Was Professor Stock right ?      Ask the History of Medicine
Dr. med. dent. W. Breenkoetter; Source: Biologische Medizin, Nr. 4/1984; p
194 – 197.   Translated by
J.R.Metz, E. Sulger Büel and Kathryn Sturtridge, June 2003

In April 1926 Dr. Alfred Stock, Professor of Chemistry at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin, published a paper entitled: “The Danger of Mercury Vapour”. His own illness, which had driven him to the brink of desperation, impelled him “to warn anyone involved with mercury during their work of the danger of this volatile metal”.

In a long report he describes his suffering:

“For almost 25 years I experienced increasing ailments, which sometimes became unbearable to the point that I doubted I would be able to continue my scientific work. However, no doctor succeeded in discovering the reason for this condition. The symptoms were: mental dullness, exhaustion, lack of motivation and inability to work- particularly intellectually. The most depressing condition was loss of memory. This continually worsened, so that eventually I came close to total memory loss. I forgot telephone numbers on the way to the phone, I forgot all I had learned, and I forgot my own published scientific work. In addition, I suffered from depression and tormenting restlessness. Normally high- spirited, I now shied away from company, avoided society, kept out of people’s way and shunned social contacts. I lost pleasure in everything. My sense of humour disappeared and obstacles which seemed no problem at all before, now appeared insurmountable.”  

In the early twenties, Stock’s co-workers also started to complain of health problems which were quite similar to his own initial symptoms. Dr. Lewin, the most distinguished German toxicologist of the time, was consulted. He stated with certainty that all who had fallen ill at the institute were suffering from mercury intoxication. Indeed, tests showed there was mercury in the air of the laboratory as well as in the urine of all the sufferers. Stock had been in contact with mercury for 25 years but had never considered that mercury vapour might have an impact on his health.
 
Lewin urgently recommended taking the utmost care in laboratories and also advised removing amalgam dental fillings. This advice drove Stock to perform his own trials. He determined the amount of mercury released from amalgam dental fillings under body-temperature and, in three different tests, found it to be 0.487, 0.9 and 1.27 micrograms per day1. A filling which had been in place a long while released 2.1 _g/day. (The limit for drinking water is 0.004 _g/litre (Germany 1984)). Stock urgently demanded that amalgam should be avoided whenever possible. “It will become evident one day that the careless  introduction of amalgam into dentistry was a grave sin against humanity.”

Stock was one of the most distinguished chemists of his time. His name and reputation ensured that great attention was paid to his publications. Medical journals, lay press and radio picked up the subject matter. Among the dental community, however, a storm of indignation arose and it was argued that although millions of people had had amalgam fillings, mercury intoxication had never been observed. The Society of German Dentists declared Stock’s accusations unjustified. This rejection motivated him to continue what he felt was his missionary struggle. A tide of reports about patients with mercury intoxication, findings of an 1) In the German reprint in “Handbuch der Amalgamvergiftung” by M. Daunderer there are milligrams given instead, which is impossible. Stocks original text has not been consulted. investigation that took place at the Charity Hospital Berlin, results from trials with animals and from pathology on corpses showed him that exposure to small quantities of mercury over a long period would damage human health. Until his death in 1946, Stock’s publications list some 50 papers dealing with mercury, mostly directed against dental practice.  

Stock queried past events as well. Faraday’s loss of memory, Pascal’s infirmity, the intermittent memories of Berzelius, Liebig, Woehler and health complaints of Hertz and Oswald pointed to mercury intoxication. All had worked with mercury during their lifetime. It is surprising, however, that Stock did not follow another more obvious clue. His accusation that the careless introduction of amalgam was a grave sin against humanity, leads us to ask when amalgam was introduced? And furthermore, did any illness appear at the same time which had not been known previously? Research into these questions would have given Stock serious arguments in support of his suspicions. Surprisingly, up until now nobody has endeavoured to investigate the history of medicine in the light of Stock’s contention. 

The nineteenth century, and the entry into the industrial age, witnessed turbulent scientific development. German medicine soon led; only in dentistry did it, along with the rest of Europe, lag behind. In this field, the dentists of America were ahead. This great land had left its pioneer years behind; England’s guardianship had been shaken off. Free from repression and not held back by tradition and arrogance, a society arose in which all had the chance to develop according to their abilities. Trade and industry flourished. Wealth was widely distributed unlike anywhere else in the world. Probably this coinciding of freedom and wealth explains why dentistry in America outstripped that of other countries. At this time dental treatment was the privilege of the wealthy. In Europe the broad mass of people were poor. Therefore how could a profession develop if there was no demand? In America, however, a healthy dental community was developing. Even if some were disreputable, this community also produced capable dentists who laid the foundations for our present standard of dental medicine. 

From early on dentists had tried to conserve teeth affected by caries. Searching for a material easy to handle, they discovered amalgam. The point at which this silver/mercury was first applied is well
established. In 1830 the Crawcour family of London-based dentists began filling dental cavities with amalgam. Unfortunately the Crawcours were unworthy representatives of their profession. Without removing any caries they took only minutes to cram amalgam into cavities and promised their patients miracles. In 1833 two Crawcour brothers settled in New York and with them the amalgam age had begun. Their treatment room was elegant, their manners excellent, but their methods deceitful. Nevertheless, the wealthiest citizens became their patients and in a short time, the Crawcours had made a fortune. This highly-profitable “treatment” was imitated by many. There are no statistics to show how many ‘dentists’ set up in business to fill teeth but in 1830 the number of dental establishments in the USA was about 300, by 1835 this had more than doubled, by 1842 there were 1400 and by 1847 the number rose to 1600-1700. Many of the practitioners had few scientific qualifications. Their serious colleagues began to oppose the methods of the Crawcours and their followers. This was the “first amalgam war”. The attacks against the Crawcours were justified. The amalgams were of inferior quality; they did not hold sufficiently but broke up easily and contracted. It was also feared that mercury in the amalgam might evaporate and intoxicate the patients. However, this could not be proved scientifically. Mercury poisoning was well known in medicine and the opponents of amalgam had predicted mercury poisoning as a consequence of its use. However, their prognosis was not confirmed. In spite of the increasing number of amalgam dental fillings, no poisonings occurred. The main argument against amalgam collapsed and, in consequence, amalgam’s opponents lost the battle.

This extraordinary controversy did not touch Europe at all. The standard of European dentistry was far below that of America. Germany lagged behind even England and France. The advanced position of American dentistry at that time provides an exceptional opportunity to check Professor Stock’s accusation retrospectively. Several decades before the rest of the world, only in America were amalgam dental fillings introduced into human bodies. It was like a laboratory test in vivo on an enormous scale. If indeed amalgam fillings do affect people’s health, this must have shown up more than 100 years ago in America. The foretold mercury poisoning did not occur. However, is it possible that the effects on health did appear, but that the connection with mercury was not recognised? This is a challenge for medical history. The questions may be set out clearly.

• Did a hitherto unknown illness appear in America after 1833?
• Did this illness continue to escalate?
• Was this illness restricted for some decades to America?
• Did this illness affect all levels of the population?
• When and in what sequence did it later affect Europe?
• Was the aetiology of this illness known?
• Was there a successful treatment?
• Were the symptoms of this illness similar to those described by Stock?

The history of medicine indeed has answers to these questions.

Starting around the middle of the 19th century, hitherto unknown health disorders began to alarm American doctors. Initially they believed that they could classify these frequent but difficult to define, vague and barely tangible symptoms, this anxiousness, fatigue, irrational fear, mental weakness and hopelessness, as hypochondria or hysteria. However, they soon recognised that they were confronted with a new, hitherto unknown illness. Too many of the symptoms of hypochondria and hysteria were absent. Furthermore, its spread proved that its pattern could not be classed with that of known diseases. Initially only a few patients showed symptoms, but within years there were thousands and eventually hundreds of thousands.

