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- Manufacturing and distribution of mercury thermometer should be prohibited -
Serious safety accidents such as infants' mercury poisoning frequently occur due to broken mercury thermometer for domestic use. Therefore, special cautions of adults should be taken in line with urgent institutional framework improvement regarding the mercury thermometer.
According to the Korea Consumer Agency (www.kca.go.kr), 59 cases were reported to the Consumer Injury Surveillance System (CISS) for recent three years, showing a slight increase annually.
* '10(14cases) → '11(22cases) → '12(23cases)
Among the 59 injury cases, 64.4% (38 cases) were swallowing and being addicted to mercury as a result of biting the thermometers or swallowing broken glass and swallowing mercury. Also, it was found that secondary mercury poisoning occurred frequently due to failure to handle the broken mercury thermometer at first.
<Type of Injury Cases from Mercury Thermometer (recent 3 years)>
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Swallowing mercury or glass (after the thermometer being broken in the mouth)
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Laceration
(being picked in the ear)
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Secondary mercury poisoning
(after being broken)
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Total
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38 cases (64.4%)
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17 cases (28.8%)
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4 cases (6.8%)
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59 cases (100.0%)
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The accident takes its significance more as 81.4% (48 cases) has occurred to children and infants aged 6 or less out of the at-home mercury poisoning cases.
It is known that infants are more vulnerable as mercury accumulation within the body causes fatal damage to central nerves, liver and overall nervous system.
Due to the safety concerns, the EU and other advanced countries prohibited distribution and use of mercury thermometers. In the same vein, it is urgent to establish plans to ban the use of mercury thermometer in Korea.
Based on these findings, the KCA advises consumers not to purchase and use mercury thermometers to prevent safety accidents involving infants and children. The agency continues to advise parents to be well informed of how to handle and discard mercury thermometer when mercury is exposed. Mercury particles should be removed by using stiff paper or scotch tape and discarded in a plastic bag. Otherwise, using a sweeper or a vacuum may cause mercury steam to fly in the air and increase the risk of being poisoned. Furthermore, the Agency is going to ask the Korea Food and Drug Administration to establish a legal basis on prohibiting manufacturing and distribution of mercury thermometers.
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