King County Passes Mercury Thermometer Sales Banby Brandie SmithOn March 21, 2003, the day was gray and cloudy, but our spirits lit upCouncil Chambers as the King County Board of Health unanimously passeda regulation to ban the sale of mercury thermometers in King County. By taking this action, King County became the first local governmentin Washington to take this important step in reducing mercurypollution. The Washington Toxics Coalition and our coalition partnersare very excited about this victory and hope that more cities andcounties around the state will work with us to pass similarregulations. Mercury is an extremely toxic substance that can have devastatingimpacts on human health and wildlife. Mercury contamination is ofparticular concern to pregnant women, women of childbearing age andyoung children. On January 31, 2003, the Centers for Disease Controlreleased a report that confirmed that up to ten percent of women haveenough mercury in their bodies to pose a risk of neurological damageto their developing babies. Mercury attacks the central nervous systemand can result in deficits during fetal development, hearing andvisual problems and learning disabilities. In addition to passing the mercury thermometer sales ban, the Board ofHealth took further action by voting unanimously to pass a motion,introduced by Seattle City Council member Richard Conlin, to brief theBoard of Health on the issue of including mercury blood pressuredevices (manometers) in the sales ban. The motion directed the KingCounty staff to study the issue and report back to the Board of Healthin September. Mercury blood pressure devices are one of the largest mercury sourcesin the hospital environment. One mercury blood pressure devicecontains from 80-100 grams of mercury. Considering it only takes about1 gram of mercury to contaminate a 20-acre lake to the point wherefish are unsafe to eat, these products represent a considerablehazard. There is a growing number of hospitals that have already eliminatedmercury manometers, including nationally recognized institutions suchas the Mayo Clinic, the National Institutes of Health's Warren GrantMagnuson Clinical Center, and Johns Hopkins Hospital. Here inWashington, the University of Washington is currently phasing outmercury manometers and Harborview eliminated mercury manometers in1999. Children's Hospital, Group Health Cooperative, and VirginiaMason and Swedish medical centers have either completely switched tonew aneroid devices or mix those devices with mercury ones. We are very excited the King County Board of Health took this stepforward to protect the public, especially children, from thedevastating effects of mercury pollution. We urge the Board to takeanother step forward by revisiting the manometer issue and banning thesale of manometers in September. If you are interested in working on similar initiatives in yourcommunity please contact Brandie Smith, Toxics Campaigner at theWashington Toxics Coalition, bsmith@watoxics.org or (206) 632 1545(x18).
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