Superfoods: Cacao

The word 'cacao' (pronounced ka-cow) actually means 'cocoa'. This superfood has been so highly valued over past generations that it was used as currency in Mexico City. These days, cacao is more affordable and is easily accessible.

Cacao contains a naturally rich supply of antioxidants (621!) and is an excellent source of dietary fiber. It is also known to be one of the highest dietary sources of magnesium, and possesses many other essential minerals, such as chromium, in significant quantities. Cacao increases energy and enhances health.

We at LNH toss a few into smoothies for a little chocolatey goodness. They are NOT sweet -- we use the sweetness from the coconut water, hemp milk base or fruit as the 'sweetness' for the smoothie.

Look for 100% pure cacao beans that are certified organic, vegan and raw (dried at low temperatures to protect nutrients).

Enjoy!

Californians for Green Dentistry and Consumers for Dental Choice at the Long Beach Health Freedom Expo

The Health Freedom Expo, the premier natural and alternative health event in the nation, will be held at the Long Beach Convention Center, California on March 25, 26, and 27.* It features a glittering array of talented speakers each day, and dozens of booths.

Californians for Green Dentistry will have a booth, and we encourage you to stop by. At 3:00 pm on both Friday and Saturday (March 25 and 26), Charlie Brown will be at the booth to speak to volunteers and potential volunteers about the Californians for Green Dentistry project.

The Expo also features mercury-free dentistry activists as plenary speakers:

Saturday, 12:00 noon: Kelly Gallagher and Anita Vazquez Tibau will speak about our grassroots movement in California; their topic is “Californians for Green Dentistry: No More Mercury!” Kelly is the filmmaker, and Anita is the director of Californians for Green Dentistry.

Sunday at 12:00 noon, Charlie will speak on “The Battle to Ban Mercury Fillings: A Case Study for Grassroots Action.” Charlie will explain where we are and how we got there, and show how these strategies can be applied to other movements.

Hope to see you there!

Consumers for Dental Choice
Washington, DC

* link also available at www.healthfreedomexpo.com/site/

Texans confront FDA Center Director Shuren

Texans confront FDA Center Director Shuren
. . . now it's your turn

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration convened a Town Meeting in a Dallas suburb on March 10 – and our movement gave FDA a Texas-size welcome. Several dentists, a dental hygienist, and a number of victims of mercury toxicity turned out. Although the Town Meeting was open to any subject, amalgam dominated. The huge press coverage – the major Dallas TV stations and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram – was exclusively about mercury fillings!*

Presiding was the very man in charge of reconsidering FDA’s abysmal amalgam rule: Center for Devices Director Jeff Shuren. Dr. Shuren told the Texas press:

"Now, the [FDA scientific] panel did …point out that there may be certain populations who are more sensitive to dental amalgam, like young children and pregnant women."

and

"We may decide to change our current regulation and that could include changing the status of dental amalgam, which means it comes off the market or has other controls on it or we may decide to leave things as they are."

So FDA's point man on amalgam has announced that FDA is seriously considering protecting children and unborn babies from amalgam. Kudos goes to our outstanding Texas team:

• The organizer of it all was Carol Ward, vice president, Dental Amalgam Mercury Solutions. Thanks to Carol’s outreach, we had at least seven witnesses, including former president of the International Academy of Biological Dentistry and Medicine Dr. Bill Glaros, who came all the way from Houston.
  
• The press director was Virginia Pritchett of Mineral Wells, Texas. With her strong journalism background, Virginia secured a plethora of press.**
  
• Texans who made this event a success include hygienist and author Carol Vander Stoep of Austin; dentists Dr. Bill Glaros of Houston, Dr. Allen Sprinkle of Arlington, and Dr. Daniel Strader of Dallas; and consumer advocates Randy Staudt of Austin, Kathairein Magdalena of Irving, and Elizabeth Hong of Dallas.

The FDA scientific panel has spoken: End amalgam now for children, end amalgam now for pregnant women. The people of Texas have spoken: Stop treating the children of America like guinea pigs. Now it’s your turn.

Please write Center Director Jeff Shuren at Jeff.Shuren@fda.hhs.gov or phone him at 301-796-5900, and ask him: When, Dr. Shuren, are you going to stop amalgam use in children and pregnant women, as the scientific panel advised? Here are some talking points:

• Dr. Shuren, you recently stated that “Under the EU [European Union] system, the public are being used as guinea pigs….We don't use our people as guinea pigs in the U.S.” But FDA’s own amalgam rule promotes using children as guinea pigs for a mercury product that FDA knows can cause harm and admits is not proven safe for children.
  
• FDA concedes that amalgam puts children and unborn babies are at risk: “The developing neurological systems in fetuses and young children may be more sensitive to the neurotoxic effects of mercury vapor.”
  
• FDA admits that there is no scientific evidence that amalgam is safe for children and unborn babies: “Very limited to no clinical information is available regarding long-term health outcomes in pregnant women and their developing fetuses, and children under the age of six, including infants who are breastfed.”
  
• FDA’s own scientific panel repeatedly told FDA to stop amalgam use in children and pregnant women: For example, Dr. Kotagal of the Mayo Clinic says “There really is no place for mercury in children”; Dr. Ismail says “children less than 6 years of age, I would restrict it significantly”; Dr. Thompson says “definitely not in pregnant women and definitely not in those below 6 years of age”; Dr. Fleming says we need contraindications for pregnant women; and Dr. Burbacher says “why put amalgams in children if we know they're going to live with that for the rest of their lives? And we don't know what that's going to do.” In other words, stop using children as guinea pigs for amalgam.

-- Charlie

Charles G. Brown
National Counsel, Consumers for Dental Choice
President, World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry
16 March 2011

* Links also available at http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/health/FDA-Hears-Concerns-Over-Dental-Fillings-117766113.html & http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/03/10/2913105/concerns-over-amalgam-fillings.html#tvg

** Link also available at http://www.wfaa.com/news/health/Group-confronts-CDRH-over-mercury-in-dental-amalgam-fillings-117773213.html