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“Stay healthy, Stop mercury” launches fact sheet series
27 October 2006
27 October 2006 – Two major European health networks announced the launch of an anti-mercury campaign today with a series of fact sheets for citizens and health professionals.
Health Care Without Harm1 and Health & Environment Alliance2 are producing a series of educational fact sheets with the help of mercury experts in different countries as a first step in their “Stay healthy, Stop mercury” campaign.
”Mercury is a toxic chemical yet many people are unaware of its potential health impacts, particularly to those most at risk such as pregnant women and young children,” says Génon Jensen, Executive Director of Health & Environment Alliance. “Our campaign aims to get the health facts on mercury out to a wider audience and mobilise public opinion to rally around this public health challenge. We need to reduce mercury in every way we can - replacing it in our products, choosing to eat less contaminated fish and ultimately achieving a global agreement on a mercury ban as soon as possible.”
Ms Jensen makes clear that she is not telling anyone to stop eating fish. “Our message is that certain fish at certain periods of life can be harmful but that fish is still an important part of a healthy diet,” she says. The European Food Safety Agency singles out tuna and swordfish for special mention.3
The first fact sheet describes the routes through which our bodies absorb mercury and the relative toxicity of the different types. The main message is that even low levels of prenatal exposure can produce attention deficits and language and memory difficulties in children exposed.4
Other fact sheets address mercury pollution and the health care industry, mercury and fish consumption, mercury and vaccination, and mercury in dental fillings.
Health Care Without Harm is working with doctors and hospital managers in many countries to eliminate the use of mercury medical devices in health care. Sweden banned the use of mercury-containing thermometers in 1991 and stopped local manufacture and sales of other medical devices containing mercury the following year.
The “Stay Healthy, Stop Mercury” campaign would like the European Union to introduce a general ban on all remaining uses of mercury in medical and other products. “We recommend that exemptions to this rule should only be allowed where there are no mercury-free alternatives,” according to Karolina Ruzickova of Health Care Without Harm Europe.
In addition to raising awareness among women and health professionals of the harm associated with mercury, the campaign aims to bring the voices of these two groups to discussions within the Zero Mercury Global Campaign activities, such as the meeting taking place in Brussels today.5 The “Stay healthy, Stop mercury” campaign is working within this wider group for a global ban on mercury.
Early next year, women and health experts will gather in Brussels for the launch of a major report on the health effects of mercury with recommendations for action. It will highlight the latest scientific evidence and provide testimonies from women and health professionals involved in the campaign on the personal and public policy changes needed to reduce the risk.
For more information, please contact:
Karolina Ruzickova, Health Care Without Harm Europe, Tel/Fax +420 222 78 28 08, Mobile: +420 731 321 737 Email: karolina.ruzickova@hcwh.org Website: www.noharm.org/europe
Or Diana Smith, Communications, Health and Environment Alliance, Tel: +33 1 55 25 25 84, E-mail: Diana@gsmith.com.fr Website: www.env-health.org
Notes for journalists:
1. Health Care Without Harm is an international coalition of over 440 organizations in more than 50 countries, working to transform the health care industry so it is no longer a source of harm to people and the environment. Special attention is given to mercury because it is used throughout health care in a wide variety of products including thermometers, sphygmomanometers, dental amalgam, laboratory chemicals and preservatives such as thimerosal, cleaning agents, and various electronic devices such as fluorescent lamps and computer equipment.
2. The Health and Environment Alliance aims to protect the environment as a means of promoting the health and well being of all people, and to ensure the participation of citizens in the environment and health-related European policy-making. It represents a diverse network of more than 50 citizens’, patients’, women’s, health professionals’ and environmental organisations across Europe and has a strong track record in increasing public and expert engagement in both EU debates and the decision-making process.
3. “EFSA provides risk assessment on mercury in fish: Precautionary advice given to vulnerable groups”, March 2004, http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/about_efsa.html
4. Fact sheets: “Mercury and Health” and “Mercury and Health Care” are available at the meeting in Brussels, on the Health & Environment Alliance website at http://www.env-health.org/r/128 or by emailing Anna Marks at intern@env-health.org
5. The meeting today is organised by the European Commission. For more information, please visit the conference website at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/mercury/conference.htm
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