For Release: Friday, April 16, 2004
DEC Seeks Public Input on Draft Dental Mercury Regulations
Proposal Helps Protect Communities by Reducing Mercury Contamination
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) today announced that it will hold three workshops to discuss a draft preliminary regulation for the use and disposal of mercury used in dentistry. The draft preliminary regulation would require dental facilities which use mercury in the practice of dentistry to install, properly operate, and maintain mercury amalgam separation and collection equipment.
"As part of New York State's ongoing commitment to reducing harmful contamination in our communities, DEC is proposing draft regulations that will help prevent mercury from entering the environment," DEC Commissioner Erin M. Crotty said. "I encourage the public to provide input on this important proposal to help build a stronger, healthier New York."
Dental amalgam is a direct filling material used in restoring teeth. It is made up of approximately 40-50 percent mercury, 25 percent silver and 25-35 percent of a mixture of copper, zinc, and tin. Mercury is a persistent, bioaccumulative toxin that can cause damage to the human brain and nervous system when ingested. Mercury can enter the environment from a dental office by vaporization into office air during mixing of mercury amalgam, and by disposal of mercury amalgam mixing material and old fillings down the drain or in the regular trash.
DEC's draft regulation would establish waste management standards for dental facilities that use mercury or generate mercury-containing dental amalgam wastes. To help maximize the recycling of mercury-containing dental amalgam waste from dental wastewater, the proposed draft regulations would require dentists to install, properly operate and maintain mercury amalgam separation and collection equipment. An amalgam separator is equipment designed to remove waste amalgam contained in rinse or wastewater from chair-side water collection and discharge systems. They can remove up to 99 percent of the mercury in the wastewater.
The draft regulation would also specify the mercury removal efficiency of the separation and collection equipment and include the other statutory requirements of law passed in 2002 that bans the use of non-encapsulated elemental mercury in dental offices and requires dentists to recycle any mercury or dental amalgam waste generated in their offices. The draft preliminary regulation can be accessed on the NYSDEC website.
Dental offices have remained largely unmonitored for mercury disposal. Extracted amalgam materials are often rinsed down the drain (usually to a municipal wastewater system or septic system), deposited in biomedical waste containers destined for waste incineration, or placed in trash disposed of in a municipal waste landfill or incinerator. Some recent studies have suggested that a large contributor of mercury to municipal wastewater is dental offices.
DEC will be holding three workshops to discuss the draft regulation and accept comments from the public. Written comments will also be accepted until Friday, May 21, and can be sent to Jeffrey C. Schmitt, P.E., Director, Bureau of Solid Waste, Reduction and Recycling, Division of Solid and Hazardous Materials, NYSDEC, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-7253. Following the end of the comment period, DEC will review the public input and comments for potential incorporation into proposed regulations.
The dates for the workshops on DEC's draft regulations are as follows:
- Tuesday, April 20, 2004, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., NYSDEC, 625 Broadway, Public Assembly Room, Albany, NY 12233.
- Monday, April 26, 2004, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., NYSDEC Region 8 Office, Conference Room, 6274 East Avon-Lima Road, Avon, NY 14414.
- Thursday, April 29, 2004, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., New York Academy of Sciences, East 63rd Street, New York, NY 10021.
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