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Mercury pollution is a serious global environmental and human health problem which causes a variety of adverse impacts throughout the world.
In health care settings, mercury may be released from thermometers, blood pressure devices, gastrointestinal and other mercury containing medical products. Fixatives, preservatives, lab chemicals, cleaners and other products may also contain intentionally added mercury which, when discarded to the waste stream, result in environmental contamination. Furthermore, many building products such as thermostats, pressure gauges and switches also contain mercury.
Fortunately, there are safe, cost-effective non-mercury alternatives for nearly all uses of mercury in health care.
Mercury spills in hospitals, clinics and labs expose doctors, nurses, other health care workers and patients to elemental mercury. At room temperature significant amounts of liquid elemental mercury transform to a gas, exposing workers or patients in the area to potentially highly toxic levels.
If discarded as a waste, mercury will eventually make its way into the environment where organisms living in rivers, lakes, or moist earth transform it into highly toxic organic mercury. This type of mercury which affects nerves and brains at extraordinary low levels persists and accumulates in animals, fish and the global environment.
Health care plays an important role as one source of mercury. For instance, the United Nations Environment Programme lists various health care-related products and activities as “important sources of anthropogenic releases” of mercury. These include fluorescent lamps, manometers, thermometers and other instruments; dental amalgam fillings; waste treatment and incineration of products containing mercury; landfills; and cremation.
Other recognized sources of mercury in the environment include coal fired power plant emissions and mercury cell chlor-alkali plants, along with artisanal and industrial gold mining.
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Key Resources
 The End of an Era Report (pdf)
The Global Movement for Mercury-free Health Care Report (pdf)
New Delhi Declaration on Mercury Free Health Care (pdf)
Johannesburg Declaration on Mercury Free Health Care (pdf)
Buenos Aires Declaration on Mercury Free Health Care (pdf)
Report of the Southeast Asia Conference on Mercury in Health Care
Philippines AO to phase out mercury from health care
Manila Declaration on Mercury Free Health Care
WHO Policy on Mercury in Health Care
UNEP Mercury Programme
Mercury Free Health Care
Lurking Menace, Mercury in India's Health Care Sector (pdf)
Mercury in Hospitals, India (pdf)
Dental Flyer on Mercury, India (pdf)
Mercury Fact sheet, India (pdf)
Mercury in India, Toxic Pathway (pdf)
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