http://www.toxicteeth.net/natCamp_GagRule.cfm

     
The Gag Rule

May 31, 2004
Attacking ADA Gag Rule in Every Region of USA

Dear friends,
The ADA’s efforts to protect Mercury fillings by shackling dentists are
collapsing. Dental boards are backing off and are not bringing any more cases
to stifle dentist’s Free Speech, while we are on the offensive -- attacking
the ADA’s notorious Gag Rule in every region of the nation.

The Gag Rule is a pillar of the ADA’s agenda to block consumers from learning
that the major component of amalgam is Mercury. The Gag Rule instructs dentists
to abandon their allegiance to patient health care -- to remain silent or face
disciplinary action.

MIDWEST
This Friday, June 4, the Minnesota Dental Board will have a public hearing on a
petition from Consumers for Dental Choice, one joined by IAOMT and local
consumers Mary Puff and Nancy Hokkanen. With DAMS Executive Director Leo
Cashman coordinating the effort, we are presenting speakers from dentistry (Dr.
Jim Carlson), nursing (Eugenia McGrath), and consumer activists like Kip
Sullivan and Bob Asher.

The petition seeks the end of the gag rule – which has already been condemned
by the state Attorney General – and the start of the process to write a fact
sheet, as Maine and California have done. The state’s largest-circulation
newspaper, the Star Tribune, is covering this event. (Article attached: note
the headline referring to Mercury Fillings!)

This follows the coverage on WCCO Channel 4 TV in Minneapolis - St Paul last
Wednesday on dental mercury. The Channel 4 news team traveled to Lexington,
Kentucky, to interview chemistry professor Boyd Haley, who has written
extensively on mercury and its toxicological effects. Haley did a mercury vapor
demonstration after brushing a child’s amalgam-filled teeth 15 times with a
toothbrush. The mercury vapor level was so high that it pegged the meter. All
of this was captured by the TV cameras.

WEST
In our high-stakes case of before the California Supreme Court, Shawn Khorrami
and his associate Matt Bailey are completing the final round of briefs. The
case, Kids Against Pollution v. California Dental Association, may decide
whether organized dentistry is allowed to maintain this “rule of conduct”
to stop dentists from talking to the public or their patients about mercury’s
toxicity. Shawn will argue the case before the High Court later this year,
assisted by our team of Matt plus Editor Mike McClory and Supreme Court
specialist attorney Daniel Smith.

Spearheaded by Anita Vazquez Tibau, our effort gathered an amazing 27
friends-of-the-court, covering seven briefs, in support of our cause. They
included faith-based groups (L. A. Council of Churches, Calif. Churches Impact,
Regeneration Project of the Episcopal Church), children’s advocacy (Our
Children’s Earth), health care and dentistry (Calif. Nurses Assoc., Council
of Black Nurses, Physicians for Social Responsibility, IAOMT, H.D.A.),
environment (WaterKeepers, Clean Water Action, Mercury Policy Project, Center
for Environmental Health), alternative health groups (Frank Cuny’s Calif.
Citizens for Health Freedom, National Foundation for Alternative Medicine),
Native American groups (Native Voices Foundation, White Thunder Medicine
School), the state trial lawyers (Consumer Attorneys of California), and two
state lawmakers (Karen Johnson, R-Ariz., and John Rogers, D-Ala.).

NORTHEAST
The Connecticut chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union took up Dr. Mark
Breiner’s case, after the dental board tried to stop Mark from writing
editorials against Mercury Fillings in the local newspaper! The case is in
federal court, so its impact could go far beyond Connecticut. The First
Amendment expert with the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union, Professor Martin
Margulies, says it’s hard to imagine a clearer case on the right of free
speech. (Attached: Article from Hartford Courant, the state’s largest
newspaper)

SOUTH
In a brazen attempt to stop patients from learning about Mercury fillings, the
Alabama dental board sued Huntsville dentist Dr. Ada Frazier simply for
advertising that she is a mercury-free dentist. After her lawyer, Bubba
Grimsley, mounted a vigorous defense, the dental board put the case on hold.
Meanwhile, federal and state African-American lawmakers have raised concerns
about this effort to single out Dr. Frazier and deprive her of her
Constitutional right to advertise what kind of dentistry she does.

The Mercury Fillings issue is also getting substantial debate in Alabama.
Attached: article in Birmingham News, once again, the state’s largest
newspaper. The story went nationwide, such as to Ohio’s major newspaper, the
Cleveland Plain Dealer.

We believe the case against Dr. Frazier will be the last any dental board,
acting as proxy for the ADA, will attempt. As we are showing in Alabama and
Connecticut, now it’s the dental board – not the mercury-free dentist –
who is losing ground!

Charlie Brown
May 31, 2004