Amalgam: new health warning

One of the US's biggest manufacturers of dental amalgam a mercury based product used for silver fillings is to issue health warnings on its product.

Connecticut based Jeneric/Pentron Inc has agreed to alert dentists, their staff and patients in the state of California to the potential dangers of birth defects from exposure to mercury. Jeneric is the first amalgam manufacturer to agree to comply with California's Proposition 65, a law which aims to protect people from being unwittingly exposed to chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects.

Jeneric will add warnings to all amalgam containers shipped to California and has agreed to supply dental surgeries with a warning sign to be displayed prominently in their waiting areas. It has also agreed to stop selling silver mercury fillings to dentists who fail to put up the warning sign.