60 Minutes Exposé on Mercury Fillings

"It's not gonna cause a problem," claims Dr. Heber Simmons, spokesman for the American Dental Association on the December 16, 1990, CBS program, 60 Minutes.

One may read transcripts from this CBS Sunday night TV show, a segment of the show entitled, "Is there a poison in you mouth?" In the online presentation Truth Traitors by Ernie Mezei B.Sc., Eng, from pages 29-47, he records the conversation between show host Morley Safer and the dentist Heber Simmons, DDS.

You may read the entire book Tooth Traitors or just the segment from the the book with the 60 Minutes transcript in some links I will provide below. It is in Chaper 6, "It's Not Gonna Cause a Problem." That is the phrase used in the 60 Minutes interview with Dr. Heber Simmons, a spokesman for the American Dental Association who said about mercury in dental fillings, and in a southern drawl, "It's not gonna cause a problem."

60 Minutes, only aired this program one time. Most 60 Minutes programs air at least twice. What was the response from dentists and the public to this program?

From the article Is Mercury Toxicity an Autoimmune Disorder? by Keith W. Sehnert, M.D., Gary Jacobson, D.D.S., Kip Sullivan, J.D.

The dental establishment was furious with CBS. The ADA attacked CBS in the January 7, 1991 edition of its newspaper for "the irresponsible ways in which viewers were led to the conclusion that amalgam fillings are unsafe." To the contrary, said the ADA, "scientific evidence suggests mercury amalgam is safe to use." The ADA newspaper published statements by Dr. Harold Loe, director of National Institute of Dental Research, criticizing CBS for having "an obvious bias" against amalgams. Dentists all over the country received information packets from the ADA, including copies of the ADA newspaper and a 1986 article from Consumer Reports. The ADA also promoted its message in a two-minutes video news release sent to 700 TV stations on December 17, 1990, on its weekly radio show on December 18, 1990, and in its journal, the Journal of the American Dental Association.

So CBS backed down and never aired the program again.

Here is the 60 Minutes video "Is There a Poison in your Mouth?" on the website of Russ Tanner.

http://urlbam.com/ha/M003l

If you would like to order a copy of a DVD of the 60 Minutes segment titled "Is There Poison in Your Mouth?" you can also order it from Dr. Hal Huggins at http://hugginsappliedhealing.com/store/DVD-60-Minutes-USA.html.

I questioned the seemingly miraculous recovery of some of the women featured in the 60 Minutes segment. It seemed too good to be true. People do start on their road to recovery and some do improve dramatically. But others struggle to regain their health.

I think Dr. Richard Chanin explained why some of the women had an immediate improvement in this video below. On the MercuryExposure YouTube channel Dr. Chanin explained that if the women had galvanic currents from dissimilar metals coming into contact with the mercury dental fillings, then removing the source of these other metals would have decreased the electrical currents in the mouth, thus removing the stressor and improving their health immediately. But they would still need to go through detoxification for mercury.

I have improved since having my fillings PROPERLY removed, and I shutter to think what shape I would be in if I still had that mercury in my mouth. I did get rid of the horrible sickening metallic taste immediately when my holistic dentist removed the toxic porcelain fused to metal crown that my dentist had placed over top of a mercury filling. However, It has been a long process and I am still traveling down that road.

I love the questions Morely Safer asks Dr. Heber Simmons, who was the typical ADA mouthpiece.

Morley Safer of CBS: "While the ADA publicly advocates the safety of amalgam, it cautions dentist to use a no-touch technique when handling the material, and to store the scrap, the leftovers that have not gone into a patient's mouth, under liquid in a tightly closed container."

"If it's so volatile, so dangerous in a dentist's hands, how on earth can it be safe in our mouths?"

Simmons: "Morely, you've to to understand, uh, how amalgam really works. If it's in a free form, the mercury that is in amalgam is dangerous. But it, when it forms with the copper, the tin, the zinc, and the silver that, that make up the amalgam filling, it becomes a stable compound at that time. Once it is mixed and placed in a patient's mouth, it is a stable compound and it does not constitute a risk."

Safer: "Once it hardens......."

Simmons: "Correct"

Safer: "It's safe"

Simmons: "Right"

Safer: "What do you do with your scrap amalgam?"

Simmons: "What we do in our own practice, is we keep it in a jar, that has glycerine in the jar, we pull the scrap in there, put a top on it, so that it is not exposed in any way. It's in an airtight jar all the time."

Safer: "Why, given that .........?"

Simmons: "That is the recommended way of taking care of it in a dental office. That is what's been recommended by the scientists so that's the way we do it."

Safer: "But if it's so perfectly safe in this combined state........"

Simmons: "But Morely, you've got to understand when we, uh, when we're saving this stuff, we, we've got a big jar of it. you've got to realize I'm in that office 5 days a week, with this material. I do not want to go in there with an open container like that. I want to be as safe as I can."

Tooth Traitors book, chapter 6 "It's Not Gonna Cause a Problem"

amalgam.org

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