Dental Offices Cited as a Source of Bay’s Mercury
A coalition of environmental advocates says dental offices are responsible for 29% of the mercury that enters San Francisco Bay.
A machine called an amalgam separator can capture 99% of mercury from dental offices before it enters the waste system, but only 8% of San Francisco dentists have such a system, the Coalition for Mercury-Free Dentistry said Monday.
The San Francisco Commission on the Environment requires that dentists use amalgam separators starting Jan. 1, 2004. The advocates would like all nine Bay Area jurisdictions to adopt similar measures.
Amalgam fillings are made up of 50% mercury, a neurotoxin and hazardous waste. Each filling has as much mercury as a fever thermometer.
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