FDA Tells Pregnant Women it's OK to Consume Mercury!

re: FDA Tells Pregnant Women it's OK to Consume Mercury!

CCurtis — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:30:33 GMT

We seem to have a number of republican-bashers here who think the democrats will fix everything. Does anyone stop to think that Senator Durbin of Illinois, the one who is fighting against our rights to supplements, is also a democrat? There are good democrats and good republicans. We should not bash one party over the other -- it is the individuals we vote in that count. Look at their individual voting records -- how do they conduct themselves and vote in regard to the public's rights! When it comes to the "parties," they are both in the pockets of the big pharmas, large corporations, and other PACS who pay both sides to be sure they get their way no matter what way the elections go. You must find the few politicians who fight against the system for our rights. I am an Independent voter who votes the issues.

re: FDA Tells Pregnant Women it's OK to Consume Mercury!

Jonathan B — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:30:31 GMT

If the Democratic Party is not just another wing of the political establishment, it can go a long way to

re-starting the trust of the public by dropping the hammer on the use of mercury in dental surgery or vaccines.

At this point, the Democrats have a virtually unstoppable majority in House and Senate, and the White House, so they can address the problem of Mercury in our environment, or they can blame the ex-president George Bush for the problem, and the rascally Republicans.

The only problem with the law changes will be the corporate disapproval in the medical industry and dental industry, and the possible loss of campaign contributions, which is that highest good in the view of all politicians.

Therefore, I assume that nothing will change, and the public will be ignored, since we do not give at the level as the corporations and industries do.

re: FDA Tells Pregnant Women it's OK to Consume Mercury!

Susan Snow — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:02:48 GMT

Here's the url for the EPA dismantling the library system

www.peer.org/.../news_id.php

re: FDA Tells Pregnant Women it's OK to Consume Mercury!

Susan Snow — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:43:59 GMT

I believe that the Centers for Disease Control would like to tell citizens the truth about mercury, amalgams, vaccines and so forth, but perhaps the Bush Administration has a gag order on them, just like they've had on all federal employees throughout the administration.

While the national guard and armed services have defended the country we all love, the Bush Administration has taken apart the laws (not there job) and put industry regulations in its place. They call this free market, but it's a Corporate State, compliments of Bush, Cheney and various very vested interests.

I searched for mercury, gag order, Bush Administration, and learned of a gag order on perchlorate (rocket fuel) and how the Bush Administration is ignoring the possibility of serious consequences to public health. See: http://tinyurl.com/97ujmp

I suspect the same is going on with mercury and its various sources. I Googled mercury, gag order, Bush Administration and a report authored by the Environmental Working Group was silenced, presumably by the Bush Administration. http://www.ewg.org/node/15427. So, instead of googling the report, I went straight to the Environmental Working Group. See:

EWG Research

FDA's Midnight Mischief Heightens Mercury Risk to Pregnant Women, Infants

http://www.ewg.org/node/27431

Also, read: www.ewg.org/.../EPA_Memo_on_FDA%27s_actions.pdf

re: FDA Tells Pregnant Women it's OK to Consume Mercury!

Agny — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:19:30 GMT

And why do these idiot´s not ( sorry my ugly word) forbidd use of mercury in vaccine? ..Nono..that´s because the manufatures pay them..but poor Tuna fish do not....

re: FDA Tells Pregnant Women it's OK to Consume Mercury!

Sally888 — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:12:45 GMT

The FDA has two agendas. They protect the consumer against bad foods and drugs and also protect the producers of the bad foods and drugs against critical consumers. When the two agendas overlap they need to satisfy both sides so they must become wishy-washy and toggle between two different points of view.

Another example is their food pyramid. At the present time the bottom tier recommends increased consumption of grains, probably because people reduced their intake of bread after preservatives became widespread in bread. People cut down on bread because it did not taste and smell like fresh bread (because it is now two or three weeks old and still on the shelves at the markets) so the FDA is telling us to eat more bread so that the bread industry will survive.

As a matter of fact in one town in England even the ducks will not eat bread which is thrown to them. The people did not want to eat the bread so they threw it to the ducks. The ducks would not eat it either so the people were told not to feed the ducks.

news.bbc.co.uk/.../3016654.stm

re: FDA Tells Pregnant Women it's OK to Consume Mercury!

Susan Snow — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:33:48 GMT

It's good that Jedisteen is a vegetarian, because it is my understanding, that fish in the Baltic are some of the most contaminated in the world, and this is because of the wind currents, and the burning of coal for energy by all the countries south of Denmark.

