Mercury-free health care ?

[Guest guest]

Mercury-free health care

http://www.ecnnews.com/cgi-bin/15/etstory.pl?-sec-NHNews+fn-fn-fn-mercury.0409-2\

0060409-fn+page_0 " > -->

--\

-----------

The problem with mercury

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin, a global priority pollutant and a PBT —

persistent bioaccumulative and toxic chemical.

It persists in the environment for a long time; it is stored in animal tissues

in increasingly high concentrations up the food chain and is toxic in small

amounts. Exposure to mercury can damage the brain, spinal cord, kidneys and

liver. It also easily crosses the placenta, passing from mother to child.

--\

--------------

And even then mercury is present in vaccines given to little children. They

are also given to pregnant mothers. They continue to be used in dental fillings

and in a host of serum based medicines. Simply removing mercury from

thermometers and hospital toxic waste is no solution. - Jagannath

--\

-----------------

 

By Suzanne Laurent

Staff writer

 

 

 

Thermometers, blood pressure machines, other diagnostic instruments and some

medicines — all containing mercury — have been used for decades in hospitals.

 

Ten years ago, a hospital employee might have tossed a broken thermometer into a

red bio-hazard bag for infectious waste, and it would then be sent to the

incinerator. But mercury, toxic in small amounts, persists in the environment,

and is stored in animal tissues.

 

Exposure to mercury can damage vital organs and be transmitted from mother to

child during pregnancy. The very items used to measure patients' vital signs

could make them or the public sick when those instruments were broken or

disposed of improperly.

 

A lot has changed in the past decade.

 

Parkland Medical Center, an 86-bed hospital in Derry, was recently awarded the

2006 Making Medicine Mercury Free Award, a national honor given by Hospitals for

a Healthy Environment.

 

Other hospitals in the state, including Catholic Medical Center and the Elliot

Hospital, both in Manchester, have also collaborated with Hospitals for a

Healthy Environment, known as H2E, to become virtually mercury free.

 

According to a 1997 Environmental Protection Agency study, medical incinerators

were the fourth largest source of man-made emissions into the environment. The

study found hospitals contributed about 5 percent of the total wastewater

mercury load in some areas, and mercury fever thermometers contributed about 17

tons of mercury to solid-waste landfills annually.

 

Hospitals for a Healthy Environment was launched in 1998, when the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency and the American Hospital Association agreed to

work on health-care's contribution to mercury pollution and other serious

environmental concerns.

 

In June 2000, then Gov. Jeanne Shaheen signed a bill regulating mercury-added

products. That made New Hampshire the first state in the country to enact a

statewide ban on the sale of mercury-containing thermometers without a

prescription. The ban became effective July 1, 2001.

 

That same year, Parkland began its effort to stop using mercury-containing

products.

 

" It was a big commitment, " said Diane McNealy, director of environmental

services at Parkland. The hospital had to tell every one of its vendors to

eliminate all mercury-containing products, she said.

Parkland's departments worked together to educate staff on the safe handling and

disposal of mercury; to inventory and label all chemicals, drugs and devices; to

assess opportunities for replacement and to implement policies banning the

purchase of mercury-containing items.

 

" We worked with our vendors on an exchange program, " said McNealy.

 

" All mercury products were replaced with nonmercury products. These included

thermometers and sphygmomanometers. " A sphygmomanometer measures blood pressure.

McNealy said mercury-filled devices were exchanged at no cost to the hospital or

the patient.

 

For centuries, mercury was the ideal choice for devices used to measure

temperature and pressure. It is the only common liquid metal, and its usefulness

stems from its combination of weight, ability to flow, electrical conductivity,

chemical stability, high boiling point and relatively low vapor pressure.

 

Mercury was also used in dilators — instruments slipped down a patient's throat

into the esophagus, and used for such conditions as acid reflux, or in surgery

or radiation. Because of its density and liquid state, mercury was used in those

instruments as a weight.

 

Tungsten-filled dilators have now replaced them. The life span of both is the

same, but the tungsten dilators cost approximately $40 more than the

mercury-filled ones.

 

In chemicals, including pharmaceuticals, mercury was used as a preservative. And

mercury was also used in electrical gauges and switches. A typical large

hospital might easily have contained over 100 pounds of mercury, incorporated

into hundreds of different devices in dozens of locations, according to a report

by Hospitals for a Healthy Environment.

 

" By the end of 2003, Parkland was virtually mercury free, " said McNealy. " There

are still things that have minute amounts of mercury, like fluorescent light

bulbs. We switched to green-tip fluorescent bulbs that have the lowest grade of

mercury. "

Parkland also upgraded its cleaning chemicals, lab equipment and thermostats.

 

" In January of this year, we went through every department, and we applied for

the mercury-free award in February, " said McNealy. " We had to have all of our

documentation in place, with written policies about what we were doing in each

department. "

McNealy is also the hospital's hazardous waste coordinator, certified by the

state.

 

" I educate everyone in the hospital, " she said. " When the hospital has its

annual safety fair, I talk about paint, trash burning and mercury and how things

pollute the environment. "

 

Parkland uses Clean Harbors to recycle its hazardous waste. Infectious waste is

handled by Stericycle.

 

" Regular trash goes to the landfill, " McNealy said. " I even had to educate the

people at the transfer station. They thought we were dumping everything there. I

live two blocks from the hospital and I know people in Derry are safe, " McNealy

said.

 

Catholic Medical Center is designated as a Hospitals for a Healthy Environment

Partner for Change, according to Susan Dimick, spokeswoman for the hospital.

" This is a voluntary program in the movement towards environmental

sustainability in health care, " she said. " CMC is very close to being

mercury-free, as virtually all mercury-containing medical devices and supplies

are mercury free, and mercury-containing facility equipment is identified,

inventoried and replaced as mercury free items become available. "

 

Dimick said Catholic Medical Center, a 330-bed full-service health-care

facility, has not yet filled out the documentation needed to apply for the

Making Medicine Mercury Free Award.

 

The 296-bed Elliot Hospital has been working to ensure the facility is mercury

free for years, according to spokeswoman Susanna Whitcher. " This is an effort

that will never stop, " she said. " We began work to become mercury free in 1998.

Elliot Hospital evaluated its equipment, its facilities and its processes. We

planned alternatives and then implemented a strategy that has, over time,

effectively eliminated mercury from all these sources. "

 

Elliot, like other mercury-free hospitals, is committed to staying mercury free

and has a purchasing policy that requires active consideration of the presence

of mercury when purchasing equipment.

 

 

 

 

" Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from life but the conquest

of life by the power of the spirit. " - Aurobindo.