FARGO — A global message was launched in Fargo with the goal of positively impacting the health of Indigenous peoples across America.
The call to end the use of dental amalgam — a mixture of metals, including mercury, commonly used to fill tooth cavities — among Indigenous people has been going on for more than a decade, Charlie Brown wrote in a release. Brown represents consumers for dental choice.
“Instead of listening to American Indians, the US Indian Health Service has a contemptuous ‘white man knows best’ attitude toward Native Americans,” Brown wrote.
This work was given new life through the Red River Declarations, where Brown joins global environmental, indigenous, health and consumer groups under one umbrella to address their shared concern.
“This international declaration is named for the Red River because it is the heart of Indian country,” wrote former North Dakota state congresswoman Ruth Buffalo in an op-ed exclusive to the Forum.
Through the Red River Declarations, they are demanding that the Indian Health Service stop placing dental amalgam on children, pregnant women, nursing mothers, those trying to become pregnant, and people with neurological or kidney conditions.
Amalgam dental fillings release ‘low levels of mercury’;
according to the US Food and Drug Administration,
that do not pose a risk to the health of the general population. It’s an effective, affordable option for most people.
Contributed / US Food and Drug Administration.
However, the groups identified above are “more susceptible to potential adverse effects,” the FDA said. People with allergies to amalgam metals are also at risk.
“For indigenous peoples, exposure to mercury and harmful neurotoxins is an immediate threat to our health, culture and future generations,” Rochelle Diver, UN Environmental Treaties Coordinator for India’s International Treaty Council, wrote in the release.
About 1 in 10 babies born in northern Minnesota are “pre-contaminated” with mercury, Diver said.
“Indian health services continue to use mercury fillings on children and women of childbearing age,” Diver said. “It is long past time for HHS and IHS to honor their treaties with Native nations.”
It is vital that Indigenous people are aware of the impact that dental amalgam and other exposures can have on their children, according to Andrea Carmen, Executive Director of the International Treaty Council of India.
“Our babies and children pay the highest price,” she said. “This is so unfair.”
The continued use of dental amalgam by the Indian Health Service is an “exploitation of American Indian beauty,” the statement said.
Many indigenous people have signed the Red River Declarations call to action, Maria Carcamo wrote in the release. Carcamo represents the Environmental Health Center of Latin America.
“The reason is that governments across the Americas, from Brazil to Mexico to Canada, continue to use mercury amalgam on indigenous peoples. American Indian amalgam use must be stopped now!’ Carcamo said.
Journalist working the night shift 👻. I cover Fargo City Government, Cass County Government and underserved populations in the region.
