mercury was the issue, and that's when I started my recovery, is in '99. And, yes, it's very expensive.
But for the record, I'd like to 179 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 read as a response also to the ADA about their going back to the FDA's panel last fall. This was a letter written to the FDA saying that this gentleman would be most glad to go and testify in front of the FDA last fall, but from my understanding, his offer was not received. This was written by Dr. Benjamin Zander, which some folks may have heard because he's a Professor at the New England Conservatory, Conductor of the Boston Philharmonic and the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and he's also the author of The Art of Possibility. He's well known. I first learned of him as being a leadership in motivational speaker. But this was written Wednesday, August 23, 2006 to the FDA committee investigating the risk of mercury fillings. "Dear Sir, I wish to draw your attention to a matter of utmost importance to me. Three years ago, I 180 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 developed Meniere's disease, which causes violent bouts of vomiting, vertigo and massive hearing loss. Visits to ear, nose and throat specialists throughout the world yielded no results. " I'd just like to say, remember, Conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. "At the suggestion of a physician at a clinic in St. Gallen, Switzerland, I had all the mercury and nickel removed from 15 teeth. This operation was completed by the distinguished American oral surgeon Dr. John Evans of Groton, Massachusetts. The results of this process were nothing short of extraordinary. All symptoms of the Meniere's disease suddenly disappeared and have not reappeared for 13 months. Amazingly, my dentist, Dr. Roland Karp of Cambridge, 181 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 Massachusetts, claims that he had not put any metal of any kind into my teeth during the 35 years that he had had me as a patient, and yet Dr. Evans found vast amounts of these materials. "I shudder to think what diseases this kind of poison is creating in our population. Indeed, I feel so strongly about this issue that I would be prepared to testify in Washington to the results caused by the removal of this toxic material from my mouth. "Another less significant by-product of this process has been a sudden and total disappearance of an unsightly and unhealthy fungal condition in my toes that had persisted for the last 15 years in spite of attempts to treat the condition with the extremely expensive drug Lamisil. " Signed Dr. Benjamin Zander. Thank you again for the women and children and others that are affected by mercury that aren't here today. Maybe they can't afford to be here. Maybe they don't know about the issue of mercury, but I want to thank you on their behalf, because too often the people that you stand and advocate for --
-- don't have a voice, and as a female, I would like to say thank you on their behalf.
You're welcome, very welcome. Please, your testimony.
I'm Dr. Andrea Brockman and I am now President of OraMedica International, which is a consumer education site that educates 183 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 people how dentistry connects to overall health. And the only reason that I'm testifying right now, since everybody has just about left the room, is for the record. As a female dentist, I was exposed to mercury. In dental school in -- I was in dental school from 1975 to 10 1979 where we did not wear masks. We had 11 no gloves. There were no mercury 12 triturators at that time. We were taking 13 amalgam and squeezing it and squeezed 14 closed in our bare hands. And imagine 15 300 dentists on a clinic floor drilling 16 out, spilling mercury amalgam all over 17 the floor and no ventilation. It was at 18 that time I had my first panic attack. I 19 had a miscarriage. I thought I had a heart attack and ended up in the hospital. I started getting migraine headaches. I was completely healthy before that. I was an intensive care nurse prior to being a dentist, and when I had 184 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 been on a floor that had broken a thermometer, which is 750 milligrams of mercury, the room was quarantined and we were not permitted to go in. I would venture to say that one spill of mercury is more than 750 milligrams of mercury, and when you're talking 300 dentists drilling out approximately two to three teeth and filling those teeth in several hours' period of time, that the exposure to mercury levels in that dental clinic far exceeded any standards of care, as far as I was concerned. When it was pointed out that as a female we were exposed to the mercury in amalgams while we were using it, I was told not to go there. I did not use mercury in my office. However, that was the only filling material that insurance was paying for. Posterior composites didn't even have a code when we started our practice in 1979. We were taken to task by the insurance company for billing for 185 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 an amalgam when we were putting in composite resins, only because there was not a code for that, and had to pay back the insurance company thousands of dollars for putting in wrong codes. At the time -- this was still back in the early '80s. This was before AIDS -- we still weren't wearing masks and gloves, and I was pregnant in 1981 with my first child and I was drilling out a lot of mercury amalgam fillings. Even though I wasn't placing them, I was still drilling out probably several hundred a week, and I was very concerned about my exposure as a dentist and I had called the American Dental Association to find out what my exposure was from drilling out these fillings and if there was any of that aerosol that I was breathing in that was going to my fetus, and they said they would get back to me. That was years ago. 24 I testified this in front of 25 the FDA, and that testimony was stricken 186 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 from the docket. You will not be able to find it if you look it up even though that was addressed at the hearing. I had first decided that I needed to protect myself, because I was getting ill, and started to do my own research, and at that time, you have to imagine, there was no Internet, so it was not easy to find information. But through the Freedom of Information Act I was able to get a toxicological profile of mercury, and I was absolutely appalled of what not only was I exposed to, we had carpeting in our office, we were dropping mercury all the time, we had drapes, it was getting into our clothes, and we had to find out how we were going to get this mercury vapor out of the air, because OSHA really didn't care about it and obviously there was no standards from the Department of Environmental Protection to take care of mercury vapor or spills in the dental office, let alone what was going down the drain.
