The Commission, which administers and instigates laws for the 25-country EU, wants to ban the marketing of mercury in new fever and room thermometers, barometers and blood pressure gauges due to its serious threat to health.
"This measure will reduce the amount of toxic mercury entering the waste stream. This is good for our citizen’s health and the environment," said Guenter Verheugen, EU Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry.
Thermometers account for up to 30 of the 33 tonnes of the mercury used in measuring and control devices across the EU every year. Direct exposure from a broken thermometer is dangerous, causing damage to the lungs, kidneys and brain when inhaled.
The proposed ban will now be debated by EU ministers and the European Parliament. Specialist applications, in particular medical measuring devices, are not covered in the ban since adequate substitutes were not always available, the Commission said.
Environment and health groups broadly ?elcomed the Commission’s move, saying it was time thermometer manufacturers made better use of alternatives like digital thermometers that are cheap, accurate and easy to use.
"Many of these devices have already been extensively analysed. Non-mercury alternatives are commercially available and costs are comparable", said Genon Jensen, executive director of the European Public Health Alliance Environment Network.