Toxin Levels in Fish Lead To Calls For UK-Wide Ban on Mercury Dental Fillings (theguardian.com)
- Reference: 0179915538
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/10/30/1512240/toxin-levels-in-fish-lead-to-calls-for-uk-wide-ban-on-mercury-dental-fillings
- Source link: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/30/toxin-levels-in-fish-lead-to-calls-for-uk-wide-ban-on-mercury-dental-fillings
> Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can harm the nervous, digestive and immune systems, as well as the lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes, even at low levels of exposure. Its organic form, methylmercury, is particularly dangerous to unborn babies and can move through the food chain building up in insects, fish and birds.
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> Britain is lagging behind the rest of the world on phasing out mercury dental fillings, with 43 countries having already banned mercury amalgam, including the EU, Sweden, Norway, Tanzania, Uganda, Indonesia and the Philippines. Northern Ireland will outlaw mercury fillings from 2035 but no such ban is planned in the rest of Britain. According to new analysis by the Rivers Trust and Wildlife and Countryside Link, more than 98% of fish and mussels tested in English rivers and coastal waters contain mercury above safety limits proposed by the EU, with more than half containing more than five times the recommended safe level.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/30/toxin-levels-in-fish-lead-to-calls-for-uk-wide-ban-on-mercury-dental-fillings
Wrong angle? (Score:1)
Since it's suspected it enters the food-chain when people with mercury fillings get cremated, then ban the cremation of teeth with such fillings. If it's too hard to tell, then ban cremation of any human teeth. Remove the jaw first.
Re: (Score:2)
You don't even need to go that far. Mercury fillings are very obvious so just get a pair of strong pliers and remove the teeth with them.
Teeth necklaces (Score:3)
Yes, lets pull out teeth out of all dead and make them into sustainable and organic jewellery like necklaces.
Re: (Score:2)
Perhaps UK should look into mummification.
I feel dumb asking this but (Score:1)
How does banning mercury based dental fillings affect the mercury level in fish?
Re: (Score:3)
> How does banning mercury based dental fillings affect the mercury level in fish?
According to Environment Agency data, crematoriums are the second-largest source of mercury emissions to air after fuel combustion. Power stations contribute about 846kg mercury emissions to air, followed by crematoria, with 593kg, road transport, 228kg, domestic combustion, 194kg and cement processes, 140kg.
Now you don't need to read the article.
Re: (Score:2)
Wow, thanks for posting that info. I never would have guessed that this would be as dramatic a problem as being their second largest contributor to mercury pollution nor that it releases about 2/3rds-3/4s of what their electrical generation does.
Might have been nice to have something that reflects the scale of the problem in the summary.
Re: (Score:2)
> Might have been nice to have something that reflects the scale of the problem in the summary.
You must be new here - welcome!
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah I found it a bit shocking as well. I probably have a mercury filling or two. I will one day be cremated. If they were to pull those teeth first I would probably not mind. Otherwise sorry fish.
Never mind the fish... (Score:2)
Speaking as someone with a couple of mercury fillings I'd be interested to know what they're doing to me. Its known that grinding and chewing can slowly abrade the filling and the particles are only going one way. Apparently this isn't considered a problem. Uh huh. How often have we heard hand waving expedient answers like that before.
This reminds me of taking phosphates (Score:1)
Out of dish soap.
A while back they took phosphates out of dish soap. I don't have a really fancy dishwasher because I live in an apartment and I'm lucky to have a dishwasher in the first place. But even back when I lived in a house before I had to move cities and got trapped I had a cheap dishwasher because the expensive ones were well, expensive.
The cheap ones worked fine because of a little thing called phosphates which are what made cheap dishwashers work..
Now phosphates in runoff cause algae
WT actual F? (Score:3)
I get that mercury in various forms is toxic, but if the dental amalgam is so dangerous, why is it being put in people's mouths and has been for decades?
And how exactly is the mercury amalgam from dental fillings finding its way into fish? Is it leaching out of buried bodies into the water table, or is it the smoke from cremations thats then rained out?
Or could it be that the two are entirely unrelated, and it's just a diversion from all the untreated industrial waste being pumped into our rivers and seas?
Doesn't matter (Score:2)
Most UK coastal waters are class B and C and fish and bi-valves can't be exported to the EU anyway, since the UK discharges raw shit 400,000 times a year over 1000 times per DAY!. this doesn't matter, not one bit.
An amalgamation of stupidity (Score:2)
Mercury from dental fillings is literally nothing, and the stupidity in thinking cremation or burial puts meaningful amounts into the environment is insane. The average number of amalgam fillings per person is under 4 and at about 1 gram each where mercury is 10-15% so maybe .6 grams per person. Over 2200 tons of mercury are released by coal burning and it’s only 1/3 of human mercury emissions making it around 7000 tons per year, or the equivalent of 4.2 billion people’s tooth filling per year
Nevermind the fish (Score:2)
More importantly, how much does Soylent Green contain?
Antivaxers! (Score:2)
There is no proof that mercury in vaccines getting injected into newborns... oh wait, this is about dental fillings. Never mind. Carry on.