Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen
In Greek mythology, Aegeas, the king of Elis, had a vast herd of cattle. The stables in which they were kept hadn’t been cleaned in 30 years. By then it was impossible to clean them and the resulting stench was unbearable. Hercules, who had been assigned 12 stupendous tasks (“the Labours of Hercules”) to be performed in atonement for a crime he had supposedly committed, came on the scene. One of those tasks was to clean the Aegean stables. Hercules did the job in one day by diverting a river to flow thorough the King’s stables.
The phrase “clean the Aegean stables” now means to clear away an accumulated mass of corruption – physical, moral, ethical, legal…
The stench at the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is unbearable. The FDA, designed to regulate certain industries in the US, has been taken over, in its entirety, by those industries, who operate the agency for their own benefit. There is no argument against this statement. At FDA the tail is wagging the dog. Americans are being regulated by industries. It’s the way it is.
The FDA is being used to maintain the status quo in US health care, keeping the momentous flow of cash dumping into the broken health care system, where it’s being siphoned off, and re-funneled into the pockets of America’s real enemies – international corporations. It’s the way it is.
There is no better simple example of FDA corruption than that illustrated by the FDA division assigned the task of regulating US dentistry issues. The situation is so bad there that, recently, the legal team for an activist group put FDA legal counsel on “Official Notice,” threatening to file “Fraud on the Court” briefs if, and when, FDA dental division employees reversed themselves once again. The intent was to force the dental division to stop obfuscating the “mercury amalgam” tooth filling issue.
The FDA dental division sees, as its mission, the preservation, at any cost, of the current dental system – one based on “image” rather than “health.” Official dentistry wants no part of “what happens in your mouth affects your whole body.” Official dentistry markets teeth, and dentistry itself, as a tool for sexual conquest. Their message “If your smile is white – you’ll get laid tonight…”
US Dentistry is at a crossroads. It is being attacked by powerful activist groups dealing with anti-Fluoride issue, anti-mercury amalgam issues, and more. People who don’t back down. And, Dentistry has no answers for these people – no counter for their arguments except to stall, stall, stall. Obfuscate, obfuscate, obfuscate…
Many US dentistry profit centers are being challenged. For instance, the whole idea of “root canals” is under attack – and US dentistry, who, so far, has generated over three trillion dollars for this horrible dental profit center, is fighting back ruthlessly, attacking anywhere, and everywhere, as critics of root canals show themselves. US dentistry’s message – “Criticize root canals and we’ll ruin you…”
Can they reach their critics? Yes, they can, and they do. Even me. Last year, after my first round of articles about dentistry appeared, and was broadcast to my subscriber base, my servers were suddenly shut-down by my service provider who had been threatened by a criminal organization I finally identified as the Spamhaus/SPEWS criminal conspiracy. Spamhaus, currently under Federal Court Order, claims to be operated from a single desktop computer on a houseboat in Great Britain. In actuality, Spamhaus is a vigilante-like organization run by so-called “volunteers,” each of which, I have found, has a financial interest in Spamhaus’s activities. I suspect, with good reason, that a top Spamhaus “volunteer” simply got a check (or a bag of cash) from a New York ad agency to falsely label me as a “spammer.”
So, what happened recently?
A lot. Last Friday, April 13th, 2007, the Washington DC Federal Appeals Court ruled that it lacked the jurisdiction in “Mom’s Against Mercury, et al v. FDA.” But this was NO VICTORY for FDA. It was the handwriting on the wall. Here’s why, explained by attorney Charlie Brown:
Court declines to rule on merits in Moms Against Mercury v. FDA — but suggests road map to victory
The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that it lacks jurisdiction (the statutory authority to rule) in Moms Against Mercury, et al. v. FDA, adding the decision is not a ruling on the merits of our cause and implying a remedy could lie in the U.S. District Court. (Full opinion at www.cadc.uscourts.gov — on right side click “All Opinions”; see Apr. 13, 2007, 4th case).
