[HN Gopher] Mercury: Council and Parliament strike a deal to pha...
___________________________________________________________________
Mercury: Council and Parliament strike a deal to phase out mercury
in the EU
Author : manmal
Score : 43 points
Date : 2024-02-18 13:09 UTC (9 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.consilium.europa.eu)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.consilium.europa.eu)
| HPsquared wrote:
| Fluorescent lamps, in other words. Those are probably the most
| common mercury-containing item.
| Turing_Machine wrote:
| While it does mention lamps, it looks like the main focus is
| dental amalgam -- including "abating" emissions from
| crematoria. It looks like the EU has already banned those for
| people under 15, but there are still a lot of people in the
| world walking around with amalgam fillings.
|
| One presumes the abatement process would involve removing any
| mercury-based fillings from the deceased before cremation
| occurred, but they don't explicitly say this.
| lupusreal wrote:
| I miss mercury light switches...
| _trampeltier wrote:
| At least in Switzerland, Fluorescent lamps are banned since
| summer 2023.
|
| https://www.bfe.admin.ch/bfe/en/home/efficiency/energy-label...
| AndrewDucker wrote:
| Dental amalgam is the biggest usage, as the article makes
| clear.
| misnome wrote:
| First Pluto and now this? What next, Uranus?
| Luker88 wrote:
| Some EU countries have constitutions with war avoidance
| clauses, so my money is on Mars next
| tekla wrote:
| Obviously the best way to avoid war is to, checks notes,
| outlaw war.
| jfoutz wrote:
| I think the idea is, no attacking. Retaliation is fine.
| weebull wrote:
| As a general philosophy, don't ban it, regulate the use of it.
| What if trace amount of mercury are needed for the next world
| changing technology? By precluding reasonable access you're
| ensuring that will be invented somewhere else.
|
| ..and yes, I realise "bans" are colloquisms for heavy regulation
| I tend to think of a ban as lazy regulation that only specifies
| the few small exceptions as opposed to detailed regulation that
| defines the areas where care needs to be exercised.
| frereubu wrote:
| > What if trace amount of mercury are needed for the next world
| changing technology?
|
| Then they will legislate again. Laws aren't written in stone.
| (And even if they were, you can always get another stone).
| guizzy wrote:
| Italians will leave the EU if they keep killing their gods.
| csdvrx wrote:
| Aren't mercury-based amalgam teeth fillings more durable than
| other techniques because the metal is more plastic that other
| fillings which are more brittle?
|
| Last time I read about that, the risks for mercury exposure was
| for dentists, not patients.
| Fnoord wrote:
| There isn't one version/mix of composite/plastic. I know this
| because when I was younger, I got a filling and it got wrecked
| quite quickly. They then said they'd use a different mix but it
| was the last resort. I forgot the pros and cons. But I can say
| that approx 20 years later, my filling got replaced and the
| dentist (a different one, for sure) said 'this stuff breaks so
| quickly'.
| manmal wrote:
| My dentist claimed gold amalgams are even more durable because
| they mold even better into the cavity. He himself actually had
| only gold fillings done.
| adrian_b wrote:
| Amalgam fillings are more durable than composite fillings, but
| the latter are much cheaper and they can still have a lifetime
| of 20 years or more.
|
| Ceramic facets or ceramic crowns are more durable than amalgam
| fillings, as long as they are not used in a way that could
| fracture them, e.g. by attempting to crush nuts or the like
| with the teeth.
| ksec wrote:
| Asking HN: Mercury Dental amalgam. Does any one know if and when
| they break, or even if they dont. Do they "leak" mercury into
| your body? How does the body reacts to tiny trace of substance of
| mercury? Does it stay inside our body forever?
|
| And if your mercury Dental amalgam is still in perfect condition,
| should you replace it?
| HPsquared wrote:
| One-off ingestion of metallic mercury isn't a big deal, it
| basically comes out the other end. But mercury fillings
| continuously emit a tiny amount of mercury vapor which the
| person will inhale continuously. Very small amounts but
| measurable.
|
| At the end of the day there's massive amounts of data since
| these fillings have been in use for over 100 years, and it's
| quite clear who has them and who doesn't. If they do have
| actual negative effects, they are small.
|
| Definitely better than having cavities, but modern composite
| fillings are probably better still (though, being plastic,
| there's the endocrine disruptor question on those - and a much
| wider range of composite filling materials out there makes it
| harder to study).
| martinflack wrote:
| And a good dentist can swap out your existing mercury
| fillings for composite ones for you.
| adrian_b wrote:
| It is unpredictable whether the long term exposure to minute
| quantities of mercury leached from your fillings will cause
| harm or not.
|
| The safer choice is to replace all the amalgam fillings with
| composite fillings, unless you cannot afford that (but
| composite fillings are much cheaper than ceramic facets or
| crowns, which may be better choices when possible).
|
| Anecdotally, I have replaced all my amalgam fillings more than
| 15 years ago and I have felt much better after that, because
| with the amalgam I had always felt an unpleasant metallic
| taste, while ceramic and composite resins do not have any
| taste.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-02-18 23:02 UTC)