George M. Beard, a neurologist from New York, devoted his life to researching this illness. He was the first American doctor to find a place in the history of medicine. Born in 1839, from 1866 he specialised in electrotherapy and neurology. He discovered his field of research when he realised how many Americans suffered from “American nervosisme”. He collected endless lists of complaints and catalogued dozens of symptoms. It seemed impossible to bring the many manifestations into line. The search for organic irregularities was unsuccessful. Despite intensive research Beard did not find any clue as to the reasons for this strange illness. Nevertheless, he was convinced that the numerous complaints represented the symptoms of a single disease. Lacking any plausible explanation, Beard considered that natural weakness of the nervous system was responsible for it. He stressed that a patient’s constitution and intellectual capability are inborn and so the strength of the nervous system is predetermined. A dynamo, he pointed out, restricted to a 100-lamp capacity will break down when another 500 lamps are connected. Our nervous system follows similar laws. A man endowed with nervous energy can easily waste it; a man low in energy will collapse when overloaded. With that explanation Beard was able to account for the various symptoms. He called the illness neurasthenia and classified it as a functional disease which means that the reasons for it were not known at the time. Beard was convinced that at some point in the future its cause would be found. He emphasised strongly that neurasthenia was neither a mental nor an imaginary disease. It was as real as smallpox, typhoid or cholera, and as body-related as a broken leg. 
  
Furthermore Beard stated that neurasthenia was an American disease. While it grew into epidemic dimensions in America, it was scarcely to be found in Europe. Beard was very familiar with Europe; he had travelled there several times and was well aware of the state of its medical knowledge. He respected German medicine highly. The acceptance of his interpretation of the illness  by German colleagues would have enhanced his position in America. However, German medical opinion, remained silent. In Germany the illness was simply too rare to attract attention and be studied and described. Only after Beard’s death in 1883 did neurasthenia start to spread throughout Germany. Beard’s remark that “neurasthenia is an American disease” remained correct for several decades.

There was a further equally extraordinary sign of “American Nervousness”. It affected only wealthy people. In factory areas, in poor quarters and out in the country it did not appear. The sufferers were high class. In some states the illness could be found “in every house where the inhabitants were engaged in intellectual pursuits”.

Beard had found an explanation for the illness. Nevertheless, what was the reason that nervous energy failed solely in one class of society and particularly in the USA? There was only one possibility. Neurasthenia must be the result of American civilisation and its social order. For Beard, the triggers were steam power, the telegraph, the press, women’s intellectual activities and unlimited freedom for all. In these achievements America was decades ahead of all other countries and so was their medical consequence, neurasthenia. The successful were successful thanks to their sensitive nervous system. And this sensitivity made Americans susceptible to neurasthenia.  

In Europe neurasthenia was scarcely to be found. “Germany, Russia, Italy and Spain are acquainted with it least, it is more frequent in France, and has spread even more throughout England” (Beard). Only in the last decennium of the nineteenth century did it appear in Germany and became the most common nervous illness. German medical literature began to deal with it late. In 1883 Stein commented as follows: “In German literature neurasthenia is poorly represented because patients belonging to better-placed classes are generally still classified as hypochondriacs”. Twenty years later there was plenty of literature about neurasthenia in Germany. German scientists too saw the unexpectedly fast progress of humanity as an element to which our brains had to be adjusted. “The new means of transport, telegraph, telephone, universal defence system, and compulsory schooling is ruining our nerves.”

Several ways were tried of treating neurasthenia. Beard had his own special remedies; in Germany diet and water treatments, sea bathing and electro- treatments were applied. Nothing really helped. Up until today no light has been shed convincingly onto the gloom that has obscured the illness neurasthenia.

The history of medicine has clear answers. From 1833 onwards amalgam was in use in America. A new illness, neurasthenia, appeared. For decades amalgam was in use only in America. For decades neurasthenia remained an American illness. Dental treatment was a privilege of the wealthy classes. Neurasthenia was the illness of the wealthy classes. England was the first to adopt American dental practice, France followed and Germany even later. Beard discovered that neurasthenia penetrated Europe in the same sequence. The reason for the illness was not discovered nor was any successful treatment. If we compare Stock’s health problems with the symptoms of neurasthenia we see a large degree of similarity. Even succinct formulations in the early literature are to be found in the same words in Stock’s writings.

Therefore we are forced to ask: Did Stock not suffer from mercury intoxication at all but from neurasthenia? That Stock’s disease was mercury intoxication was never doubted. Nevertheless, we must counter this by asking: Was neurasthenia not a disease sui generis, was it mercury intoxication? This question, arising from demonstrable coincidences, has never been considered by the medical profession and cannot be answered by the literature.

One author, however, provides some hints, George M. Beard!  Already in the introduction to his standard work he states: “Neurasthenia is an American disease, insofar as it is present far more in America than in any other part of the civilised world and was first described here (equally with tooth decay which is frequently one of its symptoms).”An even more conclusive passage of  text reads: “Rapid decay and tooth irregularities are symptoms of neurasthenia. They are also consequences of the impoverishment of the nervous system. It is undeniable that early tooth decay is one of the results of civilisation. Teeth are seldom healthy when the general physical condition is weakened and in this event only the skill of modern dentistry will maintain them in working order. Dentists, therefore, are barometers of modern civilisation. Their increase in numbers and their prosperity are instructive for modern sociology.  American dentists are the best in the world because American teeth are the worst. Among the social  classes of America which are used to intellectual work and lead office lives teeth usually start to deteriorate before the age of  20 and only very seldom is a patient of 35 or 40 with a nervous complaint seen to have healthy teeth, regardless of the degree of care which has been spent on preserving them. It is most probable that where someone has their own teeth, most will be filled and remain intact only by the skill of dentists.” 2

Bear’s striking remark about his patients’ ruined sets of teeth and their dental fillings should be the subject of further research. More than likely in America documentation exists providing evidence about the medical and dental treatment of neurasthenic patients. It would be tragic if dentistry which was so respectfully commented on by Beard had such a disastrous connection to the illness on which he devoted his life’s work.

I am not a historian, nor a neurologist nor a scientist. I am one of thousands of dentist going about their daily work. I do not feel authorised to draw conclusions from my studies. On the contrary, the thought haunts me that the propositions in this article might be taken up too quickly and without a critical approach. If an investigation into medical history were to bring us new insights, science could subject them to unbiased examination.

___________________________________________________________________________

2) The text cited is not the original wording of Beard; it is the retranslation of the German text most likely taken from a German edition of Beards book. An original English “Beard” was not available.
 

Complex as the amalgam issue. It is clear that Morley Safer, the host of this segment, feels for the patients who have recovered, and questions the American Dental Association’s motives and protectors (ie the Food and Drug Administration) who are more interested in covering their legal positions rather than taking the lead in helping the many sufferers of amalgam poisoning.

60 Minutes, Originally Aired December 16, 1990
Is there poison in your mouth?
Produced by Patti Hassler
Hosted by Morely Safer
Safer:
“This is the kind of story we approach with some caution. The question is: “Is there poison in your mouth?”. The American Dental Association says there isn’t. But some of its members say there is, and have stopped using it. “It” is a filling, a silver amalgam filling, the dentists’ filling of choice for more than a century.

More than a hundred million of them were put into American mouths last year. What you probably don’t know is that these so-called silver fillings are 50% mercury, and mercury is more poisonous than lead or even arsenic. Because it’s been around so long, and because it was assumed that the mercury was made stable when mixed with other metals, amalgam fillings were never tested for safety. One of those remedies that the Food and Drug Administration automatically approved.

