Mercury Based Products To Be Banned in Kerala

30 July 2013
Kochi

Kerala health department and Pollution Control Board (PCB) have just started taking measures to minimize the use of mercury and eventually stop using instruments based on it like thermometers and BP apparatus (sphygmomanometer).

India has already decided to sign the Minamata Convention on Mercury convention, which provides controls and reductions across a range of products, processes and industries, where mercury is used, released or emitted. The convention which will be signed formally in October seeks to ban the production, export and import of such products by 2020.

State director of health services Dr Jameela said the health department had already started training of the medical personnel on the use of instruments which are not mercury based. We are also thinking of shifting from mercury -based devices to electronic gadgets, but cost is the main factor holding us back”.

Mercury and its various compounds have a range of serious health impacts including brain and neurological damage especially among the young, according to documents released by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Source – http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/Kerala-to-ban-mercury-based-medical-products/articleshow/21468711.cms

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