|
|
|
|
National Tree Day Planet Ark Home
|
|
|
||
|
Pull Mercury from Mouths of Dead |
||
|
Mail this story to a friend | Printer friendly version
|
||
| SWEDEN: May 21, 2004 | ||
|
STOCKHOLM - Amalgam tooth fillings made with mercury should be pulled out before people are cremated to cut emissions of the highly toxic metal, a Swedish government agency report proposed on Wednesday.
|
||
|
Mercury, also known as quicksilver, has been linked to neurological problems and is especially harmful to young children and fetuses. It would be "difficult from the ethical point of view, but it is nevertheless desirable to be able to decrease the emission of quicksilver," the Chemical Inspectorate report said. It calculated that since three quarters of Swedes have amalgam fillings, the population carries some 2.8 tons of mercury in their mouths. In Sweden 70 percent of the dead are cremated, so about 1.9 tons end up in the air or in crematorium gas purification systems, the report said.
|
||
|
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
|
||
|