But now a growing number of scientists, doctors, and dentists are saying that silver amalgams should be banned.”
(Cut to Dentist’s Office)
Dentist:
“Open wide.”
Safer: “Last summer the EPA banned mercury from indoor latex paint because of mercury vapor. The vapor level in this patient’s mouth after chewing for 10 minutes is 92 times higher than the mercury vapor level in a newly painted room. Three times higher than the U.S. government allows in the workplace.
(Cut to Close-up)
This is a silver amalgam filling. It is made of silver, copper, tin, and zinc, and....mercury. Half of it is mercury. No specific disease has yet been directly linked to mercury from fillings, but now a number of medical schools are looking at the relationship between mercury vapor in the mouth and a whole variety of diseases: Alzheimers, Arthritis and Colitis, have all been linked to mercury poisoning.  Mercury in the workplace has produced kidney damage, brain damage, birth defects, and symptoms of multiple sclerosis.”
(Cut to Dr. Vimy Interview)
Vimy:
“There is no safe threshold for mercury exposure. None! And there isn’t someone, somewhere, who may not have a very violent reaction even to the lowest amounts of mercury.”
Safer:
“Dr. Murray Vimy is a scientific consultant to the World Health Organization’s Committee on Mercury in the Environment. He’s a researcher at the Unversity of Calgary Medical School, and he’s a dentist. He got rid of mercury in his own practice 8 years ago, when he learned that mercury vapor routinely escapes from amalgam fillings.”
Vimy:
“When I measured mercury coming off of fillings, that was reasonable doubt in my mind. It was enough reasonable doubt that I made a clinical decision for my patients to stop using it.”
(Cut to Dr. Heber Simmons ADA Interview)
Simmons:
“You will get some mercury vapor, there’s no doubt about that.”
Safer:
“Dr. Heber Simmons speaks for the American Dental Association. Even though more and more American dentists have serious doubts about amalgam, the ADA, which sets standards and approves products, says it is perfectly safe. Up until 7 years ago, the ADA said no vapor at all was released from fillings.”
Simmons:
“But the amounts that we are seeing are far below any levels that could cause a problem, and the levels we are seeing are simply not clinically significant.”
Safer:
“So you concede that there is a constant release of mercury vapor?”
Simmons
“Oh we, we don’t dispute that at all. But, but the amount that is being release when you chew, is such of a small amount, and a miniscule amount, that it is not gonna cause a problem.”
(Cut to Dr. Murray Vimy)
Vimy:
“This issue is, chronic exposure - low dose, to a heavy metal. And our laboratory is the entire human population in the Western World who has had amalgams. And no one has ever really looked at that aspect of mercury exposure. A great deal is known about acute exposures: One time, two time, large exposures. But this is something that people have day after day after day. And we’re just at the beginning of that trail of investigations.
(Cut to Fay Doris Interview)
Fay Doris:
“Dr Vimy took a mercury test of the mercury vapor in my mouth, and at that point it was the highest of anybody he’d tested. I had ten teeth with massive mercury fillings in them, and uh, as he said at the time, if I was a building I would have been condemned (laugh), the reading was so high!
Safer:
“Fay Doris and her husband are patients of Dr. Vimy. She was crippled by arthritis, suffered from fatigue, colitis, and memory loss. Her doctor told her back in 1985 at the age of 35 that within 6 months she’d be confined to a wheelchair. After reading about a connection between mercury and arthritis, Dave Doris talked to Dr. Vimy about removing his wife’s fillings.
Dave Doris:
“And I said, go ahead and do it, what have we got to lose. The prognosis is she’s going to be in a wheelchair by Christmas for the rest of her life, which was scary for me.”
Fay Doris:
“I was mercury free by, I think by the 21st of August of that year, and 3, within 3 weeks later I didn’t have to use a cane, and all my symptoms started going away. I had more energy, my tremor stopped in my hands, I could do things again it was just marvelous.
Dave Doris:
“And noticeably the swelling in the joints of her hands, uh, started to go down, but the biggest thing was , it wasn’t painful on her feet to walk.
Safer:
“And have, have, have any of those symptoms returned?”
Fay Doris:
“On the whole, I’d say 95% of it is gone away.”.
(Cut to Dr. Murray Vimy)
Vimy: “That’s clinical evidence. That’s not scientific evidence, but clinical evidence is where science has to start. Science starts with observation.”
Safer:
“The kind of evidence Dr. Vimy is talking about is what scientists call anecdotal. Reports of recoveries that have not been monitored under strict laboratory conditions. There are thousands of anecdotal stories, all over Europe and the United States. This group in Illinois reported relief from symptoms of manic depression, chronic fatigue, and migraine headaches; from multiple sclerosis and anemia.”
(Cut to Nancy Yost interview)
Safer:
“Last May, Nancy Yost, from San Jose, was told by her doctors that she had multiple sclerosis. It was confirmed by Magnetic Resonance Imaging, an MRI scan, incurable. She’d worked in the dental industry, and heard reports that some patients showed improvement after having amalgam fillings removed.
Yost:
“And I was cautioned by the doctors always: You’ve got your hopes too high, get real here (laugh). If you are better its going to be a long period.”
Safer:
“Ohhhh”
“As a last resort, she had her 5 amalgam fillings taken out. She left the dentist’s office using a cane and leaning heavily on the arm of a friend.”
Yost
“The next morning, when I presented to my physician, I threw my cane at him, and said look!”
Safer:
“It was that quick?”
Yost:
“It was that quick.”
Safer:
“What did your doctor say?”
Yost:
“Well, he was incredulous. He knew it would be a benefit, but no one expected it would be instantaneous! Or so dramatic. My voice came back, my ability to walk and hold a pencil came back. It was there! That night, I ended up going to dinner in San Francisco and actually dancing 2 dances. And I hadn’t been walking since May (laugh)!
Safer:
“Next day.”
Yost:
“Friday evening, the next day.”
Safer
“Are there any lingering effects?”
Yost:
“Yes.....yes. There are lingering effects if I get overtired, or cold, or under a great deal of stress.”
(Cut to Dr. Heber Simmons, ADA)
Simmons:
“The National Multiple Sclerosis Society states that this is a cruel hoax on these people, to take the fillings out in hopes that its gonna cure the MS, and it does not happen in those cases, it simply does not happen.
Yost:
“I think it’s a rather strange position to take, because according to all the doctors I talked to, they said Multiple Sclerosis has no....no known cause, and there is no known cure. Well if we don’t know what causes it, why not look at possibilities. Might it be.......mercury poisoning? They have no better answer!”
Safer:
“There’s no suggestion that all MS patients will recover if their fillings are removed. But there are enough recoveries or partial recoveries to raise questions. There are alternatives to amalgams. Composites like Dr. Vimy’s placing in this patient’s mouth. Porcelain and gold. They’re all more expensive than amalgam, and except for gold, not as durable. Amalgams are also easier for dentists to use. While the ADA publicly advocates the safety of amalgam, it cautions dentists to use a no-touch technique when handling the material, and to store the scrap, the leftovers that have not gone into a patient’s mouth, under liquid in a tightly closed container.”
(Cut to Dr. Heber Simmons, ADA)
Safer:
“If it’s so volatile, so dangerous in a dentist’s hands, how on earth can it be safe in our mouths?”
Simmons:
“Morely, you’ve got to understand, uh, how amalgam really works. If it’s in a free form, the mercury that is in amalgam is dangerous. But it, when it forms with the copper, the tin, the zinc, and the silver that, that make up the amalgam filling, it becomes a stable compound at that time. Once it is mixed and placed in a patient’s mouth, it is a stable compound and it is not does not constitute a risk.
