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Senate panel votes to ban mercury thermometers |
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| USA: June 28, 2002 | ||
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WASHINGTON - A Senate panel yesterday approved a bill that would ban mercury thermometers and provide $20 million for a program to encourage families to trade in their old thermometers for new ones that are safer for the environment.
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Ten U.S. states have already banned the sale of mercury thermometers and the Senate bill, sponsored by Republican Susan Collins, would expand that to the entire United States. Mercury is a toxic, gray liquid metal that occurs naturally in the environment in tiny amounts. An old-fashioned thermometer contains about 1 gram of mercury, which is enough to contaminate a 20-acre lake and require fishing advisories, according to environmental activists. When a mercury thermometer is broken, it forms miniscule droplets that emit dangerous vapors which can harm the human nervous system. The Senate Environmental committee, led by Jim Jeffords, a Vermont independent, approved the bill and its $20 million funding for a thermometer trade-in program. However, the bill still faces an uphill battle to become law because the House has not introduced a similar piece of legislation. The ban on mercury thermometers is supported by several U.S. public health groups, physicians and other environmental groups. "Each and every American can make a difference by buying a different kind of thermometer," said Michael Bender, head of the Mercury Policy Project. A digital thermometer that beeps when it is ready to be read costs about twice as much as a mercury thermometer, which typically retails for about $3.50. Most mercury pollution in the United States has been linked to electricity generating plants which spew the toxic material into the air. The mercury particles eventually settle in waterways and are eaten by fish, then move up the food chain.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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