ADA News

Washington—The Association supports a "very aggressive" amalgam separator goal under a memorandum of understanding with the Environmental Protection Agency, the ADA told Congress May 26 in invited testimony. The goal would call for a 20 percent gain in voluntary use of separators within 12 months and 25 percent annual increases thereafter.

"This is very ambitious, but we are committed to it," said William Walsh, legal counsel representing the Association at a hearing titled "Assessing EPA’s Efforts to Measure and Reduce Mercury Pollution from Dentist Offices." A House domestic policy subcommittee chaired by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), convened the third in a series of hearings inviting testimony from the ADA, the Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Council of the States, Mercury Policy Project and separator manufacturer SolmeteX. The SolmeteX witness was unable to attend the hearing.

Rep. Kucinich said the hearing was intended to "focus primarily on whether or not the EPA's memorandum of understanding can achieve its purpose in its current form." Reps. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Diane Watson (D-Calif.) questioned the invited witnesses on their understanding of the MOU. Mr. Walsh said he represented the ADA on amalgam wastewater issues and could not respond to Rep. Watson’s line of questions on mercury, dental amalgam, dental practice and patient choice.

The ADA said the parties to the MOU "have agreed on a very aggressive goal of 20 percent gain in separator use within 12 months of the acceptance of the goal in the MOU, and 25 percent gain every 12 months thereafter."

The underlying data on current separator use is "contradictory and incomplete," the Association said. "Recognizing this, and with the support of the ADA, EPA decided to directly seek data from separator manufacturers to develop a firmer estimate. That work is well under way," Mr. Walsh, of counsel, Pepper Hamilton LLP, said in prepared testimony.

The Association and the EPA agreed in a memorandum of understanding to promote voluntary use of amalgam separators in dental offices (ADA News Today Jan. 8, 2010, EPA backs Association’s voluntary waste management practices). The MOU also called on all three parties including the National Association of Clean Water Agencies to agree upon a progress goal.

Mr. Walsh said the 20-25 percent goal counts only voluntary adoption of separators. Separators added as part of a mandate are not counted towards meeting the goal.

"The ADA has devoted substantial time and resources to promoting its best management practices," he testified. "For example, the ADA has reached out to its members directly, through its newspaper, its website and in posters and brochures. Last year, its volunteer leaders on the ADA Council of Dental Practice published an opinion editorial, extolling the MOU and urging dentists throughout the country to install separators.

"The ADA has also reached out to state dental societies, explaining the value of separators and offering its resources to states wishing to pursue a program on its own. Dental societies have responded. States as diverse as Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio and Michigan are all pursuing their own initiatives to promote separator use," Mr. Walsh testified.

"Mandating separators would require a costly inspection and enforcement program, given that some 100,000 dental offices would need to be regulated. The approach under the MOU avoids this cost. The best approach is to allow the voluntary efforts of organized dentistry to move forward, avoid excessive government regulation and minimize the costs to taxpayers."

The MOU does not preclude the Environmental Protection Agency, state or local agencies from enacting mandatory separator programs.