Comments on Children’s Amalgam Study one (and study 2):
"Neurological and Renal Effects of Dental Amalgam in
Children", D.C. Bellinger et al, JAMA,
by: B. Windham, Research Director and President, DAMS, Intl. www.dams.cc
The study design has been documented to not have been a serious effort to determine amalgam safety in children, as the design was badly flawed and could not in its form determine the safety of amalgam fillings. As documented here, the study was an unethical use of a known highly toxic substance on children who were not fully informed or in a position to understand the implications. But the authors’ interpretation of results is also questionable, since the study is here shown to not have been structured to assess the main known health effects related to mercury exposure from amalgam, and the authors disregarded the thousands of peer-reviewed studies that have previously documented the health harm caused by mercury, and the well documented fact that dental amalgam is the largest source of mercury exposure in most people with several amalgam fillings, as documented here.
It is known from thousands of studies and millions of tests by medical labs that dental amalgam is the largest source of mercury exposure in most adults and children who have several amalgam fillings, and that those with amalgam get significantly higher mercury exposure than those without(5,15), www.myflcv.com/damspr1.html ;
that mercury accumulates in the brain and major organs proportionately to the number of amalgam fillings, www.myflcv.com/amalg6.html
and commonly causes chronic degenerative neurological conditions later in life(6-13,3). http://www.myflcv.com/indexa.html
Under the Proposition 65
procedures, passed by the state of
A study at the U.S.
CDC found "statistically significant associations" between neurological developmental disorders such as autism,
attention deficit disorder(ADD) and speech disorders with exposure to mercury
from thimerosal‑containing vaccines before the age of 6 months (16,17). An analysis of the U.S. CDC VAERS database
for adverse reactions from vaccines regarding effects of the diptheria-tetanus-pertusis
vaccine found that those receiving DTaP and DTucP vaccines with thimerosal had
significantly higher rates of autism, speech disorders, and heart arrest than
those receiving DtaP vaccine without thimerosal, and that the rate of these
increase exponentially with dose(18). An
analysis of the U.S. Dept. of Education report on the prevalence of various
childhood conditions among school children found that the rate of autism and
speech disorders increased with increasing levels of thimerosal exposure from vaccines
(18).
A
followup study using DMSA as a chelator found that overall, urinary mercury
concentrations were significantly higher in children with autistic spectrum
disorders than in a matched control population, and that vaccinated cases showed
significantly higher urinary mercury concentrations than vaccinated controls (18b).
This is consistent with other studies that found that those who are poor
excreters of mercury are more likely to accumulate mercury and have adverse
health effects (6). A significant
portion of children and adults have been documented to have this problem due to
blood allele type or metallothionein deficiencies.
A study of environmental mercury levels in
Thus the ethics in the exposure to a group of children to higher levels of a very neurotoxic substance such as mercury is highly questionable, along with the fact that the study had no mechanism for assessing long-term accumulation of mercury in body organs, future cumulative mercury health effects, or synergistic effects with other future toxic exposures, which have been well documented in the medical literature (3-13).
This study was not a serious test
of the safety of amalgam since the exposure was to children with no previous
amalgam fillings at relatively low levels of exposure for a very limited period
of time. The mean number of restored
amalgam surfaces in the mouth of the amalgam group at the end of the study was
only
However, even with the low exposure levels, it is not clear from the study results that there were no significant adverse effects of amalgam shown as claimed by the authors.
For example, it is well documented that mercury from amalgam commonly causes chronic neurological conditions in adults. So it might be useful to compare diagnosed neurological conditions between amalgam and non-amalgam group. The comparison is as follows:
Condition amalgam group non-amalgam group percent difference
migraines 18 14 28.5%
neurological illness 4 1 300%
psychological disorders 24 18 33%
sensory disorders 36 28 28.5%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 82 51 60%
Amalgam is also known to cause respiratory problems- the study found the following
Asthma 19 17 13%
Respiratory disorders 13 7 86%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 32 24 33%
Similarly while the authors state that there were no significant renal effects observed, it could be noted that the unadjusted mean albumin level at year 5 for the amalgam group was 38% higher than for the non-amalgam group. I would be very concerned about the future of some at the high end of the amalgam group albumin levels.
