Public health experts, environmental advocates, government officials, and members of civil society organisations have underscored the urgent need to phase out the use of mercury-containing medical devices such as thermometers and sphygmomanometers in India.
They converged in Guwahati on Friday (August 22, 2025) at a workshop organised by the New Delhi-based Consumer Voice and Consumers’ Legal Protection Forum, Assam (CLPFA) in association with the North Eastern Regional Institute of Management.
The workshop focussed on the harms of mercury exposure at home, especially among children and women, and India’s commitment to the Minamata Convention on Mercury. Named after Minamata, a Japanese city, this United Nations-backed convention is an international treaty designed to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.
Gautam Krishna Mishra, Member Secretary of the Assam Pollution Control Board, highlighted the importance of bio-medical waste management. “It is vital that all healthcare facilities in India follow strict mercury spill management protocols, invest in training, and shift to safer, mercury-free alternatives.
“Responsible handling today will protect future generations from irreversible harm,” he said.
Mousumi Krishnatreya, head of Department of Community Medicine at Nagaon Medical College in central Assam, emphasised the need to phase out mercury products due to their toxicity and detrimental effects on human health and the environment.
“Broken mercury products should be handled and disposed of with extreme care to minimise the potential health and environmental hazards of mercury. A study in 2011 estimated that eight tonnes of mercury were being released annually from medical measuring devices in India (with nearly 69% attributed to mismanaged disposal of blood pressure-measuring devices (sphygmomanometers) and the rest from mercury thermometers,” she said.
“Exposure of pregnant women, lactating women, and women of childbearing age to mercury can harm the next generation. Eliminating mercury-containing medical devices and switching to non-mercury (digital and aneroid equipment) is saving lives while protecting the environment,” Mrinal Haloi, Associate Professor of Forensic Medicine at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, said.
Ajoy Hazarika, an advocate and secretary of CLPFA, stated that consumer awareness and knowledge of safe disposal of mercury products were critical. “This initiative of spreading consumer awareness is significant, not just for protecting the well-being of our family, but because it reduces the impact of healthcare on our shared environment,” he said.
“The healthcare sector is going mercury-free and has found digital products to be accurate and affordable. It’s time that the common man also adopts these mercury-free devices,” Nilanjana Bose of Consumer Voice said.
Published – August 22, 2025 08:14 pm IST
