A long list of leading retailers, manufacturers and hospitals recently agreed to terminate sales of mercury thermometers. Health Care Without Harm and Walden Asset Management, a social investment firm, are asking Kroger, Medicine Shoppe, Safeway and other retail pharmacy chains to follow suit.
Pam Powell, Group Vice President of Marketing for Albertson’s, a retailer with 2,500 stores, explains, “There was a time when mercury fever thermometers were all we had. Now we have options that are economically feasible, medically effective and environmentally friendly [digital thermometers].” Cathy Polley, Director of Pharmacy, Government and Trade Relations at Kmart, notes, “it is time to retire a product that is on retailer shelves out of habit, not necessity.”
Mercury is a known neurotoxin that disrupts brain development in fetuses. According to a National Academy of Sciences National Research Council report, 60,000 babies a year may be at risk for lower IQ and learning disabilities because their mothers ate mercury-contaminated fish and seafood. Combustion of municipal solid waste is the second largest source of mercury pollution in the U.S.; mercury thermometers are the largest single source of mercury to municipal solid waste. 40 states have mercury advisories in one or more water bodies; 11 states have issued statewide mercury advisories. According to the U.S. EPA, 60 percent of fish consumption advisories are due to the presence of mercury.
The State of New Hampshire, the City of San Francisco and other jurisdictions recently passed legislation that prohibits the retail sale of mercury thermometers. The American Hospital Association has committed to eliminating mercury from hospital waste streams.
Participating retailers are: Albertsons, Brooks Pharmacy, Drugstore.com, Kinney Drugs, KMart Corporation, Rite-Aid, Target, Toys R Us/Babies ‘R Us, Walgreen, and Wal-Mart, Meijer’s Supermarkets, Safety 1st, The First Years, Toys ‘R Us/, CVS, and Longs Drug Stores.
Health Care Without Harm is a non-profit international coalition of 290 organizations working to eliminate pollution from healthcare practices. [sorry this link is no longer available]
Walden Asset Management: http://www.waldenassetmgmt.com
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