Children’s Amalgam Study
2:
Comments on “Neurobehavioral Effects of Dental Amalgam
in Children”, T. A. De Rouen, et
al, JAMA,
That this study like the
other children’s amalgam study, represented an unethical use of a known highly
toxic and immune reactive substance on children, and was not designed to
seriously have a chance of determining the long-term health effects of amalgam
use has been documented in the comments on Study 1 in this paper.
In justifying the study
design the author’s state on page 1 that “there is little or no evidence
concerning health effects of low level mercury exposure from amalgam,
especially in children”. In fact, there
are over 3,000 peer-reviewed studies in the medical literature(3,6-13) that
were submitted by parties in the FDA amalgam docket to the FDA (4), that
document the mechanisms by which mercury(from amalgam) accumulates in all major
organs and commonly causes over 30 chronic health conditions. And there are hundreds are peer-reviewed
studies and clinical studies that document that many thousands of patients with
these conditions have improved after amalgam replacement (2). While it is clear
that hundreds of thousands (or millions) of children have had their health
adversely affected by mercury, since there are multiple exposure mechanisms and
synergistic effects with other toxic substances, so it’s not clear the extent
to which dental amalgam is primarily responsible or just a contributor with
other exposures (7,15,16-20).
But
the main problem with the study design appears to be the choice of what
conditions were tested for and the kinds of tests that were used. In describing why the chosen conditions were
tested for and in what manner, the authors stated on page 2 of the study that
the target organs for elemental mercury exposure from amalgam were identified
to be the renal system and neurological functions(memory,
attention/concentration, and motor/visuomotor).
Actually, while there is documentation in the medical literature of many
other types of health effects, there is little evidence in the literature on common
renal effects.(1,2,3). And there are other types of health effects that have
been well documented in the literature to be more commonly caused by mercury
than attention or memory(though these also have been documented to be commonly
caused by mercury exposure)(3,6-13).
The
following analysis shows that the basic assumptions that the authors say they
based their study design on were not valid, and the study does not demonstrate
what it has been suggested to demonstrate.
In fact, due to the poor study design the study is not very useful. It had been documented by millions of medical
lab tests that those with amalgam fillings commonly have mercury exposures
between 5 and 10 times that of the average person with no amalgams (5), and
that mercury accumulates in the brain and major organs in direct proportion to
the number of amalgam surfaces. It has
likewise been documented in the medical literature by thousands of studies that
mercury and other toxic metals exposures are synergistic and cumulative, and commonly
cause chronic autoimmune, neurological, hormonal, and reproductive problems
later in life(3), depending on individual susceptibility(6).
Thus
it was clear that the study design exposing children to a known highly neurotoxic and immunotoxic
substance that commonly causes adverse effects was highly unethical. And also, the effects that might happen in
the early years of exposure has little relevance to whether amalgam is safe as
a filling material. The study was not
designed to determine anything about the long term health or safety effects on
this population of children. Or even on
the most common types of conditions known to be commonly caused by dental
amalgam or the types of cardiovascular effects found in a similar test of
children from the
Questionnaire results of
1569 patients (1) regarding health problems that have been documented to be
commonly caused by mercury toxicity found the following distribution:
Condition % with Condition % improved after Amalgam Replacement
Fatigue/lack of energy (12) 51% 86%
Headaches/migraines (8) 37% 87%
Allergy/skin conditions (10) 34% 84%
Vision Problems 29% 63%
Cardiovascular problems(9) 27%
70%
(tachycardia/irregular
heartbeat/
high blood
pressure/chest pain)
Depression/anxiety (11)
27% 90%
Dizzyness(could
be cardio) 22% 88%
Oral conditions (13) 20% 85%
ADD/lack of
concentration 17% 80%
Memory Loss (8) 17% 73%
MS/Parkinson’s/tremor (10) 15% 78%
Similar patterns and
recovery results after amalgam filling replacement have also been documented in
a larger group of over 60,000 patients(2). Thousands of peer-reviewed studies
documenting the mechanism by which mercury commonly causes these conditions are
in the literature(3).
It is seen that there are 8 major types of health conditions known to be
caused by mercury that are more commonly seen in the population than the types of
conditions that these studies chose to attempt to test for.
