Sodium is a metal so reactive, that when you throw a chunk of it into water it will dart around explosively as it consumes itself in the reaction. And chlorine? Some 50 years ago, an Englishman who survived a German chemical attack in the trenches of WWI told me "They tell you it's a symptom of chlorine poisoning that you think you will die. But the truth is you will want to die." When these two dreadful substances combine chemically, they give rise to a white powder, sodium chloride.
The powder is, however, better known as kitchen salt
¾which shows that the properties of a chemical compound are very dif-ferent from those of its constituents. This is to get to dental amal-gam, which was recently lambasted as dangerous in teeth fillings by ABC's 60 Minutes (I didn't expect my praise for them in the last issue would last very long). Last I heard, the danger was that when the deceased are cremated, elemental mercury (a lethal poison) in their fillings is set free to cause damage to the environment, if not disintegration of the solar system. But now mercury is threatening the living. Yes! They have it straight from their own mouths.In fairness I will admit that my example of kitchen salt is not a strict analogy, for an amalgam is not a true chemical compound, but an alloy of mercury with other metals, and an alloy is some-thing like a solid solution: a very homogeneous mixture, but with interatomic bonds between the components less strong than in a true chemical compound. However, what matters is that the trace quantities of elemental mercury detectable in the mouth are tiny, if present at all, and are, in any case, smaller than the trace quantities of mercury in inhaled air.
I wish I had the space to publish the material sent in for by sub-scribers Irwing B. Golden, D.D.S., and Gregory S. Golden, D.D.S., who offer to use plastic or gold fillings if requested by their patients, though they do not recommend it. The material is avail-able in Fort Freedom (Science Lab), but here is a brief extract of a letter to their patients:
"The difference between dental amalgam and mercury is that dental amalgam does not contain any "free" mercury; the mercury is combined with an alloy of silver, tin and zinc . . .
"Considering the millions of patients who have been treated over that period [of 150 years] and the billions of fillings that have been placed, the fact that there has not been a worldwide epidemic of mercury-related diseases with reports of widespread poisoning is reassurance enough that there is no danger to health from dental amalgam in teeth . . .
"It is in [dentists'] financial interest to do work that is medically necessary. But to endorse such a policy with no acceptable scien-tific evidence to support it would be not only unethical, but also dangerous to the public health and to dentists' professional repu-tation."
[More: American Dental Association News, 7/1/91, pp. 1-10, local dentists' newsletters,e.g.,Newsletter of Greater St. Louis Dental Society.,Jan/Feb.1991.See also AlM Report, Jan-B, 1991.]
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Vol. 18, No. 7
Newsletter: Access to Energy Newsletter Archive Volume: Volume 18 Issue/No.: Vol. 18, No. 7 Date: March 01, 1991 08:20 AM Title: Depriving All Saddams of the Bomb
Copyright © 2004 - Access to Energy Newsletter Archive
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