The issue
Mercury pollution is a severe global environmental and human health problem. The spread – and use – of mercury undermines efforts to improve health conditions in communities.
Many instruments used in hospitals, healthcare facilities and laboratories contain mercury. The substance is commonly found in thermometers, and blood pressure measuring device. Tools used in construction and the households such as thermostats, pressure gauges, and switches may also contain mercury.
Mercury may be released from these and other similar products, as no device is 100% failure-proof.
Substances such as fixatives, preservatives, lab chemicals, cleaners, and other products may have mercury added deliberately. When discarded inappropriately, mercury always contaminates the environment.
Know the hazards
Toxins with an especially heavy impact on the healthcare sector may be found in:
- Dioxin-containing byproducts
- Mercury-containing medical devices and wastes
- Cleaners, disinfectants, pesticides, and fragrance chemicals
- Electronic equipment
- Flame retardants
- PVC, Phthalates and DEHP
Some disturbing trends
Emerging scientific research is raising the level of concern about the health impacts of chronic chemical exposure. We now know that:
Even small doses of chemicals can cause disease — interfering with sexual development, disrupting hormones and causing cancer at very low levels.
Children and developing babies are most vulnerable.
Hundreds of synthetic chemicals are found in human breast milk and in the cord blood of babies in the womb.
Chemicals can act like drugs in our body, disrupting systems at low levels of exposure, and potentially causing harm in combination. As chemical use has grown in industrialized societies, so have chemical-related diseases, including cancer, asthma, birth defects, developmental disabilities, autism, endometriosis and infertility. Mounting scientific evidence links the incidence of these diseases in part to environmental toxicants.
Due to these trends, Health Care Without Harm is working with healthcare institutions around the world to reduce their use of hazardous chemicals and products, and to implement policies that drive the market toward safer alternatives.
Out of site should never mean out of mind
Discarding mercury quickly, without inappropriate processing, provides only temporary peace of mind. We may not see it, but the hazards are definitely present. At room temperature, significant amounts of mercury can turn into gas.
Exposed workers or patients may get exposed to highly toxic fumes.
Discarded mercury pollutes the global environment, affecting bodies of water and the organisms inhabiting them. Mercury that contaminates bodies of water and moist earth will turn into highly toxic organic mercury. Even small amount of this substance will harm the brain, and the rest of the nervous system. Organic mercury also accumulates in the bodies of exposed animals.
Healthcare is a considerable source of mercury pollution. The United Nations Environment Program identifies certain healthcare-related products and procedures as "important sources of anthropogenic releases" of mercury. These include fluorescent lamps, manometers, thermometers, and other instruments; dental amalgam fillings; waste treatment and incineration of products containing mercury; landfills; and cremation.
Other sources of mercury pollution include coal emissions from plant emissions, mercury cell chlor-alkali processing facilities, along with artisanal and industrial gold mining.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) both recognize that mercury is a serious global environmental and human health problem.
No mercury, no problems
The UNEP Governing Council, representing all UN represented countries, made reducing methyl mercury accumulation in the global environment a major global priority.
Fortunately, there are safe, cost-effective non-mercury alternatives for nearly all healthcare processes that use the harmful element. The WHO and Health Care Without Harm have launched a global initiative to eliminate most mercury usage in healthcare within a decade.