Nexus - 0220 - New Times Magazine-pages

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... GLOBAL NEWS ... NEWS DENTAL AMALGAM: and thus delay compliance, Sh other US states are now initiating similar laws. ON THE WAY OUT? On 15th December 1993, T. Donovan, Europe's largest manufacturer of amal- Associate Professor at the USC School of gam and a major supplier of mercury for Dentistry, and Chairman of the ADA's| the US has recently announced that it is Council on Dental Materiais, was linter- ceasing production. The official reason viewed by The Los Angeles Times regard- given for this was a “fall in demand" but a ing the Californian litigation. According more likely one could have been a pro- to the paper, he stated that it was absolute- posed 1995 European iaw,which will ly preposterous that mercury from amal- reverse the present situation where the gam could cause any harm. He stated that injured has to prove harm from a sub- there was not a’single shred of evidence in| stance. Under the new law, the manufac- any peer-reviewed scientific journal of any; turer will have to prove that harm could ‘detrimental effect, including on unborn not be possible, Degussa follows Johnson children. The only exception was the rare| and Johnson who decided to sell off their allergic reaction. q Dispersalloy amalgam branch last year. However, examination of the 1989 Both companies would be well aware of Literature Review on Biocompatability of| the probable future litigation. Dental Amalgam, compiled by the Council Last July, the Californian on Dental Research and Developments of Environmental Law Foundation, through the Californian Dental Association, reveals, the State Attorney, initiated prosecution 319 published references to adverse effects| proceedings against the manufacturers and from mercury. Donovan's name was listed distributors of amalgam. Under as being on the six-member committee, Proposition 65 it isan offence to supply a that produced this 1989 Review. These substance’ that can cause cancer or birth 319 references were somehow missing} defects without providing’a warning, and from the next (1991) Review, as was in 1991 all mercury compounds were Donovan's name. His 1993 public state- included as one of these substances. From ments.could, however, be doing untold 24th September 1991, daily penalties of harm by giving the public and dentists the US$2,500 were imposed on the defen- impression that amalgam was safe. dants, and in November, Jeneric-Pentron, Nobody with any intelligence would a major US manufacturer of amalgam, accept the. statement that the only people became the first to acknowledge breaching adversely affected by arsenic are those this Californian State law. The company who are allergic to it. Adverse effects ordered all dental surgeries using their occur following an accumulative poison- product to place warning notices on their ing which can take months or years to waiting room walls informing the public appear. Mercury is more neurotoxic than that mercury from amalgam can cause arsenic and can accumulate in identical birth defects. The other companies and fashion. the ADA have appealed the court finding (Source: Healthy Options, April-May 94). THE MORE FLUORIDE, THE MORE CAVITIES! Fluoride is added to municipal drinking water supplies to (supposedly) prevent caries in young children. However, a University of Arizona study, reported in the 27 July 1992 Chemical & Engineering News, found that "the more fluoride a child drank, the more cavities appeared in the teeth". (Source: Townsend Letter for Doctors, April 1994) IS CLINTON'S HEALTH PLAN A DE FACTO ID SYSTEM? Several years ago in Australia we were presented with the Australia Card, an ID card that was rejected by the masses. We all went off to bed dutifully thinking that our ID card had been nailed. Not so! Australia has a de facto ID system, and the Medicare health care card we carry is an essential part of it. Now it seems that the same pattern is being adopted in overseas countries. The new Clinton proposal for the US health care system will issue every American with a Health Security card. Given the information that each card would carry, and the fact that virtually every single US citizen will be issued one, it is not surprising that US civil rights groups are voicing concern at possible mis- use of the system. The Health Security card in conjunction with the US Social Security number is vir- tually a complete [D/surveillance system. In Australia it is the Medicare card in con- junction with the tax file number. (Source: Scientific American, February 1994) COMET FRAGMENTS TO COLLIDE WITH JUPITER IN JULY It is being described as the solar system's biggest traffic accident for many years: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 has split into 21 fragments which are due to collide with Jupiter between 16 and 22 July this year. The 21 pieces are due to drill into the frozen gas giant at a speed of 216,000 km/hr and each piece will yield an explo- sion of energy equal to 10 million Hiroshima atom bombs as it hits! The US government has two spacecraft, Voyager 2 and Galileo, in the vicinity, timed to observe this unusual event. (Source: The Australian, 24 February 1994) NEXUS®9 * JUNE - JULY 1994