Posted on 09/10/2002 9:56:27 AM PDT by Korth
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate voted to ban the sale of mercury fever thermometers in order to curb a source of environmental contamination.
On a voice vote and without dissent, the Senate sent The Mercury Reduction and Disposal Act to the U.S. House of Representatives for concurrence.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates medical mercury thermometers contribute about 17 tons of mercury to solid waste per year, said Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican and chief sponsor of the measure.
The bill calls for a nationwide ban on the sale of such thermometers as well as a grant program to help consumers exchange them for digital ones or other alternatives.
"Mercury fever thermometers are very easily broken. When this happens, the improper disposal of the mercury can have severe environmental and physical consequences," Collins said.
"One mercury thermometer contains about one gram of mercury," said Collins, "enough mercury to contaminate all the fish in a 20-acre (8 hectare) lake."
Her bill would also create an interagency task force, headed by the EPA, to address the problem of the global circulation of mercury and ways to reduce the mercury threat.
Methylation via the acetyl-CoA pathway in bacteria. Easy as pie ;)
Funny what you remember, isn't it? I haven't thought about this stuff in years ;)
I am not familiar with the process of mixing liquid mercury with water, could you enlighten me?
Almost forty years ago, at age fifteen, I had abdominal surgery, and had a tube into my stomach weighted with mercury. When they withdrew it, the pouch of mercury ruptured, and I swallowed approximately 10 cc of mercury.
I never suffered any ill effects from that, or from playing with mercury as a kid, or even playing with asbestos as a kid. Oh, and we used to ride our bicycles behind the truck fogging for mosquitos using diesel fuel and DDT, happily inhaling gobs of the stuff.
I guess living dangerously had no effect on me. (And we had guns and knives as well.)
Yes, it is a wonder the British and Germans weren't firing mercury thermometers at each other instead of mustard gas during WW1.
Might as well ban dihydrogen oxide (water). Don't you know that so many people and kids die from too much water?
Do it for the chill-ren!!!!
According to the industry standard, Lange's Handbook of Chemistry, mercury is soluble only in nitric acid (HNO3.)
Martha Stewart. Guess she didn't give enough money to the correct democrats. Either let the DOJ do their job, or you might as well let Mineta frisk Martha for any insider information.
How come the envirowackos aren't up in arms on this Congressional assualt on Mercury, one of the natural
"fruits" provided by Mother Nature?
So "puddles" of mercury stayed in place after 3-4-500 years, in a very unkind environment.
Can't remember what was recovered v. what they suspected from the ship's manifest.
However, natural sources of Hg are far more abundant in our waters than man-made releases, therefore a convincing argument of the folly of limited-mitigation will fall on deaf ears among the "comfortably ignorant."
Actually, alcohol thermometers have a high limit of just around boiling water while they can be used down to close to 80 degrees below zero F; Hg thermometers can't be used below 40 degrees below zero because Hg chrystallizes there, but are great for high readings.
(1) Pressure from GREEN lobbyists.
(2) Susan Collins owns stock in digital thermometer manufacturers
(3)Mercury contamination caused by manufacturing processes can be 'masked' by blaming it on thermometers. Passing this Act will convince the public (and hold off liability lawsuits) that the government 'did' something about the problem.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.