King County Passes Mercury Thermometer Sales Ban

by Brandie Smith

On March 21, 2003, the day was gray and cloudy, but our spirits lit up Council Chambers as the King County Board of Health unanimously passed a regulation to ban the sale of mercury thermometers in King County. By taking this action, King County became the first local government in Washington to take this important step in reducing mercury pollution. The Washington Toxics Coalition and our coalition partners are very excited about this victory and hope that more cities and counties around the state will work with us to pass similar regulations.

Mercury is an extremely toxic substance that can have devastating impacts on human health and wildlife. Mercury contamination is of particular concern to pregnant women, women of childbearing age and young children. On January 31, 2003, the Centers for Disease Control released a report that confirmed that up to ten percent of women have enough mercury in their bodies to pose a risk of neurological damage to their developing babies. Mercury attacks the central nervous system and can result in deficits during fetal development, hearing and visual problems and learning disabilities.

In addition to passing the mercury thermometer sales ban, the Board of Health took further action by voting unanimously to pass a motion, introduced by Seattle City Council member Richard Conlin, to brief the Board of Health on the issue of including mercury blood pressure devices (manometers) in the sales ban. The motion directed the King County staff to study the issue and report back to the Board of Health in September.

Mercury blood pressure devices are one of the largest mercury sources in the hospital environment. One mercury blood pressure device contains from 80-100 grams of mercury. Considering it only takes about 1 gram of mercury to contaminate a 20-acre lake to the point where fish are unsafe to eat, these products represent a considerable hazard.

There is a growing number of hospitals that have already eliminated mercury manometers, including nationally recognized institutions such as the Mayo Clinic, the National Institutes of Health's Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center, and Johns Hopkins Hospital. Here in Washington, the University of Washington is currently phasing out mercury manometers and Harborview eliminated mercury manometers in 1999. Children's Hospital, Group Health Cooperative, and Virginia Mason and Swedish medical centers have either completely switched to new aneroid devices or mix those devices with mercury ones. We are very excited the King County Board of Health took this step forward to protect the public, especially children, from the devastating effects of mercury pollution. We urge the Board to take another step forward by revisiting the manometer issue and banning the sale of manometers in September.

If you are interested in working on similar initiatives in your community please contact Brandie Smith, Toxics Campaigner at the Washington Toxics Coalition, [email protected] or (206) 632 1545 (x18).