Sludge Watch ==> Dental Mercury in sewage sludge

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

This is a great discussion of mercury in sewage.  All dentists should be 
required to have an amalgam trap in their sinks and participate in recycling 
used dental amalgam.

The mercury from the removed fillings is heavy and tends to sit in the 
sewers emitting mercury into the sewage for years.  The sewage treatment 
plant process turns the mercury into the most dangerous form.

This is why land application of sewage sludge should not be permitted.  That 
is why incinerated or gasified sewage sludge facilities must have mercury 
capture scrubber equipment.  That is why sludge should not be put into 
cement kilns because cement kilns have no mercury capture pollution 
controls.

That is why you need to look at mercury emissions from sludge drying and 
pelletizing plants.

The wastewater industry must implement 'best available control technologies' 
in all phases of sewerage.

.................................................


Thursday, November 08, 2007
Environment
Environmental Risks Of And Regulatory Response To Mercury Dental Fillings

Wednesday, November 14, 2007
2 p.m.
2154 Rayburn
Washington, D.C. 20515
This hearing will examine the environmental risks of mercury in dental 
fillings (known as dental mercury amalgam) and the government’s regulatory 
response to it.

Dental offices are the third-largest user of mercury in the United States. 
Mercury contained in the existing dental fillings of Americans comprises 
over half of all mercury in use today, amounting to more than 1,000 tons. 
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “Mercury 
discharges (in wastewater) from dental offices far exceeded all other 
commercial and residential sources.” These discharges may have a 
significant negative effect on the environment. Sludge, the 
mercury-contaminated byproduct of municipal sewage treatment plants, is 
often incinerated, causing the formation of “methylmercury,” the most 
toxic and dangerous form of mercury.

EPA’s only dental mercury-specific program is an educational program to 
encourage new dentists to use equipment to prevent mercury from entering the 
wastewater.

Mercury dental devices are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration 
(FDA), but FDA has never conducted an environmental assessment of the use of 
dental mercury amalgam as prescribed by law.

Witnesses for the November 14 hearing include:
Panel I
• Mr. Ephraim King, Director, Office of Science and Technology, Office of 
Water, Environmental Protection Agency
• Dr. Norris Alderson, Director, Office of Science and Health 
Coordination, Food and Drug Administration

Panel II
• Mr. Ray Clark, Senior Partner, The Clark Group, LLC
• Mr. Bruce Terris, Partner, Terris, Pravlik & Millian, LLP
• Mr. C. Mark Smith, Co-Chair, Mercury Task Force, New England 
Governor’s Conference
• Mr. Michael Bender, Executive Director, Mercury Policy Project
• Mr. Rod Mackert, Dentist and Faculty Member, Medical College of Georgia

http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?id=1614