Public Health
MEPs vote to ban the use of mercury in dentistry
Members of the European Parliament’s Environment committee today voted to adapt EU legislation on mercury, to bring it in line with the Minamata Convention on Mercury signed in 2013.
The new regulation aims to ban mercury in dentistry by December 2022.
Green member of the environment committee Bas Eickhout said:
"Mercury is a highly toxic substance and a major threat to human health: it is surely in everyone's interest that we bring EU legislation in line with the international convention signed in 2013.
"We are very pleased that this regulation would prohibit the use of mercury in dentistry by December 2022. Dentistry uses about 75 tons of mercury per year, 24% of the total mercury use in the EU, and much of this mercury then finds its way into our water. We should not continue to tolerate this health risk when there are already proven alternatives. Indeed, 66% of dental restorations are already mercury-free.
"While we expect that some within the European executive and certain member states will try and roll back on the progress achieved today, we would ask them to put first the needs of our citizens' health."
