Editing Mercury-in-glass thermometer (section)

===List of countries with regulations or recommendations on mercury thermometers===
[[File:EU mercury thermometer ban - 22 January 2013.svg|thumb|right|350px|Map of the countries of the [[European Union]] that banned mercury-in-glass thermometers according to Directive 2007/51/EC as of 22 January 2013. Countries in blue have made legal bans on the issue, countries in gray are of unknown status at the present, and countries in red are those whose "Member State does not consider national execution measures necessary."<ref>{{cite web |title=National Provisions communicated by the Member States concerning: Directive 2007/51/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 September 2007 amending Council Directive 76/769/EEC relating to restrictions on the marketing of certain measuring devices containing mercury |id=72007L0051 |publisher=EUR-Lex |url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:72007L0051:EN:NOT#FIELD_CZ |access-date=18 February 2009 |archive-date=13 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111013041345/http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:72007L0051:EN:NOT#FIELD_CZ |url-status=live }}</ref>]]

====Argentina====
In February 2009, the [[Argentine Health Ministry]] instructed by resolution 139/09 that all health centres and hospitals should buy mercury-free thermometers and [[blood pressure meter]]s and called on [[dentist]]s, [[medical technician]]s, and [[environmental health]] specialists to start eliminating this toxin.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.clarin.com/sociedad/Argentina-empieza-despedirse-termometros-mercurio_0_HyAgwp7pvQx.html|title=Argentina empieza a despedirse de los termómetros de mercurio|first=Redacción|last=Clarín|date=April 14, 2011|website=Clarín}}</ref> {{As of|2020}}, mercury thermometers were still on sale to the public at [[Pharmacy|pharmacies]].

====Austria====
There was a voluntary take-back action for thermometers containing mercury based on the Federal Waste Management Plan 2006, and carried out in close cooperation between the Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists (Österreichische Apothekerkammer), the [[Federal Ministry of Environment]], a private waste disposer, a producer of electronic thermometers and a pharmaceutical distributor. The disposal company supplied each pharmacy (approximately 1,200) with a collection bin and covered the cost of disposal. The pharmaceutical distributor covered the logistical costs for the distribution of the thermometers. The pharmacies accepted a refund of only 0.50 Euro per thermometer for handling (which is far below their normal margin). The supplier provided the thermometers at a reduced price. The Federal Ministry supported each sold thermometer (covering about 30% of the direct costs) and advertised the project. During the collection period, consumers could bring in a mercury thermometer and buy an electronic thermometer for a subsidised price of 1 Euro. Between October 2007 and January 2008, about 465,000 electronic thermometers were sold and about one million mercury thermometers (together containing about 1 tonne of mercury) were collected.<ref>[http://www.chem.unep.ch/mercury/storage/LAC_Docs/LAC_storage_RC_INF_5_SBC%20tech%20guidelines%20on%20ESM%20waste.doc UNEP(DTIE)/Mercury/WG/1/INF/3 Draft Technical Guidelines on the Environmentally Sound Management of Mercury Waste, 2010] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414221405/http://www.chem.unep.ch/MERCURY/storage/LAC_Docs/LAC_storage_RC_INF_5_SBC%20tech%20guidelines%20on%20ESM%20waste.doc |date=2010-04-14 }}</ref>

