Phase Out Mercury in Products

Mercury, a known neurotoxicant, is highly damaging to children's health and development. Support Michigan legislation to phase out mercury in certain products and better control its uses and disposal.

IN THIS SECTION

What is Mercury?

Exposure to Mercury

Human Health Effects

Children's Health Effects

Legislation and Upcoming Bills

WHAT IS MERCURY?

Mercury is a silver-colored metal. Its pure form, metallic mercury, is most often seen in liquid form in products such as thermometers and fluorescent light bulbs. Mercury occurs naturally in the environment, but human use and disposal results in concentrations that threaten human health.¹

HOW ARE PEOPLE EXPOSED TO MERCURY?

Mercury in water can be methylated by bacteria to form organic methyl mercury, which bioaccumulates in fish and people who eat fish.¹ Michigan has a fish consumption advisory for all of its 11,000 inland lakes, reservoirs.⁴
Household items containing mercury are a cause of exposure, including barometers, thermostats, thermometers, and batteries.¹
People with dental amalgam fillings may be exposed to an unhealthy amount of metallic mercury. Amalgams used in silver-colored dental fillings are composed of approximatesly 50% metallic mercury.¹
Some people are exposed to mercury vapor at work. Jobs at highest risk for mercury exposure include manufacturers of electrical equipment or automotive parts, chemical processing plants that use mercury, metal processing, and many medical professions.

HOW DOES MERCURY AFFECT HUMAN HEALTH?

Mercury can harm the nervous system as well as other critical physiological systems such as the cardiovascular and endocrine systems. Exposure can affect virtually every organ of the body, including the heart, intestines, kidneys, skin, and lungs.
Consuming large amounts of methylmercury from fish over a long period of time has been known to cause brain and kidney damage, as well as adversely affecting the nevrous system.
Only a few hours of exposure to mercury vapor can harm the lungs and mouth lining, as well as cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, skin rashes, eye irritation, and increased blood pressure and heart rate. Continuous exposure to mercury vapor can cause headaches, emotional changes, tremors, weakness, and insomnia. Exposure to higher concentrations can cause kidney difficulties, respiratory failure, and intestinal damage.

HOW DOES MERCURY AFFECT CHILDREN'S HEALTH?

Young children are potentially more vulnerable to the neurotoxicity of methylmercury than adults or older children because their nervous systems and brains are still developing and growing.¹ Methylmercury can cross through the placenta where it is accessible to fetal blood. Once in the blood, it can travel into the brain where it may interfere with neurological development, which can result in low birth weight, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, deafness, blindness, and seizures.²
Prenatal exposure to mercury is extremely harmful to the fetus. Between 316,588 and 637,233 children are born each year with umbilical cord blood mercury concentrations linked to IQ loss.³

LEGISLATION AND BILLS

Michigan has taken a leadership role in phasing out sales of mercury in thermostats (PA 492), blood pressure devices (PA 493), and additional medical devices (PA 494) in 2006, as well as calling on state agencies to avoid purchasing products containing mercury if alternatives are available (PA 193) in 2008. However, there is still more to be done. Current legislation would:

Stop any mercury-added novelties or cell phone batteries from being sold in Michigan (HB 4279).
Stope sales of mercury-added flow meters, hydrometers, barometers, thermometers, hygrometers, and psychometers, as well as mercury switches and mercury relays (HB 4281).
Eliminate the disposal of mercury added products in landfills or incinerators (HB 4277).
Mandate that manufacturers issue a warning label on all mercury-added products (HB 4278).
Mandate that any person who sells or distributes mercury must provide a safety data sheet to the recipient. The recipient must sign a statement acknowledging the safe use and disposal of the purchased mercury (HB 4280).

Support HB 4277-4281 to protect Michigan's children!

Download this information as a fact sheet. (pdf)

Note: fact sheet was created by MNCEH and contains complete list of references.