Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen
It may well be that in the US Congress the drug lords, and the dental amalgam moguls, dominate, spraying money at easily bought off elected officials, but that tactic gets little traction at the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP 4) where the participants are Delegates from countries too long experiencing international corporate rape.
At the UNEP Mercury event it is a whole different situation. The corporations do not hold sway. But they certainly try.
I will show you, in a moment, an excerpt from a report on the conference authored by the International Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD) from the first day of the conference, Wednesday, June 27th, 2012 explaining the plenary session. I bolded certain phrases in the below text for good reason. The Opening Ceremony started with this:
“Following a short cartoon on mercury and a performance by a children’s choir, Fernando Lugris, INC Chair, Uruguay, opened the meeting, underscoring that mercury is a global problem warranting a global solution adapted to everyone’s reality. Monique Barbut, CEO of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), detailed several GEF mercury projects, noted that the INC negotiations will conclude as the negotiations for the GEF’s 6th replenishment are underway, and called on the INC to consider conveying a message to the GEF on resources needed for a mercury convention. Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP, speaking via a video-message, called on negotiators to move beyond initial positions and “reach across the table.” Luis Almagro, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Uruguay, called on participants to take big strides towards the fifth and final session of the INC so as to establish a sound, dynamic regime to protect the environment and human health from mercury risks. A video was projected on the risks of ASGM and best practices promoted by UNEP in small gold-producing communities around the world.”
What is important here?
Obviously the words “mercury is a global problem warranting a global solution” drive the event. But, the huge fight is over the words “establish a sound, dynamic regime to protect the environment and human health from mercury risks.” And the words “small gold-producing communities” carry additional meaning to the whole argument.
The really BIG argument was over the words “environment and human health.” The fully owned by the drug industry so-called World Health Organization (WHO) has virtually screech-screamed through four UNEP mercury meetings so far, getting in Delegate’s faces, ORDERING them (laugh here) to drop the words “human health” from the treaty language, IMMEDIATELY, as WHO claims “health is OUR jurisdiction – and we’ve already made all the necessary decisions…” blah, bliggedy blah, blah, blah..
Obviously that’s not working. The word “health” is solidly in the discussion.
More, one other thing is being harshly argued is what is called “The Precautionary Principle,” which says:
“The precautionary principle or precautionary approach states that if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of scientific consensus that the action or policy is harmful, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those taking the action.”
As we all know, from experiences with both the deadly vaccine industry and the sleazy dental mercury amalgam pushers, this argument is OPPOSITE to their US approach. Here, the mercury apologists argue, like the tobacco industry claimed about tobacco, “There is NO PROOF mercury is bad for you.”
That’s not working well either – as THIS UN group is there because they know how dangerous mercury is. “The Precautionary Principle” if incorporated into the International Treaty, would end the American Dental Association’s whole reason for being. The vaccine industry might as well shut down.
But, beneath the surface lurks the words….
“Small gold-producing communities”
Huh? Why would those words carry so much weight?
I absolutely love revealing new scandals, and this one is immense. Ready? Here we go.
The dental amalgam industry in the US, and worldwide, has, for years, dug in its heels defending the use of mercury amalgams, coming up with, it seems, one more unlikely, and sometimes nonsensical, argument after another to keep mercury amalgam on the market. With so much better materials available, and so many obvious problems with mercury, it made no sense whatever to argue in favor of those amalgams.
It made no sense, that is, until you read the new UNEP treaty proposed language, and looked into what actually happens, worldwide, in an industry called “Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining” (ASGM),” a subject of much debate at UNEP INC (1) through (4).
The dental amalgam industry needs to keep mercury dental amalgam legal, not because it is a good tooth filler (it isn’t) but because most countries in the world ban imports of mercury except for “legal” uses. The biggest “legal” use is for dental fillings. Outside the US it seems to be common knowledge that the dental amalgam industry is the primary supplier of illegal mercury for the Artisanal Gold Mining industry. An article in the Indonesian Jakarta Post titled “Mercury in gold mining: a Third World toxic threat” says:
“Countries import several hundred times the mercury they need for dental and other legal uses,” said Pablo Huidobro, project manager for the U.N. Industrial Development Organization’s Global Mercury Project. “The excess makes its way to the miners through the black market.
The United States alone exported nearly 498 tons of mercury in 2007, up from 378 tons in 2006. It mostly was sent to Canada, Suriname, Hong Kong and Mexico, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
“The whole trade has gone underground in the last five to 10 years. It’s very secretive,” Maxson said. “The companies dealing mercury won’t tell you who their customers or even who the end users are.”
So, if you thought the dental amalgam manufacturers were doing something absolutely horrible putting deadly mercury into people’s mouths you are simply not going to believe they could do anything worse – but they are.
Far, far worse.
The National Strategic Plan for the Phase out of Mercury in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in the Philippines says about their significant national problem:
“Artisanal gold mining is one of the most significant sources of mercury release into the environment in the developing world, with at least a quarter of the world’s total gold supply coming from such sources.2 Artisanal gold miners combine mercury with gold-carrying silt to form a hardened amalgam that has picked up most of the gold metal from the silt. The amalgam is later heated with blowtorches or over an open flame to evaporate the mercury, leaving small gold pieces. The gaseous mercury is inhaled by the miners and often by their immediate family, including their children. Mercury that is not inhaled during the burning process, settles into the surrounding environment or circulates globally for future deposition far from the site, where it is absorbed and processed by a variety of living organisms. This transforms elemental mercury into methylmercury. Methylmercury is one of the most dangerous neurotoxins that contaminate the food chain through bioaccumulation.”
You can see by the map from the report below showing the Location of ASGM Activities in the Philippines, how large a problem this is for this country.
More, The National Strategic Plan for the Phase out of Mercury in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in the Philippines says:
“The exemption of dental amalgamation in the application of the requirements for Chemical Control Order for Mercury No. 38 appears to have resulted in the proliferation of dental clinics that supply mercury for gold mining. Interviews conducted by NGOs with local miners revealed that mercury is sourced out mostly from dental clinics, which aside from supplying the substance, also operate as gold buyers.”
Three Videos that will clearly explain the issue:
Watch all three of them. They tell the story with revealing detail. Click on the title to see:
(1) A short video (3:50) called “The Artisanal Gold Mining Process Using Gold-Mercury Amalgamation, from Start to Finish” showing a gold processing operation in Nicaragua.
(2) Titled “Blacksmith Institute – Mercury: The Burning Issue (Part 1)” is a 9:52 video showing the problem in Indonesia.
(3) Titled “Blacksmith Institute – Mercury: The Burning Issue (Part 2)” is a 9:56 video.
So, will dental amalgam then, be banned at UNEP ?
Now that’s a good question. I wish I could answer it.
I’ve been in contact with two groups, both NGOs at the UNEP (4) meeting, who represent the anti-amalgam interests in the US, and I am hearing some strange stories. Communications have not been the best with Uruguay. I suspect with the number of Delegates there, their communications system has been strained. At the moment everyone is on their way back to their home countries. I will be asking for a report from them.
So…
Stay Tuned…
Tim Bolen – Consumer Advocate