187 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 At that point, we had had -- I had had a large vile of mercury, probably about four fluid ounces, which is enough to pollute a hundred acre lake, of which we were trying to get rid of. I had had that since dental school, and the Department of Public Health, Department of Environmental Protection and, I believe -- where else did we call? Nobody wanted to take it. They said you could have it hauled away for about $1,500. Finally, one of my dental assistants said that she found it in her house in her apartment when she moved in and the Public Health did pick it up from there. The point that I was making was that you had asked the question before have you told any of your stories to the American Dental Association, have they listened, PDA. There have been numerous articles that have tried to get into the journals. They are not published. They cannot get in. It seems that the 188 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 sponsors of these journals have a lot of clout to be able to pull out their money if articles would get in that would be cancer to their sponsorships. Dentists are threatened. It is illegal to take out mercury amalgam fillings for health reasons, and so, consequently, dentists are afraid to even discuss this with their patients.
Yes. You can take it out for cosmetic reasons, but not for health reasons, because then that would be admitting that there is a problem with mercury amalgam fillings.
And my feelings on mercury amalgams -- and I have to say, I got into being a biological dentist and a mercury-free dentist first because of my own health, because I wanted to protect myself and I wanted to protect my children, who are all mercury toxic, by 189 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 the way, and have never had mercury amalgam in their mouth. They've just been exposed through me. And, again, I wanted to be able to protect myself, but because of that, I started coming in with gas masks and protecting myself with -- looking like I was in Iraq, and my patients were saying, Well, what are you doing? I said, I'm protecting myself. And they'd say, Well, what about me? So this eventually evolved into a practice where I was actually treating patients who were coming to me who were chronically ill. By the time we had been in our practice -- and I've practiced almost years -- everybody 19 that came to me had some sort of chronic 20 illness, whether it was cancer, MS or 21 chronic fatigue, diabetes, infertility, 22 you name it. That's who we saw. And we 23 really were not there as dentists, but 24 more as health practitioners that could 25 take care of their dental needs because 190 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 the physicians didn't know how to work on teeth. So basically I'm looking at informed consent as well. As a female practitioner, I did not even know or was informed how severely we were being exposed, and I am sure that there are probably thousands of female workers in dental offices in the City of Philadelphia. In my practice alone, over years, we had dental assistants and 13 hygienists and people working at the 14 front desk that had experienced 15 miscarriage, infertility, chronic 16 migraines, depression, drug abuse, breast 17 cancer. I could just go on. And I 18 thought that this was unusual that this 19 was just happening in our office, but it 20 happens in so many dental offices and 21 there's no reason for this to be. 22 The American Dental Association 23 was here and was arguing that they feel 24 that this should be a filling material, 25 that amalgam should still be there 191 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 because it's such a cost-effective material and has great longevity, and I feel that this is something that if they want to continue to promote this product, so be it. Just let people know what's in it and let them choose. This is -- I would never say to somebody, You got sick because of amalgam and you're not going to get cured by taking it out. However, it's one less thing.
