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Targeted
Toxins
Healthcare facilities use toxic materials that pose serious
and life-threatening risks to people, particularly children.
These materials contribute to cumulative exposures in humans.
These exposures and subsequent harm are preventable. WHEN focuses
on three specific toxins in healthcare:
Mercury
Over 18,000 phone calls are annually made to poison control
centers because of broken mercury thermometers in the home.
Forty states have issued fish-consumption advisories because
of mercury contamination. Lowered IQ, neurological problems
and reproductive difficulties are all related to mercury exposures.
Pregnant women, women of childbearing age and young children
are especially susceptible to mercury poisoning. Mercury can
interfere with the development of the fetal brain and is directly
toxic to the central nervous system, kidneys and liver. Studies
have also shown higher cardiac disease in men exposed to mercury.
This toxin is found in blood pressure cuffs, thermometers, dental
amalgam, fluorescent light tubes, and batteries, as well as
a preservative in some vaccines and eyewashes. The American
Hospitals Association and the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 1997 that pledged
to eliminate the use of mercury in hospital devices and chemicals
by 2005. However, monies and lack of enforcement along with
staff layoffs have prevented hospitals from fully implementing
mercury-elimination efforts.
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