Having visited Copenhagen last spring, I must say I was very impressed with the people's involvement with their government. It is said that Danes are the happiest people on the planet because their government, unlike ours (in the USA) listens to them rather than corporations and follows through with their wishes. Danes are a leading user and contributor of wind mills in the Baltic region, and many Danes also have solar houses. But, I was extremely impressed with the ways Danes have controlled the price of gasoline in their country. They ride bicycles and bicycle roads and paths, even bicycle garages appear around Copenhagen from the Harbor to connecting towns and cities. Employers have locker rooms where workers can shower and change after cycling to work. The laws have been changed to reward those who cycle, and require those using petro powered vehicles to pay more. Perhaps, Jedisteen can elaborate.

I was very enamored by the Danes and wished we could stay longer and learn how they came together to move their country forward in this petro (fossil fuel) controlled world. As not only are Danes putting less pollution into the environment and into their fisheries, but they are being rewarded for doing the right things, and are therefore, healthier and happier than other citizens of the world. I wonder if the activity of the Danes, and their activism has made them healthier, despite being a major fishery? Is mercury the problem in the Baltic. Or, is it PCBs and dioxins in the fisheries? All that I know is the salmon from the Baltic is the most contaminated in the world!.

re: FDA Tells Pregnant Women it's OK to Consume Mercury!

Susan Snow — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 23:56:00 GMT

Burning coal is a major contributor to mercury in fish worldwide and is also a major source of the Bush Administration's energy plan. But, mercury is also in various forms of oil and is brought to the surface, where most harm occurs from the drilling of oil. It's in oil shales, which the Bush Administration is promoting to turn into gas. And, the Bush Administration has turned back the mercury standards of the Clinton Administration to non-regulation.

It's all part of the same scheme of keeping the public controlled and ignorant. First, the Bush Administration fired scientisits that did not follow their policies, then they eliminated studies from the U.S. EPA libraries, and finally, closed down the libraries. Those which have reopened, are barely open. No furniture and no peer reviewed studies --only studies by the once regulated industries. (My source is the Public Employees to Protect the Environment, the Washington Post and other media sources that inform rather than keep the public controlled and ignorant.

It's just that now, the children can be kept permanently ignorant if their mothers eat mercury-laden fish, which cross the placenta and poison the brains of the unborn. If you want to control people, keep them ignorant...and allow their food to become more toxic to damage their brains. This seems to be the plan of the Greedy Opportunistic Predators.

re: FDA Tells Pregnant Women it's OK to Consume Mercury!

nofluvaccine — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 23:50:23 GMT

The CDC recommends flu shots for pregnant womens even though the insert says it has not been proven safe. Government agencies always have their own agenda and it isnt your health.

re: FDA Tells Pregnant Women it's OK to Consume Mercury!

LoriSmi — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 23:20:29 GMT

The FDA are morons who prostitute themselves to the highest bidder. Anyone with half a brain knows that mercury is always dangerous.

re: FDA Tells Pregnant Women it's OK to Consume Mercury!

curious7 — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 20:38:15 GMT

This is something I have heard before. You know when there was a scare about tooth fillings. Mercury, is one of the most, if not the most toxic element on earth. Has no business in the mouth.

re: FDA Tells Pregnant Women it's OK to Consume Mercury!

Tripsam — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 20:30:54 GMT

Fish is just one source of mercury poisoning. Flu vaccines contain 25 mcg. of thimerosal (thimerosal used as a preservative is an organomercury compound (approximately 49% mercury by weight). Below is a recent news article about Flu Vaccines being forced on people. I guess the Pharmaceuticals were not making enough money by our getting the flu shot voluntarily so they are using their muscle to force us to get the shot.

"Alaska Employees Get Vaccine Ultimatum

Employees at Providence Alaska Medical Center no longer have a choice as to whether or not they receive a flu vaccine. The hospital is requiring all employees to get flu shots by year's end or face dismissal.

The new policy is controversial, especially among nurses. Many nurses don't want to be forced to get a shot that carries health risks of its own and doesn't always work, according to the nurses' union.

Nationally, fewer than half of health care workers receive flu vaccines. Before this year at Providence, about 40 percent of employees were vaccinated.

The nurses' union has filed a grievance protesting the policy."

re: FDA Tells Pregnant Women it's OK to Consume Mercury!

Keith Lurie — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 18:20:36 GMT

Hoe does the health of people in Japan compare with th US.??

re: FDA Tells Pregnant Women it's OK to Consume Mercury!

DDS_203 — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 17:28:58 GMT

Other fish rich in Omega 3 are: mackerel, trout, herring

re: FDA Tells Pregnant Women it's OK to Consume Mercury!

JackieB_203 — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 17:15:16 GMT

When you talk about mercury toxicity in humans, you need to also address 'mercury' amalgam fillings.

