Amalgam Rule by the EPA

The EPA or Environment Protection Agency has come to finalize its standards for pretreatment of amalgam under the Clean Water Act.  Dental practices that still use amalgam will now have to reduce the discharges of mercury and other heavy metals into the municipal sewer systems.

The rules from the EPA are supported by practices recommended by the ADA including the use of amalgam separators to capture the amalgam so that it can be recycled.  The average annual cost is about $800.00 per practice to do this procedure of capturing the amalgam which would normally be released to air, land and water.   Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can have a wide range of health effects to people and aquatic life.   It is estimated that this new rule can result in preventing some 10.2 tons a year from being discharged into the water systems.

My question is:  Why do insurance companies pay for amalgam fillings over composite fillings and downgrade white fillings to amalgam to save money??  It is cheaper than composite but it certainly is not good for the environment.  Insurance companies need to be more environmentally responsible in supporting healthier materials and metals like gold instead of supporting toxic mercury laden amalgam.

More information on site www.epa.gov/eg/dentaleffluent-guidelines