MELBOURNE, VIC – Disgusted with Australia being the genesis of dangerous mercury product to their nations, 16 civil society organisations from 12 Asian and Pacific nations submitted a petition on 7 January calling for Federal Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell to ban the export of dental amalgam. The petition is targeted at Southern Dental Industries, the world’s last publicly traded dental products manufacturer making dental amalgam, and whose CEO recently promised shareholders she will “maximise” amalgam sales.
Civil society organisations have united to challenge CEO Samantha Cheetham’s focus on “lower socio-economic markets” to sell her mercury product. Their 12 nations cover the full range of Australia’s prime export regions: ASEAN (Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam), the Pacific (Fiji), North America (Mexico, the United States), South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka), and Arab states (Jordan, Yemen).
CEO Cheetham boasts about the planned profit spread for mercury fillings in a recent article from Bio Tech Daily which shared that ‘SDI’s revenues mainly were derived from amalgam, which chief executive Samantha Cheetham dubs a “great product” given there’s no need for marketing spend.’
Acting under the radar, the previous Australian Liberal government handed SDI a $3M cheque to create an alternative to amalgam. Then, as explained in the petition: “After developing the alternative, instead of replacing the amalgam, the Cheetham family spits in the eye of Australian taxpayers by continuing to sell mercury fillings for four more years.”
“The Labor government must order the Cheetham family, with its net worth in 9 figures, to return that $3 million to the Treasury—pocket change to them but real money to the average Australian,” said Charles Brown, president of the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, based in Washington.
Noting that the European Union, as of New Year’s Day, banned the export of amalgam and its use, the petition calls for Minister Farrell to ban Australian dental amalgam exports on 31 March 2025.
The petition notes that the Australian Government's lack of urgency in banning amalgam exports poses a reputational risk: “As your nation becomes more famous as the world’s most prominent exporter of this last remaining mercury-based medical device, exports could suffer in relation to countries with good faith export policies.” Fewer exports, the petition warns, means fewer jobs for Australians.
The dental amalgam that SDI creates and continues to export consists of 50% mercury, which poisons the fish that children and families around the globe eat, causing brain damage to some – says U.S. EPA. Dental amalgam in the workplace (with mercury being the most vaporous of the heavy metals) causes reproductive harm to dental workers. Health authorities around the world—such as the US Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada—warn it amalgam is too dangerous to give to children, to pregnant women, to those with kidney disease, etc.
Yet SDI CEO Cheetham boasted to shareholders of her goal to ‘maximise’ amalgam sales, knowing full-well its horrid environmental repercussions to Asian and Pacific nations, says Mr Brown.
To see the full petition, organised by the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, click here.
About us:
About the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry:
The World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry is an international coalition of organisations from six continents dedicated to ending dental mercury use. Headquartered in the USA at the Consumers for Dental Choice in Washington D.C., the Alliance consists of a global team of dentists, environmentalists, scientists, physicians, attorneys, journalists, and consumer advocates whose goal is to abolish the use of mercury-based amalgams in dental products worldwide. For more information, visit www.toxicteeth.org.
Contact details:
Susan McNair, Currie, 0439 389 202, [email protected]
