Dental Amalgam Mercury Solutions (DAMS), a U.S.-based consumer organization, has co-filed a “Crime against Humanity” complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague against those involved in an $11 million experiment conducted on approximately 1,000 children.  The study of health harm from amalgam/mercury dental fillings, known as the “Children’s Amalgam Trial” (CAT), was funded by the U.S. government’s National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR).

International advocate Anita Tibau and documentary filmmaker Kelly Gallagher recently traveled to Lisbon to raise public awareness about the unethical research associated with silver/amalgam fillings, which contain 50% toxic mercury.  The two Americans provided critical documents and film footage that became part of a shocking exposé aired on Portuguese television last week, which prompted former victims of the CAT experiments to question the indignities and harm they incurred. The report by journalist Rita Maraffa Carvalho revealed many of the atrocities of CAT included in the complaint made to the ICC, which was co-signed by Tibau and Gallagher on behalf of the organization Mouth of Hope.  

The CAT mercury experiments were conducted on children aged 8-10 from low-income families in New England and the Casa Pia orphanage in Lisbon between 1997-2005.  The research was authorized by NIDCR’s project administrator Norman Braveman, and the Portuguese segment was managed by Timothy DeRouen, PhD, at the University of Washington. 

The entire CAT study was funded by U.S. taxpayers’ dollars, and even when personnel at Casa Pia were convicted of running a pedophile ring abusing the children in 2002, the study continued.  Also during the course of the CAT experiments, concerns were never addressed about misleading consent forms and previously published scientific studies indicating that exposure from mercury fillings was a well-known threat to human health.

The late Sandra Duffy, an Oregon attorney, noted in 2004 that the U.S. consent forms did “not disclose how much mercury exposure or absorption occurs from the fillings,” and the Portuguese consent forms, one hundred of which were signed by the same doctor for the orphans, did not even disclose that the fillings contained mercury.

Additionally, Boyd Haley, PhD, chairman of IAOMT’s Scientific Advisory Board and Professor Emeritus at the University of Kentucky, found major scientific flaws in the CAT study design and conclusions.

Dr. Olympio Pinto, a dental expert from Brazil interviewed for the Portuguese exposé, warned of dental mercury: “The scientific evidence in over 30,000 papers is clear...and we do not need any further findings, needing to submit even animals, let alone humans, to experiments we can anticipate the results of, based on pure science.”

Leo Cashman of DAMS, a non-profit that co-submitted the complaint, agreed: "We want justice for the children subjected to corrupt experimentation and an end to the use of toxic mercury fillings."

IAOMT member David Kennedy, DDS, added: “At a 2010 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) dental products hearing, Dr. Suresh Kotagal, a Mayo Clinic pediatrician, announced, ‘…there really is perhaps no place for mercury in children,’ but because the ill-conceived CAT studies are often cited by the American Dental Association and other groups, mercury fillings are still abused globally. Some countries have banned them entirely, and all manufacturers recommend against their use for pregnant women and children.  Obviously, toxic substances don’t belong in the mouths of children or any other patients.”