Safer:
“Once it hardens......”
Simmons: “Correct”
Safer: “It’s safe”
Simmons: “Right”
Safer: “What do you do with your scrap amalgam?”
Simmons:
“What we do in our own practice, is we keep it in a jar, that has glycerine in the jar, we pull the scrap in there put a top on it, so it is not exposed in any way. It’s in an airtight jar all the time.”
Safer:
“Why, given that......?”
Simmons:
“That is the recommended way of taking care of it in a dental office. That is what’s been recommended by the scientists so that’s the way we do it.”
Safer:
“But if its so perfectly safe in this combined state.......”
Simmons:
“But Morely, you’ve got to understand when we, uh, when we’re saving this stuff, we, we’ve got a big jar of it. You’ve got to realize I’m in that office 5 days a week, with this material. I do not want to go in there with an open container like that. I want to be as safe as I can.
(Cut to Dr. Joel Berger interview)
Safer:
“The ADA is adamant that mercury in a patient’s mouth is safe. So adamant that in 1986 it changed its code of ethics. It became a violation of that code for any dentist to recommend the removal of amalgam because of mercury. Almost immediately Dr. Joel Berger, a visible and vocal anti-amalgam dentist, was charged with fraud by the New York State dental authorities. The ADA provided an expert witness to testify against him. His license was revoked.”
Berger:
“I never told a patient that they would get healthier or better. I told them that we could remove a known risk, a poison, a toxin, a carcinogen, from their bodies if they eliminate the source of mercury from their mouths. It was their risk decision to do it or not to do it.”
Vimy:
“Dr. Joel Berger should never have lost his, uh, dental license. He was a very conservative dentist. You couldn’t even consider him a fringe dentist.”
Safer:
“Dr. Vimy testified as a scientific expert for Joel Berger. He says the change in the code of ethics has had a profound effect.”
Vimy:
“The effect has been that it’s really, in the United States, taken away the constitutional rights of dentists and the rights of patients. They have, they no longer have freedom of choice, and they no longer have freedom of expression. A dentist can no longer say that he is against dental amalgam, so it’s a fear tactic, it’s a witch hunt.
(Cut to Dr. Simmons, ADA)
Simmons:
“But I can tell you that we are not on a witch hunt. That I personally am not. That’s a personal choice that the dentist has to make.”
Safer:
“Why did you change the code of ethics regarding amalgams.”
Simmons:
“Because is has not been proven that taking amalgams out will help any of these conditions. And there were people that were taking amalgams out, saying that that was gonna help MS and other conditions. It has never been scientfically proven that this will happen.
(Cut to Dr. Murray Vimy)
Safer: “What’s the position of the Canadian Dental Association?”
Vimy:
“Exactly the same. The Americans sneeze, the Canadians bring their Kleenex. So they have changed their code of ethics too.”
(Cut to Dr. Simmons)
Safer:
“How do you account for those people who have, whose health has improved after the removal of amalgam fillings?”
Simmons:
“I would have to say that it was, it was anecdotal. I’m delighted that the people are better.”
(Cut to Dr. Alfred Zamm interview)
Zamm:
“The word anecdote doesn’t mean it’s not true. It means it its an observed clinical observation by a clinician, and that’s my job. I’m a clinician. And I saw the patient got better, what am I supposed to do, report that he didn’t get better?”
Safer:
“Dr. Alfred Zamm is an allergist and dermatologist in Kingston, New York. He’s reported that hundreds of his patients have recovered from a variety of diseases after having fillings removed. He’s in the process of filing those cases with the Food and Drug Administration. One case, a 32 year old woman who was crippled by arthritis.”
Zamm:
“And I had her seen by a board certified rheumatologist, whose really a good physician, he really knows what he’s doing. And he said ‘there’s a limit to what I can do’ and he gave her some anti-inflammatory drugs and aspirin, and so forth.”
Safer:
“Dr. Zamm arranged for her fillings to be removed. Within a month, she was no longer on crutches.”
Zamm:
“The rheumatologist was astounded. Not only was her arthritis better, but you could see she looked like a different person. She was healthy. She no longer was poisoned.’
(Cut to Dr. Simmons, ADA)
Safer:
“Do you totally dismiss the anecdotal evidence?”
Simmons:
“No, I do not totally dismiss it. But I just say on the basis of the facts that we have today, they’re insignificant. They’re clinically insignificant.”
Zamm:
“How could they know that? Do they examine the patient 3 or 6 months later? How many dentists have done a rectal on you, just to be ridiculous. They don’t know anything about you!”
Simmons:
“You’ve got to remember, we’re, we’re looking at, at, really a long time use. You know there have only been 50 cases reported in the literature of amalgam allergy, of true allergy to amalgam in the last 85 years.”
Zamm:
“That’s an obfuscating statement. They use the word allergic. It’s not allergy, it’s poisoning of critical immune processes. If someone dies of cancer, and you ask the specialist ‘why does he have cancer?’, he says ‘I don’t know’. If someone dies of heart disease, ‘why did this one get heart disease and the other one didn’t’, ‘I don’t know.” There’s a lot of things we don’t know. But I do know that it’s not safe to put something in somebody’s mouth that has a question.”
Safer:
“Dr. Zamm has charted symptoms of diseases, patients who’ve had fillings removed, and the results. He points to Joe Seveski as a prime example. For years, he suffered with allergies to certain foods. Then 5 years ago, he began getting serious infections. It went on for 4 years.
Zamm:
“I sent him to a board-certified internist who was a specialist in blood disease who could find nothing. “
Safer:
“Finally Dr. Zamm had Joe’s fillings removed. Within a month the infections were gone.”
Zamm:
“His unexplained rashes of 20 years had disappeared. Now he can eat foods that he couldn’t eat before. His immune system is working again.”
Safer:
“Nothing wrong with his blood?”
Zamm:
“Board-certified specialist, could not find a thing.”
Safer:
“No other change in his environment that could account for this?”
Zamm:
“Zero, no change whatsoever. We’re just arguing here, or discussing, whether a poison is a poison. It’s a bizarre conversation , you know, when you think about it. To try to justify if a poison is a poison.”
Safer:
“If the mercury in amalgam fillings is as poisonous as you say it is, why hasn’t the medical community jumped on it and banned it.?”
Zamm:
“Goodman and Gilman is the Bible of Pharmacology. When you go to medical school, you use Goodman and Gilman.”
Safer:
“According to Goodman and Gilman, there have been epidemics of mercury poisoning that were misdiagnosed for years. The reason for the tragic delays, says this textbook, include vagueness of early clinical signs and the medical profession’s unfamiliarity with the disease.”
Zamm:
“It says clearly: ‘doctors very rarely make a diagnosis of mercury poisoning because of the difficultness of it.’ It comes in different phases: one has headaches, one has tiredness, one has this, one has that. It’s a very difficult diagnosis to make, especially when it’s micro-mercurialism. Very small amounts. That’s why you don’t have a lot of doctors jumping in. But they will!”
(Cut to Calgary Medical School operating rooms)
Safer:
“The first full-scale investigation into the effects of amalgam on general health is taking place in Calgary. Dr. Vimy and Dr. Fritz Lorscheider, the Chief of Physiology at the medical school, and a team of other scientists began with sheep. They found that mercury from the fillings travelled throughout the body, and in pregnant sheep into the fetus.