To win this round, FDA paid an enormous price. To achieve credibility with the court, FDA abandoned its long-time role of cheerleader for amalgam, five times admitting in its court brief that it FDA doesn’t know if mercury fillings are safe or unsafe. (Those 5 admissions at www.toxicteeth.org/natcamp_fedgovt_fda_admits_Mar07.cfm)
That a federal agency continues to allow untrammeled sales of a mercury-based device to pregnant women and children while conceding “the lack of definitive scientific evidence” and “intense disagreement about the scientific evidence” is reckless, contemptible, and immoral. FDA must be hoping that no one outside the Capital Beltway finds out. Or perhaps some of FDA’s protectors of mercury fillings (see next paragraph) intend to disavow those admissions before the ink is dry on the court decision. Suspecting just that, I sent a warning letter to FDA counsel advising that any statements by FDA returning to the status quo ante constitutes a Fraud on the Court. (Letter at www.toxicteeth.org/natcamp_fedgovt_fda_brown_Apr07.cfm)
FDA’s hard-line protectors of mercury fillings include Associate Comm’r Norris Alderson, who presented the “white paper” apologia for amalgam in September, a position soundly rejected by two Scientific Advisory Committee position; Center for Devices Director Dan Schultz, MD, and Dep. Director Linda Kahan, Esq., who together uphold the outrageous “professional courtesy” stand to allow self-interested dentists ignorant of toxicological issues to make the decision, hence giving primacy to dental economics over children and fetal health; Division Director Chiu Lin, who used an unauthorized substantial equivalence test to OK an application for mercury fillings, even though the applicant himself advised Lin that mercury fillings aren’t allowed for pregnant women and children in its home country, the U.K.; and Dental Devices Branch Director Mary Susan Runner, the initiator of the notorious BETAH-LSRO contract and the ADA’s fifth columnist inside FDA.
The astonishing gap between FDA’s position (doesn’t know if it’s safe) and its policy (may be implanted into anyone without even warnings) is setting off a grassroots firestorm. Ken Stoller, M.D., filed a sworn complaint to the New Mexico Board of Pharmacy asking that mercury fillings, no longer certified as safe by FDA, be banned in that state (want to help?–write Ken, hbotnm@netzero.com). Philadelphia Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown plans hearings in early May (want to help?–write Freya Koss, frekoss@aol.com). The latest example of a reckless dentist leaving bottles of mercury for children to get exposed happened in West Virginia; this time, we have a plan to fight back (want to help?–write Sandy Keech Esq., sandraK@toxicteeth.org). In Ohio, the movement is growing to add a mercury-free dentist to a dental board whose policy is to block from consumers disclosures that “silver fillings” aren’t really silver (want to help?–write Jessica Kerger, Esq. JessKerger@aol.com). Congresswoman Watson is closely monitoring these developments in consultation with Members of the House Government Reform Committee (want to help?–write Elizabeth Wright, elizabeth@toxicteeth.org)
Here’s the good news about the Court opinion: It appears to suggest an ongoing violation of law. The Court holds that FDA may not approve mercury amalgam by using a “substantial equivalent” test. But that is exactly what FDA is doing when it approves mercury amalgam applications.
In the days ahead (stay tuned to our web site), we will announce our next step to reign in an FDA bureaucracy that exhibits both contempt for the law and reckless indifference to the health, and very lives, of America’s born and unborn children.
Charlie Brown, 4/14/07 – Charles G. Brown, National Counsel, Consumers for Dental Choice, 725 K St., N.W., Suite 511, Washington DC 20006, 202.822-6307; fax 822-6309, charlie@toxicteeth.org, www.toxicteeth.org
So, What’s next in the US anti-amalgam movement?
The anti-amalgam movement never stops. They are so large, so informed, so organized, that that they span six time zones in the US alone – which means they can constantly keep up a barrage of assaults. And, they do.
Which pleases me.
I’m not criticizing them when I say “they take the high road,” in their strategies and tactics. I do want to mention that their opposition lives on the “low road,” and does not hesitate to use low road tactics. A few years ago, when I was having dinner with some of their West Coast team I was asked how I would organize an assault, and I responded with the following:
“I’d hire a Private Detective firm, with a video camera, to follow around a specific dentist, one of those who owns one of those “dental mills” churning out mercury fillings to childrn on welfare. I’d gather evidence of this dentist’s extracurricular activities involving his twelve-year-old mistress on his boat, and her recent, paid-for-by-the-dentist, boob job, enlarging her breasts to 44 double D. Then I’d have the group sue the dentist over mercury amalgams and make sure the news media got copies of the video.”
Stunned, the West Coast team asked me if I knew of such a dentist. I responded:
No, but think about what I just said. Think about the type of person, in this day and age, who would install that much mercury into the mouths of children. They’re the same kind of people who would have, not only a twelve-year-old mistress, but absolutely would want her to have 44 double D boobs. Want to find one? Look around.”
They’re still on the high road.
Why are they so intent on victory?
A dentist in the anti-amalgam movement explained it to me this way:
“Tim, think about what happens when the first mercury amalgam filling is installed in a ten-year-old child’s mouth. That mercury begins to leak into the body immediately causing serious problems. You’ve begun a cycle of bad health that that person will never recover from.”
High road, or low road, I wish the anti-amalgam movement the best. America should be grateful they’re here. I am.
Stay tuned…
Tim Bolen – Consumer Advocate