Update from Consumers for Dental Choice: Ask Sharfstein if he Vetoed FDA “End Game” Proposal

On August 14, in a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein (and copied to Commissioner Hamburg and press aide Mary Long), FDA’s top press official George Strait proposed the agency begin a “communications end game” on our movement. http://www.toxicteeth.org/endgame-email-from-Strait.doc

Is protecting mercury fillings so important to FDA that it must attack those who want to phase it out?

The American people need to know: Did Sharfstein put the brakes on this contemptible proposal? Either he stopped it or he didn’t; saying nothing when an aide presents a program that so blatantly violates our constitutional rights is unacceptable. Sharfstein is a Presidential appointee who took an oath to uphold the Constitution.

The “end game” plan suggests FDA may be spiraling into a rogue agency whose decisions cannot withstand public scrutiny. FDA cannot explain why unrestricted mercury exposure is good for the public health. FDA cannot explain why parents should not be informed that mercury exposure from amalgam puts their children at risk for neurological harm. FDA cannot explain why it allows corporations untrammeled amalgam sales while it denies consumers’ basic right to know that a toxin is being implanted in their bodies. FDA cannot explain why Commissioner Hamburg organized a staff meeting about the amalgam rule when she was required to recuse herself. Small wonder FDA is desperate to silence our questions with an end game.

This week’s project is to find out whether Deputy Commissioner Sharfstein rejected the plan for an “end game” against us.

Call or write Deputy Commissioner Sharfstein at 301.796-5040 or JMSharf1@fda.hhs.gov. Tell him you have two questions about Assistant Commissioner George Strait’s plan for an “end game” against our movement:

1. Did you reject George Strait’s proposal for an “end game” against those fighting your mercury fillings rule?

2. Did you sanction Strait for proposing to punish those who disagree with you?

Let’s tag-team this again. Each day this week a different time zone calls or writes. West Coasters first:

* On Tuesday, 22 Sept, folks in Pacific time zone + AK + HI.

* On Wed. 23 Sept, Mountain Time Zone, plus our friends in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.

* Thurs., 24 Sept: Central Time zone, plus our friends in Latin America.

* Fri., 25 Sept: Eastern & Atlantic time zones.

-- Charlie

21 September 2009

PS: Last week’s project was to write or phone your Congressman or Congresswoman about Margaret Hamburg participating in this rule-making despite claiming she recused herself, and about FDA’s proposed end game on this consumer movement. If you haven’t written yet, please do so now. You can reach Congress by going to https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml; choose your state, enter your zip, then click “Contact My Representative.”

Charles G. Brown, National Counsel
Consumers for Dental Choice
316 F St., N.E., Suite 210, Washington, DC 20002
Ph. 202.544-6333; fax 202.544-6331
charlie@toxicteeth.org,
www.toxicteeth.org
Working for Mercury-Free Dentistry