====Philippines====
By the Philippines [[Department of Health (Philippines)|Department of Health]]’s Administrative Order 2008-0221, all mercury equipment from hospitals, including mercury-in-glass thermometers, was to be phased out in the [[Philippines]] by September 28, 2010. Even before the order was released, 50 hospitals had already banned mercury from their establishments. Among these fifty hospitals, the [[Philippine Heart Center]] was the first one to do so. [[San Juan De Dios Educational Foundation|San Juan de Dios Hospital]], [[List of hospitals in the Philippines|Philippine Children’s Medical Center]], [[List of hospitals in the Philippines|San Lazaro Hospital]], [[List of hospitals in the Philippines|Ospital ng Muntinlupa]], [[Lung Center of the Philippines]], the [[List of hospitals in the Philippines|National Kidney and Transplant Institute]], [[Manila Adventist Medical Center]] and [[List of hospitals in the Philippines|Las Piñas Hospital]] also made steps to ban the toxic chemical. The country was the first one to make a step to ban mercury from its health care system in [[Southeast Asia]] and they used non-mercury digital thermometers instead.<ref>{{cite web |title=Phase-out of Mercury in Health out of Mercury in Health Care: Challenges and Solutions Care: Challenges and Solutions |url=https://zerowastepilipinas.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/01_faye-ferrer.pdf |access-date=10 July 2024 |archive-date=10 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240710014437/https://zerowastepilipinas.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/01_faye-ferrer.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Salazar T |title=RP hospitals to phase out devices containing mercury |newspaper=Philippine Daily Inquirer |date=2008-09-13 |url=http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view/20080913-160332/RP-hospitals-to-phase-out-devices-containing-mercury |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081024090011/http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view/20080913-160332/RP-hospitals-to-phase-out-devices-containing-mercury |archive-date=2008-10-24 }}</ref>

====United Kingdom====
Since [[European Union]] directive 2007/51/EC came into force on 3 April 2009, the UK [[Health Protection Agency]] (HPA) reported that mercury thermometers could no longer be sold to the general public. Shops holding stocks of unsold thermometers had to withdraw them from sale; mercury thermometers purchased before this date could be used without legal implications. The purpose of these restrictions is to protect the environment and public health by decreasing the amount of mercury waste released.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hpa.org.uk/webc/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1263812796194|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203002853/http://www.hpa.org.uk/webc/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1263812796194|url-status=dead|title=UK Health Protection Agency Chemical Hazards and Poisons Report, from the Chemical Hazards and Poisons Division, January 2010 Issue 16, p6: Does the Health Protection Agency website prevent harm from breakage of mercury thermometers?|archivedate=December 3, 2013}}</ref> The HPA had, in 2007, released a guide to dealing with small spills of mercury.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mercury-properties-incident-management-and-toxicology|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203002416/http://www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb%26HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1195733821650?p=1158313435037|url-status=dead|title=Mercury: health effects, incident management and toxicology|date=June 8, 2022|archivedate=December 3, 2013|website=GOV.UK}}</ref>

Despite the phasing-out of mercury thermometers in the United Kingdom, British media continues to refer to [[temperature measurement]]s, especially for [[weather forecast]]s, as "the mercury".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.times-series.co.uk/news/national/20281868.met-office-warns-lives-risk-all-time-record-temperatures-likely/ | title=Met Office warns lives could be at risk with all-time record temperatures likely | date=15 July 2022 | access-date=18 July 2022 | archive-date=18 July 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220718074314/https://www.times-series.co.uk/news/national/20281868.met-office-warns-lives-risk-all-time-record-temperatures-likely/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

====United States====
In the United States, both the [[American Academy of Pediatrics]]<ref name=AAP01/> and the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Things are Heating Up with Mercury in Thermometers |work=Children's Health Protection |date=30 August 2013 |publisher=US Environmental Protection Agency |url=http://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/heating.htm |access-date=8 December 2006 |archive-date=11 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061011120806/http://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/heating.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> recommend that alternative thermometers be used in the home.<ref name=AAP01>{{cite journal |author1=Goldman LR |author2=Shannon MW |author3=Committee on Environmental Health |title=Technical report: mercury in the environment: implications for pediatricians |journal=Pediatrics |volume=108 |issue=1 |pages=197–205 |date=July 2001 |pmid=11433078 |doi=10.1542/peds.108.1.197 |url=http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/108/1/197.full |doi-access= |access-date=2012-07-28 |archive-date=2012-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120901125434/http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/108/1/197.full |url-status=live }}</ref>