Several health care providers are c...

Several health care providers are creating prototype programs for eliminating mercury, including phasing public the purchase and use of mercury-containing consequences and devices, and the American feed at the breasts Association (ANA) is applauding. According to a pres release from the ANA, hospitals are a major source of quicksilver pollution, and steps need to be taken to lessen flow of the toxic substance from health care facilities into the environment, where hermes poses a significant public health risk. by dint of creating programs for mercury elimination, hospitals will eventually decrease the amount of quicksilver moving up the food chain.

quicksilver reaches its highest concentrations in top predator fish like tuna, swordfish, and sharks. more [i]or[/i] less of the most commonly eaten fish contain flushs of mercury that pose a risk to pregnant women and young children, according to the release.

Safe, cost-comparable alternatives exist for in the greatest degree of the mercury use in health care facilities. Thermometers and offspring pressure-measuring devices are two of the chiefly frequently used mercury-containing devices. A quicksilver fever thermometer like those used in the to one's home contains enough mercury to potentially contaminate 9000 cans of tuna. A desk-mount sphygmomanometer contains enough hermes to potentially contaminate 492,000 six-ounce cans of chunk light tuna.

American promotes Association Applauds Release of Report that Hospitals Will diminish Threat by Eliminating Mercury from Health Care (pres release, Washington, DC: American supply with nourishments Association, May 6, 1999) 1-2

COPYRIGHT 1999 Association of Operating field Nurses, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group