Manila — Following best actress Natalie Portman’s call to the USA Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to limit mercury pollution, several Philippine artists today speak out on the dangers of mercury and call for its phase-out in the health care sector. The ad dubbedArtists unite for mercury phase-out in health care done by envi-health group, Health Care Without Harm-Southeast Asia (HCWH-SEA), is simultaneously released in other Asian countries.
The campaign aims to phase-out mercury in health care and ultimately pushes for importation ban on mercury-containing thermometers and sphygmomanometers.
“Knowing the dangers of mercury to people and the environment, we are calling all health care facilities in the Philippines and around Asia to switch to safer alternatives to mercury devices,” said actor/director Albert Martinez.
The Philippine artists unite and call on other Asian artists to support or to become part of the artists unite for mercury phase-out in health care movement. The group is using social network to reach out to artists around the Asian region.
“We know the power that celebrities, artists and known personalities have in influencing people’s opinion,” said Faye Ferrer, HCWH-SEA Program Officer for Mercury in Health Care. “Thus we are grateful for these artists who have enlisted their support for mercury phase-out.”
Mercury spills in hospitals, clinics and laboratories expose doctors, nurses and other health care workers and patients to mercury. At low exposure, it may cause tremors, emotional changes, insomnia, neuromuscular changes, headaches, disturbances in sensations, changes in nerve responses and performance deficits on tests of cognitive function. At higher exposure it may cause kidney defects, respiratory failure and even death.
Among the artists featured in the ad are celebrity mom Suzi Abrera, TV & events host Judah Paolo, actor/director Albert Martinez, Survivor Philippines Palau Shaun Rodriguez, tattoo artist Gene Testa, WLS FM DJ Papa Dudut and visual artist Kabunyan De Guia.
“Random check at health care stores and we see that viable alternatives are widely available in the market. On the outside, the alternatives look more expensive but taking into consideration the clean-up cost in cases of mercury spills, the alternatives are way cheaper,” said Abrera who first got involved in the campaign when she hosted a mercury-free caravan with HCWH-SEA and mercury-free alternatives distributors.
“When we visit a hospital, the last thing we want is to expose our family to toxic chemicals like mercury,” said Judah Paolo. “With safe, accurate and affordable alternatives, we wonder why some health care facilities are not yet making the switch to alternatives.”
At room temperature, significant amounts of liquid elemental mercury transform to a gas. If discarded as a waste, mercury will eventually make its way into the environment where organisms living in rivers, lakes or moist earth transform it into highly toxic organic mercury.
According to Ferrer, mercury spill are not contained in one area. “A gram of mercury, this is the amount present in one mercury thermometer, may contaminate 80,940 square meters of lake or 192 basketball courts,” said Ferrer. “And there is no final disposal for mercury.”
A case in point is the Minamata disease brought by reckless dumping of heavy metals including methyl mercury from a factory to the water sources around Minamata, Japan. This claimed countless lives and the effects spanning to more than 50 years.
“We do not need to look that far to see the effects of mercury poisoning,” said Martinez citing an incident in a school in Paranaque where about 20 children had to be hospitalized and chelated after playing with a beaker of elemental mercury. “To date, one boy still suffers from advanced stage of Parkinsonism. We do not want this to happen again, not in our family, not among our friends, not anywhere.”
Parkinsonism refers to symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. It is a neurological syndrome characterized by tremor, hypokinesia, rigidity and postural instability.
In 2008, the Philippine Department of Health signed Administrative Order 21 mandating the gradual phase-out of mercury-containing devices in all Philippine health care facilities and institutions by 2010. Unfortunately, to date there are only more than 600 mercury-free hospitals in the country.
There are several movements in other Asian countries. Recently, in India, the mercury phase-out guidelines issued to all Central Government hospitals have resulted in the guideline being included in the Indian Public Health Standard for all 30 to 500 bedded hospitals. The Central Pollution Control Board has also framed draft guidelines entitle Environmentally Sound Management of Mercury Waste in Health Care Facilities, emphasizing the collection and storage of mercury from discarded devices.
In Indonesia, the Ministries of Environment and Health hosted a Mercury Roundtable to identify potential partners to promote a mercury-free health care sector. In Thailand, the Ministry of Public Health is implementing GREEN & CLEAN Hospital in 12 regional Health Promotion Hospitals. These hospitals will pilot mercury-free health care. In Nepal, 3 hospitals have piloted a mercury-free health care.
“Mercury phase-out in Philippine health care is one big step,” said Ferrer. “But we need more than this. Thus we are appealing to all health care facilities around Asia to shun away from mercury use in health care. And we are likewise appealing to individuals, to artists whose words are known to draw support from a lot of people to call on your respective government to support the phase-out of mercury in health care.”
HCWH-SEA will hold the Asia Regional Conference on Mercury-Free Health Care on March 15 (8:30 AM to 6:30 PM) at the Gateway Suites, Gateway Mall, Cubao to tackle the global initiatives to phase-out mercury devices in health care, as well as the mercury phase-out initiatives in Asia and the Philippines. On March 16 (8:15 to 11:15 AM), there will be a panel discussion on Dental Amalgam & its Alternatives and Greening the Health Sector discussing environmental issues like climate change & health care, substituting chemicals in health care, GREEN & CLEAN Program in Thailand hospitals, sustainable health care waste management in Philippine hospitals and developing small scale autoclaves for healthcare waste in Tanzania.