The ADA says the Sheep Studies are seriously flawed. The World Health Organization says the results are valid, and so do a number of scientific journals. But the research that was most compelling was presented to the American Physiological Society in Orlando last October. It showed that on average, all six sheep used in the experiment lost half their kidney function within 30 days of receiving fillings.

When they moved on to monkeys, a much closer relative of man, Vimy and Lorscheider found the same concentrations of mercury had occured. They also found that the mercury had a bacteriological effect on monkeys. It attacked their immune system. The kidney and bacteriological studies are now being reviewed by the scientific community.
In all the experiments, Dr. Vimy used the same amalgam used in dentist’s offices. The amount was determined by the animal’s body weight. The preliminary result of human experiments showed no radical differences between humans and animals. Drs. Vimy and Lorscheider have joined a growing number of dentists, doctors, and scientists calling for a total ban on amalgam. In this country, a ban would have to be imposed by the Food and Drug Administration.
(Cut to outside shot of FDA offices in Washington)
So what about the FDA, what does it have to say about silver fillings? Well , it refuses to be interviewed. Suprising, given the widespread use of the product, and the confidence that Americans, indeed most of the world has, in both its caution and its expertise. The FDA did send us a brief statement, that says: ‘The Canadian Sheep Study raises some preliminary questions about the safety of dental amalgams, but leaves important questions unanswered. The FDA remains confident in the value of amalgams in dental care.’ It says it could ban them, but it won’t do that until it is satisfied there is a health risk.”
(Cut to Dr. Murray Vimy interview)
Safer:
“Why has the FDA been so slow?”
Vimy:
“That’s interesting, because what you see when you look into the FDA, you see that the FDA’s dental division has been platooned full of American Dental Association people. The entire committee is made up of people from dental institutions, practicing dentists, and people from the dental industry who make the dental materials. There’s virtually no medical input, or basic science input from medicine, on that committee. And so anything the ADA wants they pretty much can get through the FDA. That’s what’s called effective lobbying.”
(Cut to Dr. Simmons)
Simmons:
“The dental trade industry, the American Dental Association, and the dentists of this country; their primary interest is doing what is best for that patient. And to making sure it is safe and effective and it does the job at hand. You got to remember, Morely, I work with this material every single day. I still place it in patients teeth. I’m a pediatric dentist in Jackson, Mississippi.
Safer:
“Do you have any scientific evidence that it is safe?”
Simmons:
“Absolutely, there are numerous studies that have been done.”
(Cut to off-camera scientist)
Safer:
“But the ADA’s top scientist, who was present at the interview, says the effects of mercury vapor on health have not yet been well researched. There is barely a scientist who would disagree.”
(Cut to Louise Hurbeck interview)
Safer:
“Louise Hurbeck was disabled and in acute pain for 9 years. Her doctor had diagnosed multiple sclerosis. She had her fillings removed after seeing a report on amalgam on the CBS Evening News. Within 6 months, almost all her symptoms were gone. Her doctor says the most likely explanation was spontaneous remission.”
Hurbeck:
“I wasn’t just sitting here, when one day oh suddenly it was all gone. I did something specific that made it happen. And that is by removing the mercury from my teeth.”
Safer:
“Louise has become an activist on the amalgam issue. She wants the law changed.”
Hurbeck:
“I think dentists should be made to tell the people what they’re putting in our mouth. If you get a prescription drug now from a doctor, you have the right to know what that drug is, and what its side-effects are.
Safer:
“That right to know is called informed consent. But the ADA is fighting it, urging state dental associations to fight any legislation to make dentists explain the possible risks.”
(Cut to Dr. Simmons, ADA)
Simmons
“If there’s no risk involved, why do you have to have informed consent? We do not mind talking about it at all, we’re delighted to talk about it. We’re fully open....”
Safer:
“But don’t volunteer it, that’s what you’re telling your people.
Simmons:
“Oh, no I’m not volunteering it. I mean, I not saying that, I did not say that at all. You put words in my mouth.
Safer:
“You tell people about this controversy about amalgam?”
Simmons:
“If they ask, I will tell them (Safer laughs), I do not go out and volunteer. Absolutely right, because in my opinion there is no risk involved with it.”
Safer:
“What I don’t understand, though, is why you’re so tough on dentists who might say: ‘You know, I’m not comfortable with this mercury stuff.’ You cut him off at the knees if he even suggests it.”
Simmons:
“No we don’t. We just say that its not backed up by sound, scientific evidence.”
Safer:
“And you regard it as unethical behaviour.”
Simmons:
“Absolutely. Absolutely.”
Safer:
“So that’s called cutting him off at the knees.”
Simmons:
“No, not in my terminology it’s not. You may think it is, but its not. Morely, I want to say.....”
Safer:
“You spread the word that your local dentist is unethical, how many people are going to go to him.”
Simmons:
“I can’t answer that question. I have no answer for that.”
Safer:
“But you know the answer.”
Simmons:
“But I can say this, I look upon it as us trying to uphold the scientific standards on which this profession is based.
(Cut to Dr. Murray Vimy interview)
Vimy:
“If you took amalgam off the market tomorrow, a good 40% of American Dentists who belong to the American Dental Assocations would have to be retrained. Because in their practices, the prime thing that they use is dental amalgam.
(Cut to Dr. Zamm interview)
Zamm:
“As consumers, Morely, we have to protect ourselves. We can’t wait until the last I is dotted and the last T is crossed. The evidence is here. And we should say, if it’s not reasonably safe, if there’s a question, I’m not going to put it in my child’s mouth.
Safer:
“So what are you saying to the rest of us? Go out and have your fillings removed, is that what you’re saying?”
Zamm:
“(Smiles) Absolutely. Absolutely.”
(Cut to Safer’s closing comments)
Safer:
“Not everyone involved in the call for a ban on amalgam feels Dr. Zamm’s sense of urgency. Dentists who’ve stopped using amalgam suggest careful consultation before having any fillings removed. Some of them, still members of the American Dental Assocation, have filed a class-action suit against their own organization, charging it has fraudulently misrepresented the amalgam issue to its members. It’s been suggested that if the ADA did concede there were risks, dentists might be sued by their patients. The FDA will review the safety of amalgam fillings in March. Just last month in Sweden, the government passed a law allowing its citizens to have amalgam fillings removed under the national dental plan. And in Germany, legislation to ban amalgam has been introduced. A total ban is expected within the year.
(c) 1990 CBS INC. All rights reserved
Author's Update. The United States Army Dental Investigation Service (DIS) has declared amalgam to be Toxic Waste and all U.S. Army Dentists must dispose of it as such.
This information is published on the DIS Website for all to see at
 http://www.brooks.af.mil/DIS/HOT/scrap.htm.

 

Dentist Assistants Poisoned with Amalgam

A report about more then 10 000 dentist assistants and dentists in Norway poisoned on their job, while working with Amalgam

Dentist Assistants Poisoned with Amalgam

Brennpunkt: Amalgam poisoning and dentist assistants
http://www7.nrk.no/nrkplayer/?klipp_id=85139

NRK May 10th 2005 Norway http://nrk.no/

This report was aired on May 10th 2005 at the prime time, on the most widely available TV Chanell in Norway: NRK1
It will be again aired tomorrow.
After the report, evening news on NRK1 reported they received more then 1000 phone calls, thanking for the report, and many phonecalls from dentist assistants confirming that they are suffereing from the same symptoms. It is about time for the truth about amalgam to come out in the open! This is a report about more then 10 000 dentist assistants and dentists in Norway poisoned on their job, while working with Amalgam. About governmental organizations and experts who failed to warn and protect dentists and their assistants about dangers of amalgam and mercury. Health ministry has known about risks, but has not warned enough.

Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority has not prioritized inspection and has not estimated the risks. Researchers have prioritized but have assumed that doses were too law. About doctors who refuse to diagnose mercury poisoning and are rather giving "happiness pills" and pain killers and diagnoses like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Hypochondria.

Transcript of the report that was aired on may 10th on Norwegian channel NRK

Reporter: "It was dentist assistants that were making Amalgam, all the way to late nineties (90's) they worked under totally different standards of hygiene then today. They were daily in contact with Mercury (Hg).

Reporter: Gerd Irene Lyse started working as dentist assistant 1971. She was assisting dentist, receiving patients and she was making Amalgam. Amalgam was made inside "Amalgamator", blending machine, and that machine had to be filled before use. Gerd Irene Lyse: To fill mercury into the Amalgamator without spilling some drops was next to impossible. 

Reporter: Does it mean that you were spilling mercury on the floor?

Irene Lyse: Yes

Reporter: Did you collect it?

Irene Lyse: Yes, we had a special technique to collect drops of mercury. We would take rests of amalgam, and would collect mercury with amalgam as amalgam acted like absorbent for mercury.

Reporter: Mercury is constantly evaporating and mixing with air cause that's how mercury is. Gerd Irene Lyse worked for a dentist who was working with very soft Amalgam. It means the Amalgam contained far more then 50% Mercury. It was very easy to work with such soft Amalgam.

Irene Lyse: I gave him Amalgam, and he would take it with his hands, between his fingers, he was using a tissue, he would turn the tissue until small drops of mercury would appear at it's ends, and he would then shake it until drops of mercury would fall down on the carpet.

Reporter: Yesterday, in Telemark, we met Tordis Klausen. She began working as a dentist assistant 1969. And, like most of the other dentist assistants, she was daily kneading mercury with her bare hands to keep it soft.

Tordis Klausen: I would take it over in my hands, and knead it until it became a homogenous mass. There we were standing and kneading it. Then, we were holding it in our hands, and after a while when dentist would place amalgam into the patient's teeth, we would place it on a little spaltel.

Reporter: Did you wear glows while you were doing it?

Tordis Klausen: No, not 1969.

Reporter: Was is written that it could be dangerous?

Tordis Klausen: No.

Reporter: Did you get any information that it could be dangerous?

Tordis Klausen: No.