Thank you. Thank you very, very much. We have testimony from you, from all of you, correct? That would be very important for our next step. Remaining final witnesses, please. Good afternoon. State your name for the record. DR. DiLORENZO: Good afternoon. The name is Dr. Vincent DiLorenzo and I had practiced dentistry in Philadelphia for about years, and I had been 25 mercury free for 20 of those years, and I 192 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 need to say that a dental practice does not need to have mercury in it and mercury should not be part of it. Dentists can do quite well without it. Over the years, the things that I have really noticed is that most of the people have never even considered or had no clue whatsoever that those innocuous silver little fillings in their heads had mercury in it at all, no less 50 percent mercury. Nor were they aware or had any kind of understanding that those silver fillings or those mercury fillings emitted mercury vapor continually that they inhaled, that they swallowed, that was absorbed by their body and wound up in cells and tissues of their vital organs. Nor were those people having any kind of clue that the breast milk that they were giving to their infant children was tainted with mercury. Nor did pregnant women recognize that their fetus was a dumping ground for mercury. You're going to go to the 193 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 dentist and people who have been part of these proceedings will wind up going to the dentist, and after they've heard these things, they're saying, Well, maybe I'll do an amalgam or maybe I won't do an amalgam. You have choice. Most people do not have any kind of choice, and that's really what the whole issue turns out to be here. Mercury should not be used in a dental office anywhere. However, mercury is still going to be an issue. As much as we do not want to hear that, as much as we are working hard against it, unfortunately it's still going to be an issue, and the time to act is now. Now is the time for Council -- and I'm so proud of you for fighting all these groups and all these people to bring this bill to the forefront, because I know there's a lot of pressure on you, I'm sure. We've all felt it. But the idea that perhaps now is the time to take that stand, to follow the fine example of many 194 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 of the other municipalities and states that are doing a few things; namely, one being this informed consent issue. I think everybody needs to be aware of those issues, including the amount of mercury, the toxicity issues with women and children, the outgassing of vapors, where does this vapor go. I think people need to know that. And the watered-down version -- and don't get caught by this -- the American Dental Association and all those powers to be will try to promote the most limited, non-distinct description of this informed consent. Do not let that happen. These must be told truthfully and, excuse the pun, it should have a lot of teeth in it. That's number one. Secondly, these mercury separators are absolutely essential. Dental offices are dumping inexcusable amounts of mercury into the environment, and here's a way to be able to help that. I mean, if we can take out 99 percent of 195 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 whatever amount of mercury they're putting into the environment -- that's debatable how much they're putting in, but even if it's a pound, why not do that? And believe me, the cost to the dentists is not going break the bank. Cost for these mercury amalgam separators, these mercury separators, is going to be about the same cost as you pay for a crown or you pay for a root canal. So put that in perspective in terms of how much they're really putting out. And in terms of why these should be mandated, because they won't do it. If you give a voluntary program saying, Okay, all you dentists, we recommend that you put mercury separators into your office, you'd be lucky if you get two percent compliance. That's why it's needed.
And I liked Dr. Donald Robbins' suggestion of having some kind of way that can be signed so that you know that these people were informed and 196 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 they were informed properly. And, again, thank you for allowing all of us to speak, and I commend you on the work that you're doing, and there's a big battle to continue. Thank you.
Well, we thank you, Dr. DiLorenzo, and everyone who offered up testimony today. This is Chapter 1 of a couple years of work that we've been working in our office, and for the record, we did move the bill out of Committee with a favorable recommendation for first reading, which will take place tomorrow. So we thank you all very, very much for your important testimony. Please, please, please make sure we have your testimony and a means by which to contact you for our next step. Thank you. Mr. Chairman?
Thank you. Is that it for the testimony today? 197 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904
I just wanted to add a very brief testimony as a mother who lives in Germantown.
Yes. My name is Pat Albright and I'm a single low-income mom. I have a son who is 15, and he's in the Pennsylvania CHIP program. I also represent the Every Mother is a Working Mother Network, which is a group of mothers, grandmothers and other caregivers who are or have been recipients of welfare and other public benefits and who are organizing for the resources that we need and are entitled to as mothers. I had not planned on speaking here today, so I appreciate your taking the extra time to hear me, but we feel it's important to register the view of myself and other low-income mothers that we should have the right to know about and to choose against mercury in 198 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 so-called silver fillings and how it can negatively affect our children's health. Also, I don't buy the earlier testimony that was given about concerns that how low-income children will suffer somehow if they do not get the dental care that they need if this legislation is passed. The CHIP program has already paid for my son to get an alternative filling to the mercury. And if other insurances don't pay, then we need to get them to cover it. My son and I live in the inner City in Germantown, where high levels of lead are already a concern. Our children's health is compromised in many ways already, with high levels of asthma, diabetes, obesity and so on, and that we urgently need this legislation to reduce the risk of our exposure to mercury to our children. Finally, I just wanted to say that there must not be a double standard here, that those who have the information 199 5/30/07 - L&I - BILL 040904 and resources can buy out of the mercury exposure and the rest of us cannot. So we very much appreciate your efforts with this legislation.
What is the name of the organization you mentioned again for moms?
Can you make sure that Joe Meade of my staff has that contact information as well?
Thank you for your testimony and your time. This concludes our public meeting and ends our Committee of License and Inspections. Thank you. (Committee on Licenses and Inspections adjourned at 4:30 p.m.) - - - 200 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on May 30, 2007, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)