- Health Minister says Crematorium mercury imissions not affecting Islanders’ health
- Dental amalgam used in tooth fillings are the main source of mercury in humans.
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THERE is no evidence that Islanders’ health has been affected by mercury emissions from the Crematorium, the Health Minister has said.
Senator Andrew Green said that there were no plans to fit equipment which would stop ‘possible toxic emissions’ and added that ‘any current or prospective risk’ was of ‘an extremely low order’.
He made the comment following a question by Deputy Montfort Tadier and after a report found that Jersey’s Crematorium met all the emissions parameters required of similar crematoria in the UK.
Testing was carried out by a specialist independent company in January this year, with 12 cremations being monitored.
- Dental amalgam is a dental filling material which is used to fill cavities caused by tooth decay.
- Its primary component is elemental mercury.
- Tooth decay results in a loss of tooth structure. Dental amalgam is one type of dental filling material used to repair tooth structure that has been destroyed by decay and to restore the biting surfaces of a decayed tooth.
- Since the 1840s claims have been made that dental amalgam causes mercury poisoning and other toxicity.
Typically, a UK crematorium will carry out 2,000 or more cremations annually, compared to around 500 in Jersey.
Mercury emissions vary from one cremation to another, according to the amount present in human remains at the time.
Dental amalgam used in tooth fillings are the main source of mercury in humans.
However, the use of dental amalgam in Jersey is lower than in the UK, and the States has committed to working with the Island’s dentists to ensure that the use of dental amalgam is reduced even further.
Stewart Petrie, head of the Environmental Health Department, said: ‘Emissions from the Crematorium are well dispersed by the prevailing winds, and as all of Jersey is defined as ‘coastal’ by international parameters, deposition on land is most unlikely.
‘There is no evidence that mercury emitted from the Crematorium poses any risk to, or has any adverse effects on, the health of Islanders.’
In response to a written question, Senator Green said: ‘I would like to reassure Islanders that there is no evidence of any impact on the health of Islanders from possible toxic emissions – particularly of mercury from the Crematorium.
‘Nor is any such harm likely to occur in the future, given that the use of mercury in dentistry has been in decline for some time.’
