Risks to Health and the Environment Related to the Use of Mercury Products
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Ref. Ares(2015)4242228 - 12/10/2015 Risks to Health and the Environment Related to the Use of Mercury Products Final Report prepared for The European Commission, DG Enterprise by Risk & Policy Analysts Limited, Farthing Green House, 1 Beccles Road, Loddon, Norfolk, NR14 6LT Tel: 01508 528465 Fax: 01508 520758 Email: [email protected] Web: www.rpaltd.co.uk RPA REPORT - ASSURED QUALITY Project: Ref/Title J372/Mercury Approach: In accordance with the Contract, Scoping Meeting with the Commission and associated discussions Report Status: Final Report Authors: Dr P Floyd & P Zarogiannis, RPA Dr M Crane, Crane Consultants Prof S Tarkowski, Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine (Poland) Prof V Bencko, Charles University of Prague Approved for Issue by: Ms M Postle, Director Date: 9 August, 2002 If printed by RPA, this report will be on chlorine free, 100% recycled paper. Risk & Policy Analysts EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Overview Mercury and its compounds are hazardous materials which may pose risks to people and to the environment. This report presents an assessment of the risks associated with the use of mercury in a range of products. The key requirements of the study were: • to identify usage of mercury in dental amalgam, batteries, measuring instruments (such as thermometers and manometers), lighting, other electrical components and other lesser uses; • to review data used to evaluate the toxicity of mercury and mercury compounds to humans and to the environment; • to derive predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) associated with use of the products under consideration and compare with those associated with other sources of mercury; and • to characterise the associated risks. Mercury Use in Products under Study The use of mercury in the main product groups - dental amalgam, batteries, discharge lamps, measuring (and control) equipment and electrical control and switching equipment has been characterised. Although research and consultation has enabled aspects of the various lifecycles to be quantified, comprehensive data were not obtained for all areas with particular reference to the last two product groups (measuring (and control) equipment and electrical control and switching). The mercury used in the products within the EU (and the three accession countries) comes: from primary production (in Spain); as a by-product of non-ferrous metal production; from a mercury recycling plant; or as an import (usually within the product, as in the case of thermometers). Some data on these production routes (and associated emissions) were obtained but determining the precise scale and extent of the mercury ‘business’ proved difficult. However, it would appear that the recovery of mercury from decommissioned chlor-alkali facilities is rapidly become the major source of mercury within the EU. Overall, there is clear evidence that the use of mercury in batteries and lamps has significantly reduced in recent years. There has also been a decline in the use of dental amalgam and, as importantly, there has been a significant increase in the use of mercury recovery devices (separators) in dental surgeries. Although there has been a reduction in the use of mercury thermometers and sphygmomanometers (for measuring blood pressure), it has been difficult to estimate the overall use of mercury within this sector. Similarly, whilst there has been a move away from the extensive use of mercury tilt switches in domestic products (including cars, white goods, etc.), the extent of mercury use in other applications within this sector has been difficult to determine. Page i Mercury Products - Risks to Health and the Environment It is estimated that the current usage of mercury in these product groups is about 120 tonnes per year (60% of which is associated with dental amalgam) in the EU with, perhaps, a further 50 tonnes per year used in the three accession countries under study (Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia). It is estimated that the emissions to the environment associated with the production of mercury used in these products, product manufacture and product use is less than 25 tonnes per year. Mercury Use in Other Products Mercury is used in numerous diverse products and applications, ranging from its use in lighthouses (some lights revolve in a bath of mercury) to recoil suppression systems in rifles. However, these account for a relatively low consumption with one notable exception. It would appear that, perhaps, 50 tonnes per year of mercury is used in the manufacture (within the EU) of skin lightening creams and other cosmetic products, most of which are exported to, and consumed in, Africa. It should be noted that the marketing