Mercury in the Health Care Environment Sources and Alternatives |
On this page:
EQUIPMENT, LABORATORY CHEMICALS, LABORATORY TESTS
Materials/Equipment
| Materials/Equipment | Purpose | Alternative(s) |
| Thermometers (contain up to 0.5 grams of Hg) | Fever/temperature, incubator/water bath, blood bank, bench-top(laboratory) | Digital/electronic, alcohol, geratherm, infrared aural, tempa-dot |
| Sphygmomanometers (contain up to 70 grams of Hg) | Blood pressure cuffs | Aneroid, electronic, expansion |
| Esophageal dilators (Maloney or Hurt bougies) | Other liquid(tungsten, water,) | |
| Cantor tube, Miller Abbot tubes | Clear intestinal obstructions or trace GI tract | Tungsten, water. Anderson tubes can be used for cantor tubes. |
| Feeding tubes | Tungsten, water, all plastic | |
| Dental amalgam | Dental fillings | Composite, glass ionomer, gold foil, gold alloy, metal-ceramic crowns |
| Batteries (mercury oxide, mercury cadmium) |
Defibrillator, hearing aids, pacemakers, pagers, blood analyzer, fetal monitor, hofler monitor, spirometer alarm, telemetry transmeter, temperature alarm | Lithium, zinc air, alkaline |
| Thermostats | Ovens, nursing incubators, refrigerators, room temperature controls | Electronic, pneumatic Alcohol(refrigerators) |
| Lamps (fluorescent, ultraviolet, high-intensity) |
Lighting | Low sodium vapor tubes, ordinary glow lights, high energy, long-lasting lights |
| Refrigerator thermometer | Temperature | Alcohol, digital |
| Switches | Displacement/plunger relays: high
current/voltage lighting, power supply switching, test, calibration, measurement
equipment. Tilt switches: airflow/fan limit switches, building security systems, fluid level controls, pressure control, silent light switches. |
Mechanical, pressure |
| Boiling and cooling tower chemicals (caustic soda) | Treatment and pH control | Higher grade (non-mercury) |
| Electrical equipment | Fiber optics, solid state devices, mechanical switches | |
| Analytical instruments (mercury chloride as reagent) |
SMAC AU 2000 |
Ion selective electrode (ISE) |
| Barometer | Weather conditions | |
| Manometer (commercial, industrial, laboratory) | Many uses | |
| Blood gas analyzer reference electrode | Radiometer (brand) | |
| Cathodray Ociloscope | Cathode ray tube | |
| Electron microscope | Mercury used as vibration damper | |
| Flame sensor/safety valve | Some infrared heaters (Robertshaw and Harper-Wyman), some furnaces (White Rodgers) | |
| Hitachi Chem Analyzer | Hitergent has 65 ppb mercury | |
| Displacement/plunger relay | Power supply switching (1 to 4 poles, NO, NC, many voltage and current ratings, generally for high current, high voltage, applications) | |
| Lead analyzer electrode | ESA (brand) model 3010B | |
| Drainage traps (may contain build-up of historical mercury discharges) | ||
| Housekeeping/sanitizing chemicals (trace amounts of mercury may be present but not listed on MSDS if <1%) |
General cleaning/sanitizing |
| Chemicals | Purpose | Alternative(s) |
| Mercury (II) chloride (Zenker's solution, histological fixatives) |
Fixative | Zinc formalin, freeze drying |
| Mercury (II) oxide | Copper catalyst | |
| Mercury chloride | ||
| Mercury (II) chloride | Magnesium chloride/sulfuric acid or zinc formalin, freeze drying | |
| Mercury (II) sulfate | Silver nitrate/potassium/chromium-(III) sulfate | |
| Mercury iodide | Phenate method | |
| Mercury nitrate (for corrosion of copper alloys) | Ammonia/copper sulfate | |
| Mercurochrome | Neosporin, mycin | |
| Thimerosal | Preservative | Sodium azide/Proclain |
| Immune saline with thimerosal (merthiolate) | Thimerosal-free saline | |
| B5 solution | ||
| Toxi-Dip B3 reagent | Drug screening | Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, microgenics |
| Sulfuric acid (commercial grade; mercury as impurity) | Sulfuric acid from a cleaner source |
| Test Type | Reagent | Mercury | Alternatives |
| Albumin | Million's reagent | Thimerosal; mercury-nitric acid solution | |
| ANA | Buffer | ||
| Anti bacterial agent | Mercurochrome | Neosporin, Sulfa | |
| Antifungal/anti-infective/ bacteriostatic enzyme/ ammonia | Merthiolate Mercury nitrate |
Thimerosal (26% of mercury) | Neosporin, mycin ammonia/copper sulfate |
| Ammonia nitrogen | Nessler's solution Channing's solution |
Mercury Potassium iodide |
|
| Arsenic-calcium reagent | Mercury (260 ppm) |
| Blood bank saline | Immu-Sal | ||
| BUN test enzyme non protein nitrogen |
Nessler's solution | ||
| CA 125 | Thimerosal | ||
| Cleaning supply (commercial grade) |
Caustic soda | ||
| Clostridium difficile EIA | Thimerosal |
| Colormetric chloride analysis | Ion-selective electrode method | ||
| CPK reagent | Mercury (2.7 ppm) | ||
| Cytology | Mucolexx | Thimerosal | |
| Drugs of abuse | All | Thimerosal | |
| Epstein Barr virus | Buffer | ||
| Fixatives | B5 fixative, Zenker solution, Helly, Ohlamacher, Carnoy-Lebrum, Shardin | Mercuric (II) chloride |
| Flame photometer (obsolete use) |
Mercury (II) sulfate | Silver nitrate, potassium sulfate, chromium (III)sulfate | |
| FTA | Buffer | ||
| Gangolian cell | Cajol's | Possible substitute is Proclain for mercury compound | |
| Giardia EIA | Thimerosal | ||
| Group A Strap ID | Thimerosal |
| Harris hematoxylin | Mercuric oxide | Sodium idoate, copper catalyst | |
| HBFT | Alum hematoxylin (solution A) | 0.25 mercury in 100ml | |
| Hepatitis B core | Thimerosal | ||
| Hepatitis C | Thimerosal | ||
| Hepatitis B AG & AB | Thimerosal | ||
| Herpes EIA | Buffer | Thimerosal |
| Histology | Mercuric (II) chloride | Zinc formalin, freeze drying | |
| Histology | Stains: Carbol-Fuchin, mercury chloride, carbol gentian violet, Gomori's |
Mercuric chloride or thimerosal | Possible substitute is Proclain for mercury compound |
| HIV | Thimerosal | ||
| Identification of white cell | Camco | ||
| Lithium | Cesium internal std. | 2.5 ppb |
| Lyme | Buffer | ||
| Mercurial diuretic (known as mercupurin) | Mercurophylline | ||
| Microbiology | Stain: gram iodine | Mercuric chloride or thimerosal | |
| pH | Buffer | ||
| Pharmaceutical preservative | Phenol mercuric acetate | ||
| Progesterone | Thimerosal |
| Protain test (contain hydroxy phenol group) | Million's reagent | ||
| Sodium/potassium | Thimerosal | ||
| Takata-ara | Takata's reagent | ||
| Thyroid antibodies | Buffer | ||
| Urine analysis | Stabilur tablets | Mercuric oxide | |
| Use in delineating nerve cell | Golgi's |