ADVISORY: July 21, 2004

From: Charles Brown, Esq.
National Counsel
Freya Koss, Dir. Of Development
Consumers for Dental Choice
WWW.TOXICTEETH.ORG

Washington Office: Phone: 202-822-6307
Philadelphia office: Phone: 610-649-2606

ADA Suffers Major Defeat at NAACP Convention in Philadelphia
African-American elected officials stand up to protect children and against organized dentistry

African-American leaders have rebuffed a heavily bankrolled effort by the American Dental Association to persuade the NAACP to back down from its support of the Watson-Burton bill. At its convention in Philadelphia, the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization refused to consider an ADA-sponsored proposal to repeal its existing position on Mercury fillings.

Since 2002, the NAACP has supported the Watson-Burton bill -- to abolish Mercury fillings for children, pregnant women, and nursing mothers immediately, and to phase out its use for everyone else. Long a stranger to the civil rights movement, the ADA began a heavy lobbying campaign feigning support for the organization's causes. African-American leaders saw through the effort.

Dirck Hargraves, former president of the Alexandria Branch of the NAACP, represented Consumers for Dental Choice at the convention. NAACP leaders Willis Edwards, a board member; Alice Huffman, California state president; and Ophelia Averitt, president of the Akron branch, stymied the ADA lobbying machine.

** Once again, Congresswoman Diane Watson continued to maintain her leadership in the battle to abolish Mercury fillings. Her staffer Richard Butcher worked closely with the NAACP leadership to ensure that the Congresswoman's views were strongly considered.

We are grateful for the courageous efforts of African-American elected officials in standing up for children and against organized dentistry. In addition to Congresswoman Watson, they include Congressman Harold Ford Jr. of TN, Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald of CA, Congressman John Conyers of MI, State Representative John Rogers of AL, State Representative Leah Landrum Taylor of AZ, Assemblyman Jerome Horton of CA, State Representative Bob Holmes, Ph.D., of GA, and State Representative Neva Walker of MN.

The NAACP's role in fighting to abolish Mercury fillings has been enormous. For example, in Arizona, Reverend Oscar Tillman, president of the Greater Phoenix Branch, has helped us eliminate Medicaid's "Mercury fillings or no fillings" policy. We look forward to continued cooperation in our battle to abolish Mercury fillings. We will not accept the ADA's two-tiered system of "Choice for the rich and Mercury for the poor."