And in all of those types
of conditions, peer-reviewed studies and clinical studies have found that the
majority of those who had amalgam fillings replaced properly had health
improvement after replacement. There
are few studies documenting significant renal effects from dental amalgam
exposure, so it’s not clear why the authors chose to test for renal
effects. There is some question as to
what the study being reviewed actually measured regarding neurological effects,
since other studies have documented that mercury from amalgam and other toxic
metals commonly cause ADD/attention deficit(7), as well as memory problems(perhaps
more later in life)(8) and that the majority with such conditions usually
improve after amalgam replacement.
It should also be noted that since the effects of toxic
exposures are known to be synergistic and cumulative, the results of a study in
one country or population do not necessarily apply to another country or
population- that has significantly different patterns of toxic exposures, such
as the extremely high mercury thimerosal exposures to children in the U.S. in
the 1990s which are documented to have significantly impacted that population(7).
(1) Patterns of chronic conditions in 1569
patients and percent recovery after amalgam filling replacement, http://www.flcv.com/hgrecovp.html
(2) Results of amalgam
filling replacement in over 60,000 patients monitored by peer-reviewed or
clinical studies, http://www.flcv.com/hgremove.html
(3) Mechanisms by which mercury(from dental amalgam) commonly causes over 30 chronic
health conditions (over 4,000 peer-reviewed & Gov’t
studies cited), http://www.myflcv.com/indexa.html
(4) Listing and abstracts
and compilation of medical studies submitted to the FDA dental amalgam safety
docket,
http://www.myflcv.com/fdatally.html
http://www.myflcv.com/fdarev.html
http://www.flcv.com/fdarevl.html
(5) Dental amalgam is the
largest source of both inorganic and methyl mercury in most people with dental
amalgams, http://www.flcv.com/damspr1.html
(6) http://www.flcv.com/suscept.html
(7) http://www.flcv.com/tmlbn.html
http://www.flcv.com/kidshg.html
http://www.flcv.com/autismc.html
(8) Mechanisms by which
mercury is documented to cause neurological conditions, B Windham(Ed) –over 150
cites, http://www.myflcv.com/neurohg.html
(9) Mechanisms by which mercury
is documented to cause cardiovascular conditions, - over 150 cites,
http://www.myflcv.com/cardio.html
(10) Mechanisms by which
mercury is documented to cause
autoimmune/immune conditions, over 150 cites,
http://www.myflcv.com/immunere.html
(11) Mechanisms by which
mercury is documented to cause depression/mood disorders, over 100 cites,
http://www.myflcv.com/depress.html
(12) Mechanisms by which
mercury is documented to cause
fatigue/
http://www.myflcv.com/cfsfm.html
(13) Mechanisms by which
mercury is documented to cause oral conditions, over 100 cites,
http://www.myflcv.com/periodon.html
(14) Laws of the State of
(15) Effects of mercury from mother’s dental amalgam on the fetus and infants, review, B.Windham (Ed), 2006. www.myflcv.com/fetaln.html
(16)
Dr Thomas Verstraeten, US Centres
for Disease Control and Prevention,
Summary Results: Vaccine Safety Datalink Project ‑ a database of 400,000 children ,
May 2000.; & THE TRUTH BEHIND THE VACCINE COVER-UP, By Russell L. Blaylock,
M.D. www.vran.org/vaccines/doctors/blaylock-covup.htm
(18) Geier
M.R., Geier DA; Thimerosal in Childhood Vaccines, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, and Heart Disease in the U.S.
; J of Amer Physicians and Surgeons, Vol 8(1), Spring 2003; & (b) Bradstreet J, Geier DA, et al, A
case control study of mercury burden in children with Autisitic
Spectrum Disorders, J of Amer Physicians and
Surgeons, Vol 8(3), Summer 2003; & (c) A case
series of children with apparent mercury toxic encephalopathies
manifesting with clinical symptoms of regressive autistic disorders. Geier DA, Geier MR. J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2007 May 15;70(10):837-51
(19) Environmental mercury release, special
education rates, and autism disorder: an ecological study of
& (b)
Mental retardation and prenatal methylmercury
toxicity., Trasande L, Schechter
CB, Haynes KA, Landrigan PJ., Department of Community
and Preventive Medicine, Center for Children's Health and the Environment, New
York, New York. Am J Ind Med. 2006 Mar;49(3):153-8, http://www.melisa.org/abstracts.php#1
