Shareholders Challenge Danaher/Kerr to Phase Out Mercury Toot...( Dominican Sisters of Hope Others Ques...),Health

Dominican Sisters of Hope, Others Question the Continuing Use of Mercury

WASHINGTON, May 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Dominican Sisters of Hope, supported by Consumers for Dental Choice and the Mercury Policy Project, will present a resolution calling on the Danaher (NYSE: DHR) corporation to transition out of manufacturing mercury fillings at the company's annual shareholder meeting at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C. this Tuesday, May 5 at 3 p.m. Danaher owns Kerr, the largest manufacturer of mercury amalgam.

"Mercury is highly toxic, can cause permanent harm to a fetus, to a child's developing brain or an adult's kidneys," said Valerie Heinonen, o.s.u., a consultant in corporate responsibility who will be representing the Dominican Sisters of Hope, which owns a block of Danaher shares. "The underserved are at great risk because of the continued use of mercury amalgam. We think it is wrong to put them at such risk when there are suitable alternatives available."

Consumers for Dental Choice and Mercury Policy Project will be armed with proxies, allowing them to vote shares of stock. The groups do not expect to get a majority vote of shareholders in their favor at this meeting but are using this platform to put Danaher on notice that there is a growing tide to forever erase the use of amalgam.

"The World Health Organization says no safe level of mercury exists," commented Michael Bender of the Mercury Policy Project. "The good news is that there are mercury-free alternatives that Kerr sells and that dentists are already using. Several countries have already banned its use, so why doesn't Kerr take a leadership role and stop polluting the planet with mercury?"

Bender notes that mercury is both a local and a global pollutant and that then Senator Bar
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