Question:
The California dental bill ?
Answer:
Probably the cruelest aspect of organized dentistry's pro-mercury agenda is
forcing low-income children and pregnant women to get mercury fillings. For
low-income families, as Emmitt Carlton of the NAACP testified before
Congress last month, it's "mercury fillings or no fillings."
If the bill becomes law (it must still pass the Senate), Medicaid patients
may seek out mercury-free dentists to do their fillings! Mercury-free
dentists -- generally forced out of Medicaid systems because they won't put
mercury in children's bodies -- may now participate! Indeed, Dr. Terecita
Dean of San Francisco and Carol Arana of the American Academy of Biological
Dentistry submitted testimony that participation by mercury-free dentists
will add to choices for low-income consumers.
With overwhelming support in California, the nation's trendsetter state,
this vote may signal a shift in Medicaid across the country -- and with
private insurance systems as well.
With Pete Conaty marshalling our forces, a broad coalition of health,
consumer, environmental, clergy, and senior citizen groups endorsed
Assemblyman Horton's bill. The California Dental Association (CDA) also
endorsed it and worked hard for its passage -- marking the second time this
year that CDA has broken with the ADA. The first was signing the Proposition
65 warnings and sending them to every dentist in the state, after settling
the case filed by Shawn Khorrami. The warnings say amalgam "causes exposure
to mercury, a chemical known to the state of California to cause birth
defects or other reproductive harm."
