Dental amalgam controversy satisfactorily countered any safety concerns." Amalgam use is regulated by Health Canada as are all medical treatments and Health Canada has also stated that dental amalgam is not causing illness in the general population. Not all organizations in Canada share this view. In a recent publication, the Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors states that "... mercury is the most toxic non-radioactive material on earth, and since it is constantly being released from amalgam, its use should be abandoned. They recommend a gradual detox and chelation therapy over several months to minimize the toxic effects of amalgam fillings. Australia recognizes the
Chemical element whole number. For example, the relative atomic mass of chlorine is 35.453 u, which differs greatly from a whole number as it is an average of about 76% chlorine-35 and 24% chlorine-37. Whenever a relative atomic mass value differs by more than 1% from a whole number, it is due to this averaging effect, as significant amounts of more than one isotope are naturally present in a sample of that element. Chemists and nuclear scientists have different definitions of a "pure element". In chemistry, a pure element means a substance whose atoms all (or in practice almost all) have the