Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Woman sues FDA over mercury fillings

|
|
 
  
Published: May 2, 2006 at 7:11 PM
Advertisement

CHICAGO, May 2 (UPI) -- An Illinois woman has filed suit demanding that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration prove mercury tooth fillings are safe or ban them, a report said.

The American Dental Association says metal fillings have been used safely for more than 100 years and fresh government studies said they caused no problems in children.

However, Linda Brocato of Prospect Heights, Ill., is convinced metal fillings caused her to develop multiple sclerosis -- symptoms that improved when she had the fillings replaced.

"The FDA is supposed to protect us, and they have not done so in this instance," Brocato told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Brocato filed the Chicago suit behalf of herself, a California dental board member and an Arizona state senator, among others.

U.S. Reps. Dan Burton, R.-Ind., and Diane Watson, D.-Calif., also have demanded the FDA regulate mercury fillings.

While the FDA banned mercury in disinfectants and veterinary products and warned against mercury in fish, "we fail to understand why the FDA ... continues to allow its unregulated use inches from a child's brain," they wrote U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt.

Topics: Dan Burton, Diane Watson, Michael Leavitt
© 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Notable deaths of 2012 AmfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala Indianapolis 500
BAFTA awards Golden Gate Bridge turns 75 Memorial Day around the nation
Additional Science News Stories
1 of 28
Lori Anne Madison, 6, competes in Scripps National Spelling Bee
View Caption
Lori Anne Madison, 6, of Woodbridge, Virginia, spells out the letters in her word as she competes during the opening round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, May 30, 2012, in National Harbor, Maryland. Madison, the youngest known qualifier in the history of the contest, correctly spelled the word "dirigible*", a lighter-than-air aircraft, to advance. UPI/Mike Theiler
fark
Annoying co-worker has a habit of leaving his computer unlocked. I'm thinking of adding "Smoke weed...
You rode a scooter to a murder? Son, I am disappoint
10 greatest moments in political misspellings
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's incurable metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma only has a few months left...
Authoritarian regime stops the rest of the world from stopping authoritarian regime
Is Mitt Romney actually a unicorn, and thus ineligible for the presidency? We're just asking questions...