Mercury Fillings Are Branded Toxic
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
A health warning has been issued over amalgam dental fillings by the American government after it insisted for years that they were safe.
The U-turn is a victory for campaigners who claim that the fillings can cause heart conditions, Alzheimer’s disease, and other problems.
Fillings contain mercury that “may have neuro-toxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and foetuses,” the Food and Drink Administration Web site says.
Amalgam fillings release mercury vapor during chewing and when they are placed in teeth and extracted, it adds.
Eight million amalgam fillings were used in Britain in 2002–3, the most recent figures for the British Dental Association (BDA) show.
The BDA insists that the amalgam is safe but advises pregnant women to avoid “dental intervention or medication.”
Elsewhere, including Norway and Denmark, it has been banned from fillings.
About 500 British dentists do not use them and more patients are said to be asking for alternative fillings that use resin and glass.
But the British Dental Health Foundation says no controlled studies have found a connection between amalgam and medical disorder.
Childhood obesity epidemic more about diet than exercise, say experts
Children are programmed either to be sporty or couch potatoes, and taking more exercise has little effect on whether or not they are fat, experts say.
Research has shown that even though fewer than half of boys and only one in eight girls do the recommended one hour’s activity a day, this is not reflected in their weight.
A study carried out on around 300 schoolchildren in Plymouth, England, found that the amount a child exercises does not correlate with body mass index (BMI), a calculation of height and weight, which is used to measure whether or not a person is a healthy size.
The findings could mean that the obesity epidemic among children is caused more by the food they eat than lack of exercise. The study, carried out by a team at Peninsula Medical School in Plymouth, found that children who did more physical activity were healthier when fat levels in their blood, and blood pressure, were measured.
But the amount of activity they did had no effect on how fat they were when measurements of their waist circumference or skin-fold thickness were taken. The research showed: a 10-fold difference in the amount of daily activity that children do; that the amount of exercise did not change over time; and that children can be very active but have a high BMI.
The co-author of the report, Terry Wilkin, said: “Each child is programmed to a particular level of activity. Whatever you do to them, they will modify their activity to remain at that level. Some will always do more and some will always do less.
“We are getting away from the notion that we are a nation of couch potatoes and that is why we are fat, it may well be more to do with diet, as that has markedly changed over time,” he said.
Children’s Society: Behavior of Pop Stars Erodes Children’s Values
The celebrity culture in Britain is eroding children’s moral values, says a report by the Children’s Society.
The antics of pop stars such as Amy Winehouse, Pete Doherty, and Lily Allen is fuelling bad behavior and promoting materialism.
A survey of almost 1,200 adults found that the majority of parents were concerned abut the values children were learning from those around them.
Two thirds said children were not as morally strong as previous generations — adding that young people were more easily led astray.
A “preoccupation with celebrity,” increasing commercial pressures and declining networks of support from the family were all cited as negative factors.
The conclusions were made in a study by the Children’s Society, which is conducting a long-running inquiry into the state of modern childhood.
The charity’s chief executive, Bob Reitemeier, said: “Values are central to how we navigate the choices we make throughout our lives. Children develop their values from what they witness and experience through their interaction with adults and other children.
“We ignore the importance of values in human relationships at our peril. And yet, it appears we shy away from in-depth exploration of the place of values in society.”