Thursday's announcement of the new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal on amalgam brought swift comment from those who support the proposed rule.
Michael Bender, director of the Mercury Policy Project, is one who supports the new rules.
"Mercury from dental clinics is by far the largest source of mercury in municipal wastewater, one of the largest product uses and also the largest reservoir in use today," stated Bender in a press release. "We applaud [EPA] Administrator [Gina] McCarthy's leadership in proposing regulations to reduce dental mercury discharges."
The New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) highlighted the cost efficiencies.
"Setting a pretreatment requirement for dental offices is a cost-effective method of keeping mercury out of our environment," said Laura Haight with NYPIRG in the release. "New York has had a similar requirement in place for years. Amalgam separators are widely available, straightforward to install, operate without electricity or chemical addition, have low installation and maintenance costs, and facilitate easy recycling of mercury from dental fillings."
According to the Mercury Policy Project, 12 states and a number of cities have already mandated amalgam separators at dental clinics.
