Reply #18: Is the World Health Organization in league with the nefarious ADA? [View All]

[Orrex]

http://www.ada.org/prof/resources/pubs/adanews/adanewsarticle.asp?articleid=2091">Here's an excerpt from a recent article:

"Mercury exposure from dental amalgam is not believed by USPHS agencies and WHO (World Health Organization) to represent levels associated with adverse health effects in humans, including sensitive populations," said the FDA white paper on the literature review.

So that means that the FDA, the ADA, the USPHS, and the WHO are all conspiring to poison us via our teeth.

And here's an article in which the ADA outlines its agenda, including this bit:

Promote research on the health implications from exposure to dental materials such as dental amalgam, resins, latex and other chemicals in the dental workplace.

and

Develop protocols for evaluating technologies and systems designed to reduce amalgam waste and mercury in dental wastewater;

Through promoting these and other measures, I would say that the ADA does indeed welcome research in these areas. Granted, amalgam-related research is not listed in the 2005-2006 agenda, but neither is the use of whiskey as an anesthetic. Given the utter lack of convincing evidence that dental amalgam poses a demonstrable health risk, it is entirely appropriate that the ADA would suspend research into the health risks of dental amalgam. If evidence can be presented in support of anti-amalgamist claims, then research may be undertaken once again.

Is it your contention that the ADA should advocate research simply to soothe the anxieties of those who believe that amalgam is dangerous?

Proponents of "alternative" "medicine" often cite prohibitive expense as the reason why supporters of Reiki and acupuncture (to name just two) do not subject these practices to extensive double-blind study. Well, it would be expensive to study the wholly unproven deleterious effects of dental amalgam, too; why should the ADA be held to a standard that alternative medicine refuses to accept?