STAFF REPORT ISB: More than 137 civil society organizations, including SDPI, Islamabad, individuals and professionals from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Thailand have signed a declaration calling for Asia to end the use of mercury in dental care.
Amalgam fillings are 50 per cent mercury, a major neurotoxin and its continuous use is not justified as alternatives are now affordable, effective, and available in Asia.
The restriction of its use is demanded worldwide in the Minamata Convention on Mercury, adopted by more than 140 governments and the EU in 2013, in Kumamoto, Japan and signed by 128 nations.
The civil society organizations call the call the government to make it an immediate priority to stop the use of mercury amalgam in the treatment of children and pregnant women at the earliest time possible.