Also the hospitals are a major source of the mercury eventually discharged from sewage treatment plants. The sewage plants are under a lot of pressure to reduce their mercury discharge to comply with the upcoming mercury water quality criterion for ambient waters which could be set as low as 0.2 parts per trillion. These sewage agencies need the hospitals to virtually eliminate mercury discharges to the sewer system. They won t be able to do this without knowing how much mercury is in the products they buy and use. In Massachusetts, under pressure from the large sewage agency in the Boston area, hospitals have begun to test products for mercury content.
Many common products have surprisingly high levels of mercury.
Also, many products contain sulfuric acid, which if made from secondary mining or oil refining sources is likely to be contaminated with mercury. If made by other production processes in use, sulfuric acid will be relatively mercury-free. These are just a few examples of mercury-contaminated ingredients and their alternatives. Manufacturers of mercury-formulated products can environmentally manage their supply chain to ensure that they are being provided with lower mercury ingredients. We need L.D. 1665 to help our hospitals virtually eliminate mercury and to protect water quality, wildlife and human health from mercury contamination.