Bill sets goal of barring mercury

The state House of Representatives is expected to consider a bill today that would phase out products containing mercury, such as thermometers and thermostats, and that would require them to be recycled or to be disposed of as hazardous waste.

Environmentalists argue that Massachusetts lags behind other New England states in regulating the sale and disposal of products containing mercury, a well-known ecological and public health threat. Four other states -- Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Maine -- have enacted laws restricting the use and disposal of mercury. In 2000, New Hampshire was the first state in the country to ban the sale of mercury thermometers.

Athough some Massachusetts municipalities have enacted bans -- in 2000, the Boston City Council passed an ordinance fining retailers $700 for selling mercury thermometers -- earlier mercury bills never made it out of committee.

''We've known for quite a while that mercury . . . has poisoned virtually every lake and stream in Massachusetts," said Representative Douglas W. Petersen, the bill's chief sponsor.

''Pregnant women and their fetuses are highly susceptible to the absorption of mercury," he said. ''It causes brain damage."

Petersen and other supporters expect the bill, which has support from House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, to pass the House. However, legislators may consider several amendments, which could weaken key parts of the measure.

Mercury released into the environment eventually makes its way into streams and rivers.

The state Department of Public Health has recommended that pregnant women, women of childbearing age, nursing mothers, and children younger than 12 years old avoid eating all freshwater fish caught in the state, as well as shark, swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish, and tuna steak.

Petersen has repeatedly tried to get the House to pass a version of the bill over the past six years. Each time, the bill has died a quiet death and has never reached the House floor.

In past years, legislators say, the bill faced heavy opposition from businesses. This year, the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, which has about 2,500 members, testified against the bill because the group opposes mercury regulations that vary from state to state, said Bill Rennie, the association's public affairs director.

''We would much rather impose a national solution that crosses all state lines and is uniform," he said. ''It becomes difficult for retailers and manufacturers to navigate their way through a state patchwork of regulations."

The bill targets products containing mercury, such as thermometers and blood-pressure cuffs, that can be replaced by products without mercury. Banned items would also include gastrointestinal tubes and measurement devices, including thermostats, barometers, hydrometers, manometers, pyrometers, and flow meters that contain mercury. The sale of cars made after Jan. 1, 2007, would also be banned if they contain switches that use mercury.

''All of these have nonmercury alternatives in use," said Elizabeth Saunders, coordinator of the New England Zero Mercury Campaign. ''There's no reason to be using these products anymore."

One of the most disputed sections would require proper disposal of mercury in vehicle switches. Scrapyards now have no incentive to remove switches, banned in Europe but still in cars made in the United States, before they dispose of vehicles, sponsors of the bill say.

The bill would require scrapyards and dismantlers to remove the switches and return them to manufacturers before the vehicles are crushed and sold for scrap.

The bill would also require individuals and business to properly dispose of products containing mercury, recycling them or disposing of them as hazardous waste, rather than sending them to landfills and incinerators.

Saunders's group says there are 3.3 million mercury-containing thermostats in Massachusetts.

In 1998, New England governors and premiers of Canada's eastern provinces agreed to try to slash mercury emissions in half by 2003, a goal Massachusetts met. Laws in other states grew from this pledge.

Kathleen Burge can be reached at kburge@globe.com.