Reporter: This is the machine used for mixing Amalgam. Inside these 2 holes assistant would fill at least 50% Mercury, and rest alloy. Machine would mix materials until dentist assistant would take it with hands and knead it. Tordis Klausen too had problems filling machine without spilling drops of mercury.

Tordis Klausen: Everybody knows that some drops would be spilled. That is why we would add more mercury, and then some of it would spill down on the floor, and it would break into very many small drops over the whole floor.

Reporter: Did you collect it?

Tordis Klausen: We would never have time to do it.

Reporter: There are limits on how much mercury can be in the air, but those limits differ extremely.

Air limit for one 8 hours working day in Norway is today 50µg Hg per cubic meter (m3) of air. (µg = micro gram = 1/1,000,000 gram = one millionth part of a gram).


WHO (World Health Organization) has at the moment much lower limit: it is 20 µg Hg/m3 air.

One survey of 15 dentist offices performed by Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority 1973 shows average value to be 28µg Hg/m3 of air, but 3 offices have much higher values. One was kept outside this report with value that was 400 µg/m3 of air. This report confirms Tordis Klausen's and Irene Lyse's story.

They were spilling mercury in offices, there was no appropriate ventilation, and mercury was handled with bare hands. No expert the Brennpunk was in contact with would have done that today! Especially not here, at the " Statens Arbeidsmiljøinstitutt (STAMI)" (State Labor Environment Institute) where all most reputable Norwegian experts in this field are.

STAMI Expert: I believe that it is important to look at it in the context of the time they were doing it … but today … such situation would not be acceptable. That time we thought that mercury is far less poisonous then what later was discovered.

Reporter: But, it was actually much worst. After the Second World War, Scandinavia had a huge tooth-hole problem. Dental Caries was destroying the teeth of adults and children. Such teeth were not unusual. [Showing very poor teeth.] Something had to be done and the weapon was Copper-Amalgam. It was composed of 70% Mercury, and was ideal for use on milk teeth in kids. Copper was killing bacteria, and it was possible to place filling without that tooth had to be dry or clean.

But, Copper-Amalgam had one huge disadvantage: It had to be cooked first.

Tordis Klausen: It was in very small tablets, and we had to heat it over the open flame until pearls of mercury appear on the outside. Then, we would take it into another container, and it was crushed and mixed there, then we would take it into our hands, and would be standing and kneading it.

Reporter:That is what Tordis Klausen has done every half an hour, every day for many years… but at the end of seventies, she got sick. After a long time of being sick, she got Disability Pension.

Gard Irene Lyse was also working with Copper-Amalgam. She was doing it from 1971 until the end of eighties. She went to a high school to become Dentist Assistant, and Copper-Amalgam was a part of curriculum. But, they never told her that it could be dangerous.


Gerd Irene Lyse : No, it was never said anything about the danger. If I knew, I would have never done it.

Reporter: You have been lectured on this method (heating Copper-Amalgam tablets)

Gerd Irene Lyse : Yes, it was very common. It was used daily, and that was what we were working most with.

After a while, when Gerd Irene Lyse and urdis Klausen become sick, they got one message from doctors, researcher, social system and justice system: "Your health problems are not caused by mercury cause doses that you were exposed to were too low."

Arbeidstilsynet / Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority had responsibility to insure that working place is safe. They should have inspected dentist offices, but they did not discover that something was wrong.

Arbeidstilsynet Expert: As I said, we have done research 1973 and concluded that level of exposure was acceptable though possibly with few exceptions.

Reporter: Have you had any idea that something could have been wrong?

Arbeidstilsynet Expert: That time, as I said, we did not focus on that.

But, Tordis Klausen was sick at the end of seventies (70's).

After several years with mercury fumes, symptoms appeared crouching one after another.

Tordis Klausen : When dentist asked me to do most usual things, things I have done for many years, suddenly, I stopped: "What is that?" I needed several minutes to come to myself, and to remember what is it he is asking me to do. Loss of memory was getting worse, and in the end it was so extreme that I totally lost sense for orientation.

Reporter: But, after a while ... it was more. Much More! Tordis Klausen developed next problems: (on the screen, problems are listed: ) neurological problems, inability to concentrate, shaking, loss of memory and loss of orientation, pain, respiratory problems, cramps, …

Tordis Klausen : One day, I was getting so strong cramps all over my body. I was sitting inside bath, and cramps were strong and I totally lost concentration.

Reporter: Also Gerd Irene Lyse got sick while she was working. And, same like with Tordis Klausen, symptoms were appearing gradually.

Gerd Irene Lyse : I was loosing my memory, there were things I new, but I was totally blocked, … There was a doctor that said I was not sick. …. I got diagnosed with Parkinson's December 2000, just before Christmas.

Reporter: Do you think your problems are caused by mercury?

Gerd Irene Lyse: I am totally convinced.

Reporter: But, the problem was, nobody else believed that it was mercury. Through many years, answer from doctors was a prescription for "happiness pill" Others that Brennpunkt contacted gave her directions to Hypochondriac Clinic. Symptoms of mercury poisoning are extremely similar to psychological ailments. And, women that need help are in their fifties and sixties.


In Stockholm we met Maths Berlin . He is the professor of Environmental Medicine at the Medical Faculty of Lund. He specializes in Mercury toxicity, and was one of the people who were working on the Mercury Exposure Limits suggested by WHO. Maths Berlin confirms that it is difficult to come up with clear diagnosis.

Maths Berlin: Doctors have very little knowledge about the risk of Mercury Poisoning. They have never learned about it and they never diagnose it. Maths Berlin believes that up to 500,000 Swedish citizens have problems caused by mercury.

Reporter: Berlin knows very well about dentist assistants. He said that they have been working daily and breathing too much mercury. His opinion is that even exposure limits sat today are too high.

Maths Berlin: Zero exposition to mercury is best. All biological organisms are affected by mercury.

Reporter is now in USA:

Washington, Seattle: Battelle Centers for Public Health Research and Evaluation
More Info: Neurobehavioral effects from exposure to dental amalgam Hg

Reporter: Seattle , here we can find some of the world leading experts on mercury poisoning research. Nobody knows more about Dentists and Dentist assistants then the researchers here. They are connected to Battelle, a research organization with departments in many countries.
In USA they are doing a lot of work for the US Government.

Battelle Expert : Today, we are going to run through a battery of behavioral tests, so, what I'm gonna do is start the test right here …

Reporter: At Battelle, mercury researchers have examined over 6000 dentists and dentist assistants.

Battelle Expert (to persons being tested): Welcome to the Battelle. Today you will be taking a series of tests that evaluate your memory, coordination, response time, visual analysis and concentration.

Reporter: These are the tests that can show if someone is suffering neurological damage seen in people ho have been exposed to toxic amounts of mercury. Right here, they are testing memory: you have to remember yellow boxes and the order by what they were arranged on the coputer screen. You have to arrange them as fast as you can. Dental office personnel who has been examined here, has been exposed to a very low levels of mercury, 10 times lower then what was normal exposure of dental health workers in Norway up to seventies.

And, even at such small doses, they were able to detect the damages.

Diana Echeverria (Battelle Expert, Author of the behavioral study, is demonstrating different way how people are tested ): A person's capacity to move their finger from here to here as fast as possible, reaction time is slowed down. A person's capacity to hold something steadily, very firmly in their fingers, and not jiggle, and not move this way or this way … is impaired when someone has a fair amount of exposure to mercury. A person's ability to recall numbers is worse, so their attention is lower. We see increased symptomology mostly in complaints of memory loss, concentration and anxiety. We see some mood problems and some depression.

Reporter (explaining the test): This is one test for shaking. Every time the pin touches the edge of the circle, it gets registered.  Dentist assistants in Diana Echeverria's survey are able to work, but doses of mercury they were exposed to were very low.

At higher does, symptoms will increase.

