The Children’s Amendment to the amalgam reduction requirement of the Minamata Convention enters into force today, 24 June 2022!
 
At the 4^th Conference of the Parties in Indonesia last March, our powerhouse coalition, the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, succeeded in gaining protection from dental amalgam for the most vulnerable consumers.  We won the Children’s Amendment, which requires that Parties “Exclude or not allow, by taking measures as appropriate, or recommend against the use of dental amalgam for the dental treatment of deciduous teeth, of patients under 15 years and of pregnant and breastfeeding women…”

Today, that amendment goes into effect.  From this date forward, all of the 137 nations who are Parties to the treaty (except a handful called “opt-in” parties) must take affirmative steps – ranging from recommendations to complete abolition – to end amalgam use for children, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers. We have succeeded in shifting the Minamata Convention’s emphasis on phasing down amalgam use to phasing it out, starting with the populations most susceptible to the neurotoxic effects of mercury.  
 
Now our worldwide team is urging governments everywhere to fully enforce the Children’s Amendment.