Accra, Oct. 24, GNA – Dr Gilbert Aboryo Ankrah, President-Elect of the Commonwealth Dental Association said “I think Minamata Convention is good because the recommendations and its provision can be used to propagate dentistry to higher or different levels.
“We need to hype on the aspect of the recommendations which focuses more on preventions and health promotion and its relations to general health which a lot of people do not know.
“This is an opportunity for us to propagate healthy lifestyles, so the government, non-governmental organisations, the dental professionals, the media, and civil society organisations need to educate the public”.
Dr Ankrah who was contributing to a discussion on mercury-free dentistry for the implementation of the minamata convention explained however that the Minamata Convention was good and could promote healthy lifestyles.
The Ecological Restoration in collaboration with the World Alliance for Mercury Free Dentistry engaged strategic representatives from: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult; and Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.
Others representatives were: Ghana Health Service, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and the National Focal Person, Minamata Convention, at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Dr Ankrah who spoke on: “The Alternatives used in Dentistry in phasing down Dental Amalgam,” charged advocates of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, not to create fear and panic about the impact of mercury usage in dental amalgam (mixture of mercury and other substance).
“If there are any group of people who should be careful and concerned about the usage of mercury in dental practice, then it must be the professionals, the dentists and their team of nurses.
“We come into contact with mercury more often than the patient; but currently there is no evidence to show that as a result of constant usage or contact with mercury at the dental unit, any of the health professionals has contracted any ailment,” Dr Ankrah who is past President of Ghana Dental Association stated.
He said: “So Minamata is great without phasing amalgam, but at the same time, we do it in such a way that people will not develop decay, that is the way we must all see Minamata Convention.
“With respect to alternatives, more research is coming out, but with a higher cost, the best way out is prevention and more of health promotion”.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury.
The major highlights of the Convention on Mercury include; a ban on new mercury mines, the phase-out of existing ones, control measures on air emissions, and the international regulation of the informal sector for artisanal and small-scale gold mining.
The Convention draws attention to a global and ubiquitous metal that, while naturally occurring, has broad uses in everyday objects, and is released to the atmosphere, soil and water from a variety of sources.
Controlling the anthropogenic releases of mercury throughout its life cycle has been a key factor in shaping the obligations under the convention.
Mr Emmanuel Odjam-Akumatey, Executive Director, Ecological Restorations explained that the Minamata Convention on Mercury calls for the phasing down of the use of dental amalgam, because it was 50 per cent mercury and mercury was a major environmental threat to children.
Mr Odjam-Akumatey explained that African non-governmental organisations have adopted a common platform that the children of Africa, and all the people of Africa had a basic human right to mercury-free dental care and a mercury-free environment.
He noted that African Countries were tasked to impress upon the exporting nations and funding organisations to cease the toxic trade of dental mercury into Africa, and seize sending to Africa interest groups whose agenda was to phase up amalgam in Africa.
He said civil society organisations were also tasked to promote and advocate, in their countries, mercury-free dentistry as a route of expanding oral health care, especially among children.
GNA