According to the
federal Environmental Protection
Agency,
Mercury is a
toxic substance that can harm both humans
and wildlife. Many different products,
including thermometers, contain mercury.
When these products break, the mercury can
evaporate, creating a risk of dangerous
exposures to mercury vapor in indoor air.
Moreover, mercury that volatizes when
products break in the home or in the waste
disposal system enter the environment and
can be deposited in lakes and rivers, where
it can be transformed into highly toxic
methylmercury. Very small deposits of
mercury can do significant damage. One gram
of mercury per year is enough to
contaminate all the fish in a lake with [a]
surface area of 20 acres.
A representative
of the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor
testified before the House Commerce
Committee that "mercury attacks the central
nervous system and can cause tremors,
impaired vision and hearing, developmental
deficits during fetal development,
attention deficit, and developmental delays
during childhood." Fetuses and children
under six are said to be especially
vulnerable. The contamination of lakes and
fish by mercury is said to be an important
public health problem.
As mentioned, one
source of mercury is the mercury
thermometer. (Other product sources include
batteries, automobile switches, and
fluorescent bulbs. Coal-fired electric
utilities, municipal waste combusters, and
medical waste incinerators are said to be
the principal sources of mercury in the
air.) Environmentalists say that mercury
thermometers are responsible for ten
percent of the mercury in the municipal
waste stream. Moreover, they say, in one
recent year, poison control centers
received 18,000 calls from people who had
broken a mercury fever thermometer in the
home. While health officials say that
breaking a thermometer is not likely to
threaten an individual's health, they
report that there have been cases of
serious illness and even death related to
the exposure to mercury from fever
thermometers; young children are said to be
most susceptible. The EPA has said,
"Clearly, thermometers are not the major
source of mercury to the environment, but
they are a meaningful small source that can
be relatively easily reduced".
Environmentally safer and affordable
alternatives to mercury fever thermometers
are readily available, including digital
electronic thermometers.
As a result, a
number of states have banned or limited the
sale of mercury thermometers, including
California, Oregon, Rhode Island, Maine,
Maryland, Indiana, Minnesota, and New
Hampshire. Some local units of government
across the country have issued bans as
well, including Ann Arbor. A recent report
from the American Academy of Pediatrics
called for the end to the use of
mercury-containing thermometers, according
to an AAP press release. Reportedly, the
EPA and the American Hospital Association
have signed a memorandum of understanding
agreeing to try to eliminate mercury from
health care, and some national retail
chains have stopped selling mercury
thermometers. Legislation has been
introduced that would ban the sale (with
some exceptions) of mercury thermometers in
Michigan.
THE CONTENT
OF THE BILL:
The bill would
amend Part 172 of the Natural Resources and
Environmental Protection Act (NREPA) to
prohibit, beginning January 1, 2003, a
person from selling, offering to sell, or
offering for promotional purposes a mercury
thermometer in the state or for use in the
state, except in certain specified
circumstances.
The bill would
permit a mercury thermometer to be sold or
offered when its use was required by state
or federal statute, regulation, or
administrative rule or for pharmaceutical
research purposes. The bill
would permit the sale or offering of
mercury fever thermometers by prescription.
A manufacturer of mercury fever
thermometers would be required to supply
with each thermometer sold by prescription
clear instructions on the careful handling
of the thermometer to avoid breakage and on
proper cleanup should the thermometer
break.
The bill's
provisions would be enforced by the
Department of Environmental Quality. A
violation would be a misdemeanor punishable
by imprisonment for not more than 60 days
or a fine of not more than $1,000, or both,
plus the costs of prosecution.
The term "mercury
thermometer" would be defined to mean a
product or component, other than a dry cell
battery, of a product used for measuring
temperature that contains mercury or a
mercury compound intentionally added to the
product or component. A "mercury fever
thermometer" would be defined as a mercury
thermometer used for measuring body
temperature.
MCL
324.17201
BACKGROUND
INFORMATION:
The web site of
the federal Environmental Protection Agency
contains a great deal of information on
mercury generally and on mercury
thermometers. The address is
www.epa.gov.
FISCAL
IMPLICATIONS:
The House Fiscal
Agency reports that the bill would result
in increased costs to the Department of
Environmental Quality. The actual budget
impact would depend on the number of
inspectors added. The $1,000 fine for
violations would go to local government to
support public libraries. (HFA fiscal note
dated 2-11-02)
ARGUMENTS:
For:
Proponents say
that the bill represents a small but
significant step in reducing the threat to
the environment and public health from
mercury. Michigan would join the list of
states (and local jurisdictions)
prohibiting or limiting the sale of mercury
thermometers. While the obvious benefit
from banning mercury thermometers is to
individual households, there will also be
some benefit to society at large. The
federal EPA notes that when mercury
thermometers break or are disposed of, say
in incinerators, mercury enters the
environment. The agency has said that
"combustion of various mercury-containing
products in municipal solid waste is the
second largest source of mercury to the
environment [and] the fourth largest source
. . . is combustion of medical wastes.
These two categories together account for
nearly one-third of the mercury released to
the atmosphere". Federal officials say
mercury thermometers contribute 17 tons of
mercury each year to the municipal solid
waste stream. And each year thousands of
people break mercury thermometers in their
homes. There are a number of suitable
alternatives to mercury fever thermometers;
indeed, some retailers have already stopped
carrying the mercury thermometer. The bill
takes a prospective approach; it does not
anticipate removing existing mercury
thermometers but prohibiting future
sales.It should be
also noted that the bill allows for special
circumstances when such thermometers may be
necessary.
Analyst: C.
Couch
1)
Pour your sample into a smooth,
clear
