Bill Text: GA HR649 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: National Institutes of Health and the United States Congress; use of mercury; urge action

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-03-19 - House Second Readers [HR649 Detail]

Download: Georgia-2009-HR649-Introduced.html

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09 LC 33 3122

House Resolution 649

By: Representative Marin of the 96th

A RESOLUTION

Urging the National Institutes of Health and the United States Congress to take certain action with respect to the use of mercury; and for other purposes.

WHEREAS, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is urged to release an independent evaluation of a highly suspect and corrupt process through which mercury amalgams were given a clean bill of health despite a Congressional mandate for a meaningful evaluation of the health hazards posed by continued use of mercury in dental fillings; and

WHEREAS, this evaluation was never carried out in a forthright and independent fashion; and

WHEREAS, the dental arm of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provided a blueprint to the consultant chosen to receive this contract outlining the desired mercury-favoring results; and

WHEREAS, a meeting coordinator was selected without background or experience in developing this kind of report and the coordinator inverted the terms of reference of the report from "finding evidence of harm," the Congressional mandate, to "proof that the product is unsafe"; and

WHEREAS, two FDA Scientific Advisory Committees rejected the report leading NIH Chairman Elias Zerhouni to hire an independent CPA firm to do an investigation and evaluation on the process and the report; and

WHEREAS, to date, despite two Freedom of Information Act requests, the CPA evaluation has not been released to the public; and

WHEREAS, this is representative of the corrupt, industry friendly, health hostile practices of the FDA and segments of the NIH; and
WHEREAS, this type of situation provides immediate harm through poor decision making and undermines the highly significant mandate of the FDA to safeguard American health, food, and products, and the following steps should be urged:

(1) Compel NIH Chairman Zerhouni to release the CPA report and the underlying documents upon which it is based to the public;

(2) Compel the FDA to commission a new and truly independent study under Congressional oversight on the dangers posed by dental mercury;

(3) Conduct Congressional hearings on the feasibility, impact, and mechanisms for splitting the FDA into two separate agencies to regulate food and to regulate drugs without contamination of food regulation by drug interests and vice versa, since clean, unadulterated food and supplements are a direct threat to the economic health of the pharmaceutical industry which provides a significant portion of the operating budget of the FDA through drug company "user fees";

(4) Conduct state legislative hearings on the feasibility, impact, and mechanisms for banning all medical uses of mercury in Georgia since the continued use of mercury poses a well-documented health hazard to the people of this state; and

(5) Consider state legislation to ban mercury from all medical uses and make its use or introduction into the human body a felony offense.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES that the members of this body urge the National Institutes of Health and the United States Congress to take certain action with respect to the use of mercury.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the House of Representatives is authorized and directed to transmit an appropriate copy of this resolution to NIH Chairman Elias Zerhouni and each member of the Georgia Congressional Delegation.