9/1/2004
HARTFORD - A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers and environmentalists called Tuesday for enforcement of a new law they say bans dental fillings that include mercury, which they warn pose environmental and health risks.
But a spokesman for the Connecticut State Dental Association said traditional dental fillings containing mercury are safe for patients and pose no environmental risks as a result of new waste disposal safeguards.
The anti-mercury coalition disagrees, and filed a petition Tuesday with the state Department of Environmental Protection to force that agency to prohibit the use of mercury in dental fillings.
DEP spokesman Matthew Fritz said his agency interprets the new law as exempting dental fillings from a general ban on mercury.
"This is the first day of making our mouths and our environment mercury-free," said state Rep. Richard Roy, D-Milford.
"Mercury is one of the major public health threats in our nation today,"
said state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who spoke in support of the group's action. "Mercury is a neurotoxin. There is no safe level of mercury in the environment."
Mark Breiner, a Trumbull dentist and president of the International Association of Oral Medicine & Toxicology, said there are many safe substitutes for the so-called "silver" fillings, which include mercury and several other elements.
"I haven¹t placed a mercury filling in over 25 years," Breiner said at a news conference at the Legislative Office Building.
But Michael Egan, a Hartford dentist and past president of the Connecticut State Dental Association, said this state is already dealing with the potential problem of dental mercury entering the waste stream.
Egan said the new legislation and state environmental safeguards now require Connecticut dentists to use special filtering and waste disposal techniques to prevent mercury pollution.
Also, Egan disputed claims that traditional mercury fillings are potentially hazardous to patients.
"Once it (mercury) is combined with other components, it¹s inert and doesn¹t give off any gas," Egan said.
Egan acknowledged there are a variety of other materials without mercury that are used for dental fillings, but said mercury fillings remain medically useful for some dental applications.
Fritz said the DEP determined that mercury fillings were not banned in the new law, which took effect July 1, based on legislative debate and history when the measure passed in 2002.
Connecticut is among 21 states that have been found to have unsafe levels of mercury in its waters and it is estimated that 55 percent of fish in this state are unsafe to eat because of mercury, Blumenthal said.
But while he agreed that mercury pollution from dental fillings is a significant problem, Blumenthal said most mercury in Connecticut waters comes from air pollution produced by Midwestern power-generating plants.
Gregory B. Hladky can be contacted at ghladky@nhregister.com or at (860) 524-0719.
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