of mercury containing cosmetic products (with the exception of trace amounts in eye products) is not permitted within the EU. Other Sources of Mercury Large quantities (thousands of tonnes) of mercury are used in chlor-alkali plants throughout the world. Most EU countries have such plants (as does the Czech Republic and Poland) and current estimates of mercury consumption (within the EU) are of the order of 150 tonnes per year. As indicated above, the planned phase-out of mercury usage in chlor-alkali plants will lead to a substantial flow of recovered mercury onto the market over the next 20 years (perhaps 650 tonnes per year within Europe). The associated emissions (primarily to atmosphere) are estimated to be less than 10 tonnes per year although significant amounts of mercury are unaccounted for. Although mercury is a trace constituent of fossil fuels, fossil fuel consumption within the EU may release in the order of a further 150 tonnes per year into the environment which is comparable to a recent estimate that total anthropogenic emissions from the EU (and the three accession countries) are of the order of 160 tonnes per year. Apart from anthropogenic sources of mercury, there are ‘natural’ releases from forest fires, volcanoes and ‘evaporation’ from the oceans. Within the EU, recent estimates suggest that ‘natural’ emissions within the EU may amount to 200 tonnes per year. Predicting Environmental Concentrations The behaviour of mercury in the environment is complex. Most releases are in elemental form to atmosphere which is then slowly oxidised to bivalent mercury (inorganic mercury). The inorganic mercury enters the terrestrial and aquatic environments through deposition. A portion of the inorganic mercury is methylated (particularly within sediments) to produce methyl mercury (organic mercury) which enters the water column. There is a general consensus that the key concern is organic mercury, which is highly toxic and bio-accumulates - particularly in fish. Page ii Risk & Policy Analysts For this study, the EUSES model was used (with some modifications) to predict mercury concentrations in the three main environmental compartments (air, terrestrial and aquatic). In essence, the model was run twice: Run 1: 100% of emissions considered to be as elemental mercury in order to obtain predictions for the atmospheric compartment; and Run 2: 100% of emissions considered to be as inorganic mercury (mercuric chloride) to obtain predictions for the terrestrial and aquatic compartments. The key inputs to the EUSES model were emissions (derived from the lifecycle analysis for the product groups) and toxicity data for humans and the environment. It was assumed, as a worst case, that the organic mercury concentrations would be 10% of the inorganic mercury concentrations. The PECs (predicted environmental concentrations) for each compartment showed that the products’ use, their manufacture and the production of the associated mercury contributed a percent to typical existing concentrations at continental level. At a regional level, the contribution was higher. At a ‘local’ level (i.e. close to production facilities), significant air concentrations (elemental mercury) were predicted close to the primary production site in Spain. Otherwise, local values were very close to the regional values. Risks Associated with Products under Study Typical intakes of mercury are of the order of 10 µg/day. About 75% is elemental and inorganic mercury, most of which is associated with the inhalation of vapours from dental amalgam used in fillings. The remaining 25% is organic mercury (primarily methyl mercury in fish and fish products). For this study, reference doses of 2.0 and 0.1 µg per kg of bodyweight per day have been used as ‘safe’ levels for inorganic (including elemental) and organic mercury respectively. Risks to humans associated with exposure to mercury in the environment are considered against a ‘margin of safety’ (MOS) value which is derived by dividing the reference dose by the appropriate predicted environmental concentration (PEC). At a regional level, MOS values associated with elemental and inorganic mercury were found to be in excess of 100 (i.e. mercury intake is more than 100 times below ‘safe’ levels) whilst the MOS value for organic mercury was 18. At a local level, MOS values associated with elemental mercury and inorganic mercury were generally found to be in excess of 100 although the higher atmospheric emissions close to the primary production site in Spain led to an MOS value of 6.5 and that for lamp production was found to be 55. For organic mercury, the local MOS values were essentially the same as the regional value (18). In terms of risks to the environment, the criterion of importance is the ratio of the predicted environmental concentration (PEC) to the predicted no-effect concentration (PNEC). PEC/PNEC