Note this recent publication:

www.nj.com/.../index.ssf

End era of mercury fillings

December 31, 2008

BY CHARLES G. BROWN

The biggest change in the history of American dentistry is about to occur. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is on the verge of limiting the use of dentistry's 19th-century foundation-stone, amalgam fillings. Though promoted as "silver fillings," this material is 50 percent mercury and only 25 percent silver.

Mercury is, of course, highly toxic; it can cause permanent harm to a fetus, to a child's developing brain or an adult's kidneys. The World Health Organization says no safe level of mercury exists. Unlike lead, whose risk becomes acute when the child licks it, mercury is notoriously volatile (it is the only metal in liquid form at room temperature), so its vapors alone can cause neurological or fetal damage. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control warns that mercury from amalgam is "a major source" of mercury exposure to our bodies.

In dentistry's early days, no alternative existed, except expensive gold. That excuse is over. Composite, a white resin-like material, is interchangeable with mercury amalgam, albeit it takes a few moments longer to implant. That means, for upper-middle-class adults who go to modern dentists, composite is the norm. For children, working Americans, soldiers and sailors, prisoners and others receiving assembly-line dentistry, however, it is still mercury, mercury, mercury. Emmitt Carlton, a Washington lawyer testifying on behalf of the NAACP before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Wellness and Human Rights in 2003, summarized American dentistry as providing "choice for the rich, mercury for the poor."

Dental mercury is an environmental hazard. A report by the Mercury Policy Project shows that dental offices are the largest source of mercury in the nation's wastewater. Hence, dentistry puts an unnecessary burden on taxpayers to clean it up. Prudently, the Corzine administration ordered all dentists, effective Oct. 1, 2007, to install and maintain amalgam separators to catch mercury before it enters New Jersey's water supply.

This rule, written by the state Department of Environmental Protection, took another step to reduce pollution, directing dentists, "where appropriate," to use alternatives to amalgam. Many dentists don't need to be encouraged to quit; to their credit, between one-third and one-half of U.S. dentists have stopped using amalgam.

With the pollution, the health controversy and the social-justice disparities, the question isn't why so many dentists have switched -- it's why so many hang onto this anachronism.

Taking an active interest in the issue is Sen. Ronald Rice, D-Newark, sponsor of a bill directing the state Department of Health and Senior Services to investigate mercury use in dental fillings and to study its health and occupational effects. Also, New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram led the states, with New Jersey as the lead plaintiff, to compel the Bush administration to enforce the laws against mercury pollution.

To protect their babies, pregnant women are warned not to get any unnecessary exposure to mercury, such as to avoid eating tuna. Several years ago, a report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency showed that one in eight women of childbearing age is already so mercury toxic she is at risk of having a brain-damaged baby. Imagine if a dentist, instead of using the misnomer "silver fillings," told a pregnant patient to prepare to receive "mercury fillings." It is safe to assume she would vacate the dental chair immediately.

So mired in mercury is New Jersey that it seeks to ship it out. The state is battling obstacles to send tons of mercury sitting in Somerset County to Nevada. Congress has, however, closed off the option of shipping New Jersey's mercury overseas; the Mercury Export Ban Act of 2008 bans mercury exports. The law's lead sponsor: Sen., now president-elect, Barack Obama. Such strong action by our next president forecasts an administration that may be tough on mercury products and mercury users.

Mercury-free dentistry is more than a health and environment issue -- it is a workplace safety issue. Largely female and of childbearing age, dental workers are the very persons who should be the most vigilant to avoid exposure to mercury vapors -- which happens, sadly, each time a dental worker opens the amalgam capsule.

In New Jersey, private-sector workplace safety is enforced by the U.S. Occupational Health & Safety Administration (OSHA), while the public sector workplace is handled by the New Jersey Public Employees Occupational Safety & Health program ("PEOSH").

Fortunately, New Jersey PEOSH is ahead of the nation in the arena of protecting employees from mercury; its standard is for employers to "substitute safer chemicals" for mercury. But PEOSH has not acted on our request to apply its standard to dental clinics at UMDNJ and the state prisons, choosing, to date, not even to issue an alert (an advisory about the law).

The contrast between the Corzine administration's vigorous environmental policy against mercury and its indifference toward workplace mercury is startling. In its environmental policies, New Jersey is positioned to be the cutting-edge state in the transition to mercury-free dentistry. But unwillingness to enforce its own workplace safety policies means New Jersey is putting young female workers at risk not only for themselves, but for their present and future babies.

Charles G. Brown is national counsel for Consumers for Dental Choice. More information on the FDA settlement is on the group's website, www.toxicteeth.org