Urine test taken while you are working can tell how much mercury is inside of you. In examination done here in USA , dentist assistants had 4µg of mercury in urine. Tordis Klausen has never got a chance to take urine test while she was working. But, one of her friends, dentist assistant, was tested and she has had 60 µg of mercury in urine. Tordis Klausen has applied for Work Related Injury Compensation but has not got it. Many years of court battle, a lot of research, and 2 million Norwegian Crowns ($ 320,000) out of the pocket, she spent to run the case to the top of the Norwegian Justice System, but she lost on all instances. As late as 1999, researchers from " Statens Arbeidsmiljøinstitutt (STAMI)" (State Labor Environment Institute) were testifying as expert witnesses in court and claiming that mercury exposure levels were too low to cause health problems.

STAMI Expert: I can't comment on this case as we are here going into individual cases and I don't wish to comment on it. That being said, I want to make clear that STAMI has many highly qualified people who testified in many court cases. But, in court, they represent competence and they represent only themselves, they don't represent the official STAMI view on the subject.

Reporter: This is Nils Roar Gjerdet , Professor of Odontology at the University of Bergen. Inside of his storage, we find Copper-Amalgam. We will now try to find out how much mercury is released when we do exactly what dentist assistants were doing several times a day.

The difference is: We have glows, and protective clothes. To measure, we have with us a labor hygiene professional. Remember that allowed dose in Norway is 50µg Hg per cubic meter of air (over 8 hours working day).

Nils Roar Gjerdet (while worming up 2 Copper-Amalgam tablets inside small container over the open flame): Now, drops of mercury are visible at the surface of tablets, so now we take them into other container and we crush them and mix them.

Labor hygiene professional is measuring the level of mercury in the air, she is holding instrument as far from heated tablest as the head of Nils Ove Gjerde is.

Labor hygiene professional: Now, we are over the limit of this measuring device that is over 1000 µg Hg per cubic meter of air.

Nils Roar Gjerdet : So, it is happening while we are mixing amalgam.

Labor hygiene professional: Yes.

Reporter: Every time we were measuring, the instrument was showing "HL", High Level… that means over 1000 µg Hg per cubic meter of air. How much over, we don't know … we don't have the instrument that can measure it.

Nils Roar Gjerdet : If this is happening repeatedly over a longer time, then it is of serious concern. The danger of getting exposed to extremely high levels of mercury is very, very high.

Reporter: Some of those dentist assistants we contacted said that they have been done it every half an hour, every day, Monday to Saturday, over many years. What do you think about that?

Nils Roar Gjerdet : Then, I believe that they have been exposed to extremely high mercury doses during the working day.

Diana Echeverria(USA): That is very high, especially in an uncontrolled environment, without any ventilation, or without being in a hood, or without heaving special controls. Yea, that's extremely high.

Reporter: Arbeidstilsynet (Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority) have responsibility to inspect working place. Last 3 weeks they have gone through everything they have of documents and it is clear now that there was no any Inspection.

Arbeidstilsynet Expert: As far as I have seen, there have never been any systematic control done. We had very few stick controls.

Reporter: That was the only form for control, because experts agreed that the work inside dentist office was not dangerous. And experts were the same, year after year.

Arbeidstilsynet Expert: If we go back to 60s, 70s, 80's , then we were still using as the bases of our opinion the same report provided by STAMI.

Reporter: And these were the expert consultants to Arbeidstilsynet (Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority).

Researchers at STAMI have previously claimed that doses are too low.

But now, they are changing their opinion.

STAMI expert: It is a very high dose. When we are talking about 1 milligram, then we are beginning to talk about a lot of mercury. We actually have some experience with similar doses. That is the level of mercury that was inside mercury mines where miners were poisoned almost without exception.

Reporter: Amalgam was used as tooth filling material of choice in over 150 years. And, all of that time, there were warnings. Also about Copper-Amalgam.

Already 1936 Karl Schmidt Fieseldeck at the University of Århus was warning against mercury: It was dangerous for dental personnel.

The warning was repeated 1957 at the dentist school in Stockholm. Copper Amalgam was classified as high risk material.

Last warning came from Nils Roar Gjerdet and his colleagues from the University of Bergen 1981.


Nils Roar Gjerdet : Our focus, 1981, at the beginning, was not working environment, but it was the alarming amount of mercury that was leaking from the amalgam fillings, so we decided to warn health authorities at the time, and they reacted.

Reporter: But, reaction from health minister was much nicer formulated then what the experts suggested. Copper-amalgam was not forbidden, instead, it has been said that it should be used with extreme caution.

The letter (1981) was supposedly sent to all dentist offices, but no one we have spoken with remembers that letter?!?

Tordis Klausen: No, I have never seen that letter.

Reporter: So, you have never seen this letter circulating?

Tordis Klausen: No, I so it first time in the hands of one of the people working in Arbeidstilsinet, early nineties.

Gerd Irene Lyse: We have not known anything about that. We know now, but if I have known about it before, I would have never worked with Copper-Amalgam.

Reporter: Gerd Irene Lyse began to work seriously with Copper-Amalgam 1981, the same year the warning from health minister went out about Copper-Amalgam. And, she was working with it until late 80's. Some palaces Copper-Amalgam was used until 1994.

STAMI experts are surprised about this.

STAMI expert: Warming-up mercury has never been considered very smart or safe practice. So, I am very surprised that it was practiced as late as you say.

Reporter: As Inspection Authority ,when you saw that people are warming-up the mercury, should have not you done something about that?

Arbeidstilsynet representative: Of course, but as I said, we have never seen it like that, we heard about it, but I don't think I can comment more about this, but it is possible that our procedures were not good enough that time.

Reporter: Tordis Klausen was fighting hopeless battle for herself and her peers.

Health ministry has known about risks, but has not warned enough. Arbeidstilsynet have not prioritized inspection and have not estimated the risks. Researchers have prioritized but have assumed that doses were too law. Justice system have chosen not to believe to Tordis Klausen.
Very few were ever able to pass by the Doctors, General Practitioners who were convinced that they are mentally sick.

But, there is somebody who believes them.

Diana Echeverria (USA): I would be willing to state on record that those people should be evaluated, absolutely.

Reporter: Is it possible to say that those doses are definitively too low, that they could have not been affected?

Diana Echeverria (USA): NO! No!.

Also Maths Berlin in Stocholm means that there is absolutely no doubt that some of the dental personnel was exposed to the extremely high doses of mercury.

Maths Berlin: Without protection, without ventilation, no doubt some of them were exposed to too high doses. On the long run, it will cause health problems.

Section for Labor Medicine at the University of Bergen has examined dentist assistants after the request from Brennpunkt, NRK1.

All of them were working during the same time span: 1960 – 1990.

25% of them reports that they often or very often have neurological problems.

They have been compared with a group of Nurses of same age.

Dentist assistants score sky high over Nurses on 4 points: (On the screen, graphs are shown, showing that Dentist assistants had from 2 to 10 times more symptoms when compared with nurses. )

Tremor / shaking
Heart and lung problems.
Depression
Lack of memory / memory failure
Reporter: Extremely conservative estimation would be that 10,000 women were working as dentist assistants in Norway during the time span: 1960 – 1990

Not all of them were working under equally bad circumstances and some of them tolerate mercury better then the others. But there is a little doubt that many have inhaled too much toxic fumes.

STAMI has concluded the same in an interview with us.

But, there is now a new problem.

The lack of data and the lack of urine tests is why STAMI states: it is impossible for them to find out more about what has happened.

STAMI expert: The biggest part of the problem is that we have very bad documentation on the individual level: how much and how high exposure was on every single person, and that makes research difficult or impossible.


Reporter : But, others do not agree with STAMI.

Maths Berlin states that it is possible to do brain MRI examination of dental assistants. MRI will be sufficient enough to chart damages and injuries.

In USA, Diana Echeverria relieve that it is possible to do the research the way she has done it: with the help of survey forms and neurological tests.

Researchers of the In the University of Bergen states that results of the research that they have done is so alarming that they are ready to go further with it. But, in that case, someone must come with money.

If that doesn't happen, then the answer will not come before dentist assistants are dead. Under autopsy, mercury is found in brain.

Today, there are strict restrictions on the use of mercury and Environment Protection Minister is considering total ban on use of Mercury because it is so toxic.

