WHO Pushing for Mercury-free Medical Devices by 2020

The World Heath Organization (WHO) and Health Care Without Harm – an international coalition of health care organizations and professionals – have teamed up to launch a new initiative to remove mercury from all medical measuring devices by 2020.

The initiative, “Mercury-Free Healthcare by 2020”, was launched last month in connection with the signing in Japan of the Minamata Convention on Mercury. It calls for the phase out of mercury fever thermometers and blood pressure devices containing mercury by using more affordable and safer non-mercury alternatives.

The UN agency identifies mercury and its various compounds as a global public health concern and claims the substance has a range of serious health impacts, including brain and neurological damage, especially among the young. Others include kidney and digestive system damage.

While the Minamata Convention allows countries to continue using mercury in medical measuring devices until 2030 under certain special circumstances, WHO and Health Care without Harm contend the potential negative health consequences from mercury should motivate all countries to meet the main target date of 2020 set out in the Convention.

“With the signing of the Minamata Convention on mercury we will be going a long way in protecting the world forever from the devastating health consequences from mercury,” WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said. “Mercury is one of the top 10 chemicals of major public health concern and is a substance which disperses into and remains in ecosystems for generations, causing severe ill health and intellectual impairment to exposed populations.”

Dr. Maria Neira, WHO Director for Public Health and Environment, said the agency will tackle the critical areas of concern of mercury exposure and work with governments to ensure they can meet Convention requirements.

“This calls for the phase out of mercury fever thermometers and sphygmomanometers [a device for measuring blood pressure] in health care under the Mercury-Free Healthcare by 2020,” she added.

WHO and its health sector partners also will work to phase out mercury topical antiseptics and mercury skin-lightening cosmetics; develop public health strategies to address the health impacts of mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining; develop measures to “phase down” the use of dental amalgam; and encourage health information exchange, public awareness-raising and health research.