Mercury Fillings Ruled Safe for Patients
Posted on Jul 28, 2009 1:30pm PDT
In Washington, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made a clear ruling today regarding silver-colored mercury fillings. The FDA ruled that these fillings are in fact safe for patients. Prior to today, the FDA had cautioned pregnant women and children against obtaining mercury fillings from dentists. Now, that decision has been reversed.
According to the FDA, "elemental mercury has been associated with adverse health effects at high exposures, the levels released by dental amalgam fillings are not high enough to cause harm in patients." The FDA released this information after reviewing 200 separate cases.
In 2006, a group by the name of Moms Against Mercury sued the FDA, along with other groups, to have the mercury fillings removed from the dental market. The panel presiding over the lawsuit said that most outside experts agreed that patients would not be harmed by the mercury fillings, but they still needed to gather more information before making a final statement.
In the past 20 years, over 141 reports have been filed for problems patients incurred after receiving mercury fillings. Mercury remains a very controversial topic as it has been known to cause a vast array of medical conditions like multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease.
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