what's in your mouth?

were you a kid in the 70s? did you get lots of cavities filled with mercury based amalgams? are you, like me, freaked out because you have small bits of mercury in your mouth that are released every time you chew? well i am. have been for several years even though my dentist says no worries, no, we don't have to replace them. but last year i did get a new cavity filled with resin stuff. i looked at a few articles regarding this "scare" but i'm still scared.

a recent article from terrain got me to worrying again:

Aside from uranium, mercury is the most toxic metal known to man; it takes only a few milligrams to kill you, and once it accumulates in your tissues, it can cause neurological problems and organ damage. Mercury toxicity in humans has been linked to chronic fatigue syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and kidney problems, and some believe it's responsible for the alarming rise in autism and Alzheimer's disease.

"We have a very serious problem here," said Dr. Boyd Haley during a September 2006 clinical teleconference. Haley is chairman of the chemistry department at University of Kentucky, and he has conducted extensive research on mercury's effects on brain and nerve tissue. "Every study of mercury on the human brain shows that it generates neuronal problems," he said. "The American Dental Association (ADA) and the FDA ignore this, saying mercury is safe and has no effect on the brain. This is 100 percent wrong."

Mercury compounds can enter the body through various pathways, including inhalation of vapor, ingestion, and skin contact. It's found in paints, pesticides, batteries, fluorescent light bulbs, skin creams, vaccines, old-style thermometers, eye drops, and of course, those silver amalgam fillings in your mouth. Despite the American Dental Association's best efforts to downplay the risk, mercury from amalgams is continually released, increasing as you chew food or gum. "Mercury comes off amalgam fillings at a rate much, much higher than the ADA spokespeople say it does," says Haley. "Eighty percent that comes off the fillings is retained by the body."

and here's what the FDA says about amalgam safety. i'm not convinced, are you?

finally check out this cool site about all things mercury.

Government Secrecy is on the Rise: Power to the People

People for Open Government has a new report that government secrecy is on the rise by almost any measure. People for Open Government advocate for "less secrecy and more democracy." I can live with that.

From the executive summary:

The current administration has exercised an unprecedented level not only of restriction of access to information about federal government’s policies and decisions, but also of suppression of discussion of those policies, their underpinnings, and their implications.
It has also increasingly refused to be held accountable to the public through the oversight responsibilities of Congress. These practices inhibit democracy and our representative government; neither the public nor Congress can make informed decisions in these circumstances. Our open society is undermined and made insecure.

Here are some of the highlights of the report:

• In six years, President Bush has issued at least 151 signing statements, challenging 1149 provisions of laws. In the 211 years of our Republic to 2000, fewer than 600 signing statements that took issue with the bills were issued. Among recent presidents, Reagan issued 71 statements challenging provisions of laws before him; G.W.H. Bush issued 146; Clinton, 105.

• Since 2001, the "state secrets" privilege has been invoked a reported 39 times—an average in 6.5 years (6) that is more than double the previous 24 years (2.46).

• On average since 2000, non-competed contract funding makes up more than 25 percent of all awards: 26.2% ($559.9 billion) In 2006, 25.9 percent ($107.5 billion) of federal contract funding was given out without any competition; another 5.1 percent ($21.3 billion) was awarded without competition because of specific requirements. In 2000, 45 percent of contract dollars were awarded under full and open competition; by 2006, only 34 percent followed such open procedures.

• A 2007 Justice Department Office of the Inspector General report on secret wiretap warrants indicated that the government made 143,074 National Security Letter requests in the period 2003-2005. The number for 2006 remains classified.

• With 2,176 secret surveillance orders approved in 2006, federal surveillance activity under the jurisdiction of the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court more than doubled in five years.

Patrice McDermott, director for the coalition, said, “The executive branch seems to believe that something is kept under wraps solely on its say-so, whether it is legitimately so or not.”

Here is hoping we change that pattern. America was an experiment in government by the people, not by its leaders. We are losing our way at this point. A lesson from John Lennon: