yes, that is always a good analogy, what if we were to use lead, a far less toxin than mercury. people would be outraged, even if the ADA said it didn't leak out. Another thing to point out is the lack of accountability, though. if you contact the ADA about it, they will say mercury is approved for fillings. so, you contact the FDA and they say they only regulate food and drugs. you ask the dentist, he says the ADA says it is safe. you contact the ADA and they say they don't regulate or govern what is used in fillings, that they are a membership organization that dentists can join. it ultimately boils down to the govenment allowing it, but who do we hold responsible. the buck is always passed. no governmental authority who has the power to change it wants to jump onboard, because it would mean people have been poisoned for over 150 years from their fillings. the govenment would go bankrupt from all the lawsuits. what the govenrnment is hoping for is that everyone will quietly get their mercury fillings replaced with white ones and then no one will have anything to complain about. in fact, i would not be surprised if the government starts giving dentists incentives for switching to white fillings, so they can avoid any future conflict that arises, if they are not already.