Consumer groups, public health experts urge citizens to eliminate mercury-based medical devices to protect people and the planet
Guwahati,Rongili Barta: In a powerful call to action, public health experts, government officials, civil society organisations and environmental advocates have stressed the urgent need to completely stop the use of mercury-containing devices—such as thermometers and sphygmomanometers—in India. The appeal was made today at a workshop was organized by Consumer VOICE, New Delhi and Consumers’ Legal Protection Forum, Assam in association with NERIM Group of Institute, Guwahati in the NERIM Auditorium to discuss the health harms of mercury exposure at home, especially among children and women, and India’s commitment to the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
Highlighting the importance of bio-medical waste management, Dr. Gautam Krishna Mishra, Member Secretary, Assam Pollution Control Board said: “It is vital that all healthcare facilities in India follow strict mercury spill management protocols, invest in training, and shift to safer, mercury-free alternatives. Responsible handling today will protect future generations from irreversible harm.”
In her speech, Dr. Mousumi Krishnatreya Professor & HoD Department of Community Medicine Nagaon Medical College, stressed on the need for phasing out of mercury products due to mercury’s toxicity and its detrimental effects on human health and the environment. Broken mercury products should be handled and disposed off with extreme care to minimize the potential health and environmental hazards of mercury. A study in 2011 estimated that eight tonnes of mercury was being released annually from medical measuring devices in India (with nearly 69% attributed to mismanaged disposal of blood-pressure-measuring devices (sphygmomanometers) and the rest from mercury thermometers).
“Exposure of pregnant women, lactating women, women in childbearing age to mercury can harm the next generation. Eliminating mercury-containing medical devices and switching to non-mercury (digital and aneroid equipment) is saving lives while protecting the environment,” said Dr. Mrinal Haloi, Associate Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine, Gauhati Medical College & Hospital and Secretary, National Medicos Organization, Assam
Speaking in the workshop, Prof.(Dr.) Sangeeta Tripathi, Director, NERIM Group of Institute appeal the student community to make the earth mercury.
Consumer awareness and knowledge on safe disposal of mercury products is critical. “This initiative of spreading consumer awareness is significant, not just for protecting well-being of our family, but because it reduces the impact of healthcare on our shared environment,” said Advocate Ajoy Hazarika, Secretary, Consumers’ Legal Protection Forum, Assam.
“The healthcare sector is going mercury-free and has found digital products to be accurate and affordable. It’s time that the common man also adopts these mercury free devices,” said Nilanjana Bose from Consumer VOICE, a Delhi-based consumer organisation working on consumer rights and safety for several decades.