UN seeks to ban amalgam worldwide – GDPUK Exclusive
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- Published: Friday, 08 June 2012 15:20
- Written by News Editor
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A UN meeting at the end of the month in Uruguay will consider a legally binding agreement which would curb the use of dental amalgam world-wide. If agreed it could be ratified next year. Separately the UK Government led by the Department of the Environment, not Health, has been discussing how the rest of Europe could come in line with those, mainly Scandinavian, countries which have imposed severe restrictions on the use of the material. |
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The UN move is being vigorously opposed by a group of ten dental organisations headed by the American Dental Association. In a letter to the US Department of State, urging a firm stand against a ban, they wrote: “One small component of that draft binding instrument relates to dental amalgam, a dental restorative material needed to provide the most effective treatment for certain clinical situations and populations. We urge the United States to oppose any effort in these negotiations to ban or limit the availability of dental amalgam.”
By contrast the British Dental Association has been working behind the scenes, both within the Council of European Dentists and with both the Departments of Environment and Health. A source within the Health Department told our news editor that it was difficult to argue against the adverse environmental effect of mercury. However, they were looking for dentists to be allowed to use amalgam if it was the only restorative material that could be used.
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