Eu Mercury phase out in Measuring and Control Equipment - EEB

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REPORT FROM THE CONFERENCE “EU MERCURY PHASE OUT IN MEASURING AND CONTROL EQUIPMENT”• COCIR/Philips explained that there is no question that we have some other techniques thatmeasure pressure more accurately than with a column of mercury. However, such techniquesshould be correlated somehow to human health; and for that there is a need for real validationdata and potentially some longitudinal data to make sense of it. At the very least you wouldneed a wide range of clinical studies comparing the traditional auscultation and a movingcolumn – which could be done on a double-headed system using the same cuff pulling thoseerrors out. Nonetheless, COCIR/Philips commented that today we do not have a fully validated,similarly accurate or better mercury-free alternative.3. NGOs view and experiences on mercury-free measuring devices(Presentation by Dr. Anna Lind, European Environmental Bureau)Mercury is highly toxic and exposure to it causes risk to human health and the environment. That iswhy the aim of the EU mercury strategy is to reduce mercury levels in the environment by reducingmercury use, supply and emissions. This is in line with what was discussed on the 25 th UNEPGoverning Council meeting where governments agreed that there is a need for a global legallybinding instrument to tackle the mercury problem.Mercury sphygmomanometers contain a large amount of mercury (about 80g - 100g) and are widelyused in hospitals and practitioners’ offices in the EU. The negative effects when using mercurysphygmomanometers emerge when these are broken, if they are dropped or if there is leakage. Thiscauses risk to staff and patients in the hospitals. The toxic mercury vapour can be inhaled bybystanders (patients, doctors, nurses and other hospital staff) and remain in the setting for a longtime (in the carpet or in furniture or in floor cracks) if not taken care properly. Women ofchildbearing age, pregnant women and children are most susceptible. It is also a risk to theenvironment when mercury sphygmomanometers enter the waste stream, either when land filled orincinerated. The positive effect of using mercury-free sphygmomanometers is, consequently, thereduced mercury burden in the society.Furthermore negative cost effects are related with mercury containing sphygmomanometersespecially in the event of breakage, leakage, spillage, considering that those are hazardous waste.Such costs (and staff time) are associated with the need for: special infrastructure/storage to dealwith hazardous waste, closing down a room, special clean up procedure, cost to train staff inhazardous waste management as well as costs related to health care costs for treatment of hospitalstaff or patients for exposure to mercury.On the other hand, there are suitable mercury free devices already available on the market. They aresold from many medical equipment suppliers, are validated and satisfy the criteria of theprofessional medical organisations such as the British Hypertension Society and the EuropeanSociety for Hypertension. They have been proven to have no problems in any kind of clinicaldiagnosis or monitoring – even for special medical conditions such as arrhythmia, pre-eclampsia,diabetes or hypertension and other vascular diseases. Such mercury-free products are available fromWelch Allyn, Microlife, SunTech Medical, American Diagnosis Corporation Trimline MedicalProducts, Omrori, Rudolf Riester, Heine Optotechnik, BOSCH + SOHN, Braun, Terumo, Seinex.21
REPORT FROM THE CONFERENCE “EU MERCURY PHASE OUT IN MEASURING AND CONTROL EQUIPMENT”Aneroid sphygmomanometerMany health care facilities in the EU have already done or are planning to do this transition, such asSweden, Latvia, Poland and Ireland. These countries have only positive experiences with thistransition. They have not reported problems in any kind of clinical diagnosis or monitoring – evenfor special medical diseases.The above are also supported by the recent EEB commissioned study ‘Turning up the pressure:phasing out mercury sphygmomanometers for professional use’ which is presented by its author,further down. This study looked at hospitals in eight different countries in the EU and theirexperiences with mercury and mercury free sphygmomanometers, since many of them have alreadymade the transition.EEB´s position is that mercury-containing sphygmomanometers should be banned because there aresafe, precise and reliable alternatives available on the market which are used in hospitals in differentcountries already.Apart from the sphygmomanometers, there are also other measuring devices containing mercurysuch as porosimeters, pycnometers, etc. They all contain different amounts of mercury butcollectively these become large amounts of mercury, which are circulating in society and can bereleased to the environment. Alternatives exist for almost all of those devices. The costs of mercury–free alternatives appear lower or similar to the cost of the mercury devices and in most cases theuse of the mercury-containing devices is decreasing for different reasons.Therefore for those other measuring devices still using mercury, at least 100% recycling of themercury used should be ensured and phase out of most of these devices appears feasible and needsto be further pursued.4. Phasing out mercury sphygmomanometers for professional use(Presentation by Peter Maxson, Concorde East/West)In 2008, COWI/Concorde East/West carried out a study for DG Environment where they evaluatedthe consumption of mercury in measuring equipment, estimated to be some 7-17 tonnes of mercuryper year in the European Union. This total includes sphygmomanometers, in which there isapproximately 3-6 tonnes of mercury.The study “Turning up the pressure: phasing out mercury sphygmomanometers for professionaluse” 6 that was carried out for the EEB, examined the difference of opinion among professionals6 http://www.zeromercury.org/SphygReport_EEB_Final-A5_11Jun2009.pdf22
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Eu Mercury phase out in Measuring and Control Equipment - EEB

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