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Mercury
Work Group
Phase I Reports >> Operations Report
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For more information,
contact David Eppstein by email at
deppstein@masco.harvard.edu,
or by calling 617-632-2860.
III. OTHER SOURCES
Problem Definition:
Based on independent work that had been done by many of the Member
Hospitals and Institutions prior to the formation of the Work
Group, it was known that mercury, to some degree, was present
in many soaps, cleaners and other miscellaneous items. The task
at hand was to determine which of these products contained mercury
and to incorporate that information into the Master Database under
the heading of "Other Sources". The responsibility
for completing this effort was assigned to the Other Sources of
Mercury Subgroup (OSMS) of the Operations Subcommittee.
Approach:
A survey was prepared and distributed to the Member Hospitals
and Institutions asking them to identify all products used in
and around laboratory sinks. Site visits were also made by an
independent observer in an effort to identify all possible mercury
sources. There was also an ongoing effort to coordinate with
the MWRA's "Other Sources Industry Workgroup (OSIW)"
which was attempting to address the same problem for other affected
industrial groups. Communication between the two groups helped
to prevent a duplication of their efforts. Accordingly, the OSMS
primarily focused its attention on the evaluation of cleaners,
soaps and similar items that might come in contact with wastewater.
Their Report, presented as Appendix G, identifies known sources
of mercury and also recommends some items for further testing.
Sampling techniques for sponges and the Tissue Tek brand of stainless
steel process covers were also evaluated under the auspices of
the OSMS. Due to the frequent use of gloves within the laboratory
setting (as well as during the taking of samples), a strategy
for sampling and analyzing various types of gloves was developed.
Consideration was also given to all brands of bleach, reagents
used in neutralization systems and the wide range of saline solutions
used in laboratory immunodiagnostics. The level of mercury known
to be present as an oxide in some types of hematoxylin stains
was also ascertained. Fixers and developers used in photographic
processors and x-ray developing units were singled out for definition
as source areas. Testing of the incoming city water at several
Member Hospitals and Institutions was also conducted.
Findings:
As a result of the complementary work undertaken by the OSMS and
the OSIW, several additional products were identified as containing
mercury and this information was added to the Master Database.
Included among their findings were:
- Tissue Tek stainless steel process covers used in embedding
were tested for mercury after soaking. In one round of tests,
Decal-E lids were shown to leach 0.016 mg/l (16 ppb) of mercury
and Zinc-Form E lids leached 0.004 mg/l (4 ppb) of mercury into
the soaking solution;
- The T3 (Wallac) Kit contained thimerosol which was verified
to be a significant source of mercury; and,
- At least four (4) cleaners, nine (9) soaps, embedding tissues
and other miscellaneous items such as photoprocessing fixer and
developer solutions each contain significant levels of mercury.
Appendix D presents the results of glove testing. The chart in
Appendix G provides details on the products noted above.
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