New Report Supports Feasibility Of EU Ban On Mercury Sphygmomanometers

Main Category: Medical Devices / Diagnostics
Also Included In: Public Health;  Hypertension
Article Date: 01 Oct 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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As the EU begins an investigation into the feasibility of banning mercury in professional-use sphygmomanometers, supporters of a ban have received a boost from a new report detailing the wide use of mercury-free alternatives in the United States.

Titled "End of an Era: The Phase-Out of Mercury Blood Pressure Devices", the document includes testimony from a number of US healthcare providers and Group Purchasing Organisations about how the transition to mercury-free blood pressure devices has posed few problems. [Download report PDF here.]

The report supports claims from environment groups that alternatives are viable. Its publication coincides with the start of an EU Commission review of the availability, economic and technical feasibility of mercury-free sphygmomanometers. The Commission's findings will be published in 2009.

Lisette van Vliet, EU Policy Advisor for Health Care Without Harm Europe, said: "The fact that so many hospitals in the US and Europe are using mercury-free sphygmomanometers proves there are alternatives good enough even for the special requirements of healthcare use."

The use of mercury in sphygmomanometers is legally restricted in Sweden, the Netherlands, and Denmark. There are regional restrictions in Austria and recommendations against its use in the UK and parts of Ireland. Further examples of hospitals using mercury-free alternatives exist in France, Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic.

The EU is considering banning mercury sphygmomanometers because mercury is a potent neurotoxin which accumulates in the environment and poses a particular hazard to the development of the unborn foetus. Each mercury sphygmomanometer contains between 80 and 100 grams of mercury.

The EU has already banned the sale of mercury thermometers and recently made illegal the export of raw mercury and a selection of products containing the heavy metal.

-- Background information tagged by HCWHE on del.icio.us
-- Report: End of an Era
-- NGO Submission on Viability of Mercury-Free Devices

About HCWH Europe

Health Care Without Harm Europe is the European branch of an international network of organisations working to reduce the harm healthcare does to the environment. The coalition also has offices in Latin America, the US and South East Asia, with over 450 members representing 55 countries.

Members of the HCWH international coalition include Kaiser Permanente (the largest US non-profit healthcare provider), Karolinska University Hospital (Sweden's leading hospital in environmental issues in healthcare), the Viennese Hospital Association (Austria's largest healthcare provider), and the Royal College of Nursing (UK).

www.noharm.org/europe

Other key organisations working on mercury

The European Environmental Bureau, (EEB), www.eeb.org, is a federation of more than 145 environmental citizens' organisations based in all EU Member States and most Accession Countries, as well as in a few neighbouring countries. The aim of the EEB is to protect and improve the environment of Europe and to enable the citizens of Europe to play their part in achieving that goal.

The Zero Mercury Working Group, www.zeromercury.org, is an international coalition of more than 69 public interest non-governmental organizations in 35 countries. The aim of the group is to reach 'Zero' emissions, demand and supply of mercury, from all sources we can control, towards eliminating mercury in the environment at EU level and globally.

Health and Environment Alliance, www.env-health.org, aims to raise awareness of how environmental protection improves health. It achieves this by creating opportunities for better representation of the perspectives of citizens and health experts in the environment and health-related European policy-making.