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EPA LAUNCHES MERCURY REDUCTION PROGRAM FOR HEALTH CARE FACILITIES IN NEW ENGLAND

Release Date: 10/07/1998
Contact Information: Peyton Fleming, EPA Press Office (617-918-1008)

BOSTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's New England Office today announced the start-up of a three-point action agenda aimed at substantially reducing the use of mercury at hundreds of hospitals across New England.

Unveiled by EPA-New England Administrator John P. DeVillars at a health care conference in Tyngsboro, the new voluntary initiative will try to achieve the "virtual elimination" of mercury-containing wastes from the health care industry waste stream in New England by the year 2003.

The action plan's components are: technical assistance to hospitals; financial grants to do pollution-prevention audits and other mercury-reduction work; and public recognition for participating entities.

"Mercury has been a health threat to New Englanders for too long. Today, we are joining forces with hospitals and the health care industry to drastically reduce mercury emissions," said DeVillars, speaking at an all-day conference on pollution prevention strategies for the health care industry. "New England hospitals are world leaders in health care. We challenge them to be as much of a model in pollution prevention. EPA is committed to doing everything it can to meet our goal - from offering technical assistance and grants to publicly recognizing health care providers who step to the plate voluntarily and meet our stated goals."

Launched under EPA's Partners for Change Program, the "Mercury Challenge Program" will be the subject of a focus group meeting in late October in Boston involving hospitals, industry associations, waste haulers and environmental groups. The meeting will focus on options for achieving the 2003 goal, including finding alternatives for using mercury in health care equipment and products and identifying successful pollution-prevention strategies that have been used elsewhere.

In the area of technical assistance, EPA will increase efforts to encourage hospitals to access current sources of information available -- such as the mercury web site at "https://www.epa.gov/seahome/mercury/src/title.htm" -- that lay out existing mercury reduction practices in use across the country. The EPA will also disseminate successful mercury reduction plans already being used at select hospitals - such as the New England Medical Center in Boston and Dartmouth Hitchcok in Lebanon, N.H. - in order to allow others in the industry to learn from their pro-active counterparts.

Finally, the EPA is soliciting grant requests that focus specifically on the problem of hospital mercury emissions.

The health care industry has a long history of using mercury in its products and equipment. Mercury is used in literally hundreds of medical applications, including thermometers, thermostats, blood pressure devices, dilators and laboratory equipment.

Mercury is a toxic, persistent pollutant that attacks the central nervous system in wildlife and humans. Mercury pollution has been widely documented throughout New England, particularly in large freshwater fish which store - or bioaccumulate - the toxic metal in their tissue. All six of the New England states have mercury-related fish advisories in at least one or more water bodies. Massachusetts has issued a statewide advisory encouraging women of childbearing age and children to limit their consumption of freshwater fish.

Among other effects, mercury exposure can adversely impact the neurological development of children and fetuses exposed through their mother's consumption of fish. Indigenous populations who eat large amounts of contaminated fish from local waters are also vulnerable to adverse health impacts.

Numerous initiatives have been launched to reduce the amount of mercury that makes its way into the environment.

Earlier this year, the New England governors and eastern Candian premiers agreed to cut in half emissions of mercury from power plants, incinerators (including hospital incinerators), and other sources by 2003. And this past summer, the EPA and the American Hospital Association signed a memorandum of agreement to work voluntarily toward the virtual elimination of mercury-containing wastes by the year 2005.

In addition, several years ago the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority formed a Mercury Products Work Group to help Boston-area medical facilities achieve the MWRA's aggressive mercury discharge limit of 1 part per billion.

"Through voluntary efforts and tighter regulations, New England is making progress in slashing our mercury emissions," DeVillars said. "But there is much more to be done. Through this new program, New England can become a national model for the elimination of mercury emissions."