Nobody said that to Tordis Klausen. She didn't know that job she is doing every day can lead to poisoning. She found that out alone. Today, she is angry with everyone who should have known.

Tordis Klausen : Norwegian Health Ministry, Social Health Department, Communal and Labor Department, STAMI, Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority, they are responsible! They have had responsibility to inform us, and to give us knowledge how to protect us.

No one of those women have received Work Related Injury Compensation.

Last years, Gerd Irene Lyse has gone from doctor to doctor, trying to find one that wants to listen to her.

Reporter: Irene Lyse, you re 50 years old, and you are on Disability Pension.

Irene Lyse: Yes, unfortunately, I am unable to work.

Reporter: 2 days after this interview, I went with Irene Lyse to a new doctor with hope that he will listen to her. Doctor offered one new pain killer. Later, we found out is an anti-depressant.

This report will be aired again on Thursday, May 12, at 10:30. If you need to talk with someone, you can call +47 55 27 57 96

 

No To Mercury In Vaccines – Washington Becomes 7th State to Ban It

      By Kathie Durbin, Columbian
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/03282006news16366.cfm

      For Mary Ann Newell, Monday brought a sweet reward. The tireless anti-mercury activist from Vancouver traveled to Olympia at the invitation of Gov. Chris Gregoire to witness the signing of a bill
that will bar vaccines containing more than trace amounts of mercury for pregnant women and children younger than 3. On July 1, 2007, when the bill takes effect, Washington will join at least six other states that have similar laws on the books. "It's amazing that a few people really can make a difference," said Newell, a regular in Olympia during the past two sessions as the measure worked its way through the Legislature. "I'm so proud we have done this. But it's just a start."

     Also attending Monday's bill-signing were Garry and Maria Lund of Vancouver and their 7-year-old son, Kyle. Garry Lund, a design engineer at Hewlett-Packard Co. in Vancouver, said his son developed a severe form of autism after receiving vaccines containing thimerosal, a preservative that
contains about 50 percent organic mercury. Kyle underwent treatment to remove mercury from his system and now exhibits only mild symptoms of autism, Lund said.

      Though science hasn't established a conclusive link between thimerosal and autism, parents such as Lund are convinced it exists. He told Kyle's story to a Senate committee last year when he testified against injecting small children with mercury. "I just want to thank (Gregoire) for protecting our children," Lund said Monday. "That's what it comes down to. If we're going to do vaccinations, I want them to be safe."

      It's been 10 years since Newell went public with her own mercury horror story. In the mid-1990s, she began experiencing mysterious and painful symptoms: Her teeth and tongue hurt, the right side of her face hurt, her taste was impaired and she had too much saliva. The dentists and medical specialists she visited refused to take her symptoms seriously. At last she found a dentist who helped her solve the mystery of her aching mouth: her gold crowns were coming into contact with the mercury in her fillings and producing a galvanic reaction that felt like an electrical current.

      "I felt like I was being electrocuted," she recalled. Tests of her hair, blood and urine confirmed mercury poisoning. She spent $7,700 having 11 of her mercury-laden amalgam fillings removed and replaced with a nonmercury composite. "The morning after the fillings were removed, my tongue didn't hurt, I could sleep on the side of my face and my excess saliva went away," she recalled. Newell later underwent chelation therapy to remove mercury from her body.

      Sometime during her ordeal, her sister gave her an article from Mothering Magazine entitled "A Mouth Full of Mercury." She began reading up on amalgam fillings, which contain 50 percent mercury. A growing number of consumers refuse to let dentists put amalgam fillings in their teeth because they fear mercury will leach into their bodies. The American Dental Association says amalgam fillings are safe.

      In 1998, while researching the health hazards of mercury, Newell learned that many of the vaccines given to small children contained the preservative thimerosal, which is half mercury. As she studied the issue further, she found out that the number of thimerosal-containing vaccines given to children had increased dramatically in the 1980s and 1990s. In the late 1990s, doctors and educators began recording a startling increase in the number of young children diagnosed with autism.  She was outraged. Her husband said, "Quit singing to the choir." So she did.

      Newell joined forces with the Mercury Awareness Team, led by Ann Clifton of Olympia and Christy Diemond of Woodinville, which was lobbying for a bill to get mercury out of childhood vaccines. She wrote letters to newspapers (37 to The Columbian alone since 1996), buttonholed lawmakers,even persuaded her Republican precinct caucus to support a resolutioncalling for an informed-consent law on mercury fillings.
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The mercury concentration in breast milk resulting from amalgam fillings and dietary habits. Drexler H, Schaller KH. Environ Res. 1998 May;77(2):124-9. 9600805 PubMed. The concentration of mercury in the breast milk collected immediately after birth showed a significant association with the number of amalgam fillings as well as with the frequency of meals. Urine mercury concentrations correlated with the number of amalgam fillings and amalgam surfaces.
 

Placental transfer of mercury in pregnant rats which received dental amalgam restorations. Takahashi Y, Tsuruta S, Arimoto M, Tanaka H, Yoshida M. Toxicology. 2003 Mar 14; 185(1-2):23-33. 12505442 PubMed. The results of the present study demonstrated that mercury vapor released from the amalgam fillings in pregnant rats was distributed to maternal and fetal organs in dose-dependent amounts of the amalgam fillings.

Mercury burden of human fetal and infant tissues. Drasch G, Schupp I, Hofl H, Reinke R, Roider G. Eur J Pediatr. 1994 Aug; 153(8):607-10. 7957411 PubMed. The toxicological relevance of the unexpected high Hg-K of older infants from mothers with higher numbers of dental amalgam fillings is discussed. CONCLUSION: Future discussion on the pros and cons of dental amalgam should not be limited to adults or children with their own amalgam fillings, but also include fetal exposure. The unrestricted application of amalgam for dental restorations in women before and during the child-bearing age should be reconsidered.
 

Mercury in human colostrum and early breast milk. Its dependence on dental amalgam and other factors. Drasch G, Aigner S, Roider G, Staiger F, Lipowsky G. J Trace Elem Med Biol. 1998 Mar; 12(1):23-7. 9638609 PubMed. The Hg-M in the breast milk samples correlates positively with the number of maternal teeth with dental amalgam. The mean Hg-M of amalgam-free mothers was < 0.2 microgram/L, while milk from mothers with 1-4 amalgam fillings contained 0.57 microgram/L, with 5-7 fillings 0.50 microgram/L and with more than 7 fillings 2.11 micrograms/L.

 

Maternal-fetal distribution of mercury (203Hg) released from dental amalgam fillings. Vimy MJ, Takahashi Y, Lorscheider FL. Am J Physiol. 1990 Apr; 258(4 Pt 2):R939-45. 2331037 PubMed. In humans, the continuous release of Hg vapor from dental amalgam tooth restorations is markedly increased for prolonged periods after chewing. The present study establishes a time-course distribution for amalgam Hg in body tissues of adult and fetal sheep. Under general anesthesia, five pregnant ewes had twelve occlusal amalgam fillings containing radioactive 203Hg placed in teeth at 112 days gestation. Blood, amniotic fluid, feces, and urine specimens were collected at 1- to 3-day intervals for 16 days. From days 16-140 after amalgam placement (16-41 days for fetal lambs), tissue specimens were analyzed for radioactivity, and total Hg concentrations were calculated. Results demonstrate that Hg from dental amalgam will appear in maternal and fetal blood and amniotic fluid within 2 days after placement of amalgam tooth restorations. Excretion of some of this Hg will also commence within 2 days. All tissues examined displayed Hg accumulation. Highest concentrations of Hg from amalgam in the adult occurred in kidney and liver, whereas in the fetus the highest amalgam Hg concentrations appeared in liver and pituitary gland. The placenta progressively concentrated Hg as gestation advanced to term, and milk concentration of amalgam Hg postpartum provides a potential source of Hg exposure to the newborn. It is concluded that accumulation of amalgam Hg progresses in maternal and fetal tissues to a steady state with advancing gestation and is maintained. Dental amalgam usage as a tooth restorative material in pregnant women and children should be reconsidered.
 

Sunday, January 21, 2007

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