May 31, 2004
Attacking ADA Gag Rule in Every Region of USA
Dear friends,
The ADA’s efforts to protect Mercury fillings by shackling dentists are collapsing. Dental boards are backing off and are not bringing any more cases to stifle dentist’s Free Speech, while we are on the offensive -- attacking the ADA’s notorious Gag Rule in every region of the nation.
The Gag Rule is a pillar of the ADA’s agenda to block consumers from learning that the major component of amalgam is Mercury. The Gag Rule instructs dentists to abandon their allegiance to patient health care -- to remain silent or face disciplinary action.
MIDWEST
This Friday, June 4, the Minnesota Dental Board will have a public hearing on a petition from Consumers for Dental Choice, one joined by IAOMT and local consumers Mary Puff and Nancy Hokkanen. With DAMS Executive Director Leo Cashman coordinating the effort, we are presenting speakers from dentistry (Dr. Jim Carlson), nursing (Eugenia McGrath), and consumer activists like Kip Sullivan and Bob Asher.
The petition seeks the end of the gag rule – which has already been condemned by the state Attorney General – and the start of the process to write a fact sheet, as Maine and California have done. The state’s largest-circulation newspaper, the Star Tribune, is covering this event. (Article attached: note the headline referring to Mercury Fillings!)
This follows the coverage on WCCO Channel 4 TV in Minneapolis - St Paul last Wednesday on dental mercury. The Channel 4 news team traveled to Lexington, Kentucky, to interview chemistry professor Boyd Haley, who has written extensively on mercury and its toxicological effects. Haley did a mercury vapor demonstration after brushing a child’s amalgam-filled teeth 15 times with a toothbrush. The mercury vapor level was so high that it pegged the meter. All of this was captured by the TV cameras.
WEST
In our high-stakes case of before the California Supreme Court, Shawn Khorrami and his associate Matt Bailey are completing the final round of briefs. The case, Kids Against Pollution v. California Dental Association, may decide whether organized dentistry is allowed to maintain this “rule of conduct” to stop dentists from talking to the public or their patients about mercury’s toxicity. Shawn will argue the case before the High Court later this year, assisted by our team of Matt plus Editor Mike McClory and Supreme Court specialist attorney Daniel Smith.
Spearheaded by Anita Vazquez Tibau, our effort gathered an amazing 27 friends-of-the-court, covering seven briefs, in support of our cause. They included faith-based groups (L. A. Council of Churches, Calif. Churches Impact, Regeneration Project of the Episcopal Church), children’s advocacy (Our Children’s Earth), health care and dentistry (Calif. Nurses Assoc., Council of Black Nurses, Physicians for Social Responsibility, IAOMT, H.D.A.), environment (WaterKeepers, Clean Water Action, Mercury Policy Project, Center for Environmental Health), alternative health groups (Frank Cuny’s Calif. Citizens for Health Freedom, National Foundation for Alternative Medicine), Native American groups (Native Voices Foundation, White Thunder Medicine School), the state trial lawyers (Consumer Attorneys of California), and two state lawmakers (Karen Johnson, R-Ariz., and John Rogers, D-Ala.).
NORTHEAST
The Connecticut chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union took up Dr. Mark Breiner’s case, after the dental board tried to stop Mark from writing editorials against Mercury Fillings in the local newspaper! The case is in federal court, so its impact could go far beyond Connecticut. The First Amendment expert with the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union, Professor Martin Margulies, says it’s hard to imagine a clearer case on the right of free speech. (Attached: Article from Hartford Courant, the state’s largest newspaper)
SOUTH
In a brazen attempt to stop patients from learning about Mercury fillings, the Alabama dental board sued Huntsville dentist Dr. Ada Frazier simply for advertising that she is a mercury-free dentist. After her lawyer, Bubba Grimsley, mounted a vigorous defense, the dental board put the case on hold. Meanwhile, federal and state African-American lawmakers have raised concerns about this effort to single out Dr. Frazier and deprive her of her Constitutional right to advertise what kind of dentistry she does.
The Mercury Fillings issue is also getting substantial debate in Alabama. Attached: article in Birmingham News, once again, the state’s largest newspaper. The story went nationwide, such as to Ohio’s major newspaper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
We believe the case against Dr. Frazier will be the last any dental board, acting as proxy for the ADA, will attempt. As we are showing in Alabama and Connecticut, now it’s the dental board – not the mercury-free dentist – who is losing ground!
Charlie Brown
May 31, 2004