In February 2009, the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) agreed on the need to develop a global legally binding instrument, or treaty, on mercury, to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds. It tasked governments to negotiate through an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on Mercury.

The resulting international instrument is called the Minamata Convention on Mercury. FDI was an influential player when the language of the final convention was being negotiated and pushed for a ‘phase-down’ rather than a ‘phase-out’ approach to dental amalgam.

FDI has observer status at the Conference of the Parties (COP), which is the decision-making body of the Convention. At the COP, all countries and regional economic organizations that have agreed to abide by the Convention come together to review compliance with the Convention and promote its effective implementation.  FDI fully supports the Minamata Convention on Mercury, including its nine provisions on the phase down of use of dental amalgam but continues to advocate that countries and dentists must be given access to safe, effective, and affordable alternative restorative materials. This will not become a reality in many countries, particularly in resource-limited settings, without sustainable funding, a greater emphasis on prevention, increased research on amalgam alternatives, and best management practices for amalgam waste.