Injured Consumer, Freya B. Koss – President of the PA Coalition for Mercury-Free Dentistry

Freya Koss, Director of the Pennsylvania Coalition for Mercury-Free Dentistry, testifies at the Orlando townhall hosted by the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) which is responsible for classifying and regulating dental mercury amalgam fillings.

Freya Koss
Freya Koss

Freya B. Koss – Founder and President of the PA Coalition for Mercury-Free Dentistry

The PA Coalition for Mercury-Free Dentistry is a grassroots organization dedicated to bringing public awareness about the health and environmental risks of mercury in dentistry. Freya advocates for informed consent for patients and banning the use of mercury amalgam dental fillings.

A Victory in Philadelphia! the first city in the nation to pass an informed consent bill.
 Working with Philadelphia Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown since 2003, she and Pennsylvania activists were successful in having the Use of Mercury in Dentistry Bill No. 040904 passed on December 13, 2007. The bill requires that all dentists in Philadelphia give their patients a brochure explaining the potential dangers of mercury amalgam fillings. Philadelphians are among 75% of the public who are unaware that their silver fillings contain 50% mercury. Another first, the bill will require dentists and patients to sign a form indicating that the brochure has been given to the patient prior to treatment. The portion of the bill mandating the installation of amalgam separators in dental offices was removed from this bill due to pressure from the dental associations, but will be introduced later in 2008

Freya discovered that she had been misdiagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus and Myasthenia Gravis in March 1998 after having an amalgam filling drilled out and replaced with a new one. She quickly learned that the sudden onset of double vision and drooping eyelids resulted from acute mercury exposure during the dental filling procedure only seven days before. She also learned that silver fillings were actually 50% mercury, a fact her dentist had never told her.

Within weeks she had lost her equilibrium, had difficulty walking and developed swollen mandibular glands, severe head pain and worsening eyesight. She found a dentist to safely remove her mercury fillings and worked with an alternative doctor to naturally detox the mercury out of her body. Many of her symptoms slowly disappeared, which was proof to her that the mercury had been the culprit.

Disbelief that dentists were permitted to put mercury, a potent neurotoxin, into the human body, quickly motivated her to dedicate herself to bringing public attention to what she considers a “dental holocaust”. In October’1998 she organized the first U.S. public symposium at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School about the health hazards of mercury amalgams, has testified at government hearings both abroad and in the U.S, lobbies for local and national legislative reform, and is currently working with the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology www.IAOMT.org) as a consultant publicist.

Her current campaign is directed towards changing the Food and Drug Administration’s abysmal 2009 “no risk” Amalgam Classification, and lobbying the U.S. State Department to protect the American public in their negotiations with the United Nations Environmental Programme’s (UNEP) global initiative (INC3) to ban the use of mercury containing products worldwide, specifically dental amalgam fillings.

During Freya’s 20-year career in non-profit and corporate consulting, event coordination and fundraising, she worked with the National Museum of American Jewish History, the Annenberg Performing Arts Center and Dance Affiliates at the University of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Maritime Museum, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet Society.

Grateful for the support and guidance she received from professionals and consumers at the onset of her illness, she is committed to helping others regain their hope and health as she did.

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