The World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry announces the creation of Island States Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, to be based in Port Louis, Mauritius.  This new and powerful voice for the island states of the world will be led by experienced NGO leader Hemsing Hurrynag. 

The Island States Alliance will also have two satellite offices: in Suva, Fiji, for the Pacific campaign for mercury-free dentistry, directed by experienced NGO leader Emele Duituturaga; and on Kingston, Jamaica, for the Caribbean campaign, directed by Sherika  Whitelocke-Ballingsingh of the Poison Information Network of the Caribbean.

Mr. Hurrynag, in addition to being leader of the worldwide campaign, will direct the Indian Ocean campaign in the Indian Ocean.  

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…”

Reflecting a remarkable shift in global opinion, the nations of the world have amended the Minamata Convention on Mercury to call for ending amalgam use in children and women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.  On 25 March 2022, the Parties to the Minamata Convention (that is, the national governments) decided unanimously to amend this international treaty to…

“….Exclude or not allow, by taking measures as appropriate, or recommend against the use of dental amalgam for the dental treatment of deciduous teeth [baby teeth], of patients under 15 years and of pregnant and breastfeeding women….“

As the first part of the fourth Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP4) is held online Nov. 1-5, the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry welcomes the growing momentum to phase out the use of dental amalgam. The Minamata Convention requires Parties to phase down the use of dental amalgam, a filling material that is 50% mercury. The next step is to prepare for the global phase-out, and there is movement to phase out this toxic and polluting product at the second in-person part of COP4 in Bali on March 21-25, 2022.