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20 Nov 00 - mercury thermometers; feedback; "Gold and Green"; direct mail; Buy Nothing Day ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- Excerpted from a 11/16/00 article by Michael Lasalandra in the Boston Herald: MERCURY THERMOMETERS BANNED IN BOSTON The Boston City Council passed an ordinance Nov. 15 banning the sale of mercury thermometers in the city. Stores will have 60 days to clear their remaining inventories of the old-fashioned thermometers, which are said to contribute significantly to the problem of mercury contamination in the state's rivers and lakes. The ordinance will be enforced by the city's Public Health Commission. Violations carry a $700 fine. Although most people now use digital thermometers, some still like the old-fashioned mercury models, according to pharmacists. But most large pharmacy chains are phasing them out as a concession to the environmental movement. Mercury thermometers are already banned in New Hampshire, and a bill is pending to ban them statewide in Massachusetts. Note from Tom: Sales of mercury thermometers are also banned in these cities and counties: San Francisco; Duluth, MN; Ann Arbor, MI; Dane County, WI. Source: Health Care Without Harm website (see below). ------------------- Excerpted from a 9/26/00 press release from Health Care Without Harm, a coalition for environmentally responsible health care based in Falls Church, VA: LEADING RETAILERS END SALES OF MERCURY THERMOMETERS Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) announced that eleven leading retailers and manufacturers - Albertson's, Brooks Pharmacy, Drugstore.com, Kinney Drugs, Kmart Corporation, Meijer's Supermarkets, Safety 1st, Target, The First Years, Toys 'R Us/Babies 'R Us and Wal Mart - have decided to terminate sales of mercury fever thermometers. It is estimated that the collective actions of these retailers and manufacturers will eliminate over one million thermometers from sale annually. One gram of mercury (there is 0.7 grams of mercury in a typical home fever thermometer) is enough to contaminate all the fish in a 20-acre lake. In explaining its decision to terminate sales of mercury fever thermometers, Pam Powell, group vice president of marketing for Albertson's, a retailer with 2,492 stores in 37 states, explained, "There was a time when mercury fever thermometers were all we had. Now we have options - options that are economically feasible, medically effective and environmentally friendly." Ms. Powell said it's important for retailers to recognize that 21st century technology offers a far more reliable, safer and environmentally sensitive instrument to measure body temperature - the digital thermometer. Health Care Without Harm is a not-for-profit collaborative campaign of 290 organizations in 27 different countries working to eliminate pollution from healthcare practices without compromising safety or care. In order to reduce mercury emissions, HCWH has approached not only retailers and manufacturers, but consumers and health care providers as well. A partnership with the District of Columbia Department of Health provided District residents the chance on every Saturday during the month of October to safely dispose of their home mercury fever thermometers at any of the city's 33 fire stations, and pick up a free digital one donated by HCWH. To date, HCWH has encouraged 600 hospitals and clinics to practice mercury-free medicine. For more on Health Care Without Harm's efforts to reduce mercury emissions, and for background on this issue, see their website at: http://www.noharm.org/ Click on "Mercury." --------------------- From David Stitzhal, Full Circle Environmental, Seattle, WA: Here's a new way to send a message to any corporation you want to provide feedback to. Visit the PlanetFeedback website: http://www.planetfeedback.com I have not spent much time there yet, so I can't vouch for its utility. David's e-mail: fullcircle [A T] nwnexus [D O T] com --------------------- Link to "Gold and Green 2000," a new study from the Institute for Southern Studies (a non-profit research center in Durham, NC), which shows that states with the best environmental records also have the best economies (forwarded by Erv Sandlin): http://www.southernstudies.org Click on "Gold and Green 2000." --------------------- From the 11/17/00 edition of "Marketplace," a business news program that airs nightly on many National Public Radio stations: Surprisingly, some on-line retailers also use direct mail for advertising. To entice Christmas shoppers, Amazon.com will send out 10 million paper catalogs this year. --------------------- From the website for the Media Foundation, Vancouver, British Columbia: On Friday, Nov. 24, the Media Foundation (the Vancouver-based activist organization that publishes Adbusters magazine) will once again sponsor "Buy Nothing Day" around the world. For more information, and to check out the extremely clever animated logo for "Buy Nothing Day," see their website at: http://www.adbusters.org - end -