4 ms·

>they are also safer to use, it wasn't uncommon that the old ones broke while using them. >Imagine the danger of a glass tube filled with mercury breaking whil

by jaclaz 4y ago

>they are also safer to use, it wasn't uncommon that the old ones broke while using them. >Imagine the danger of a glass tube filled with mercury breaking while measuring the temperature anally or from the mouth. Oww, comeon, they are of course safer, but it is not like "it wasn't uncommon". It was (and is for the - still largely glass made - gallium ones) an extremely rare occurence that a termometer broke while in use, though they often broke when they fell accidentally and - at least according to EPA - that seems like a serious hazard: https://www.epa.gov/mercury/what-do-if-mercury-thermometer-breaks https://www.epa.gov/mercury/what-do-if-mercury-thermometer-b... I cannot find any statistics on actual cases, but judging from this article preview: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278239198909247 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S02782... they counted at the time 43 cases of mercury poisoning of which 7 related to broken thermometers while in use, and of these 7, only 1 was about thermometer broken while in the mouth affecting the oral mucosa. The reported "new" one was about a lady that had her cat striking her in the face while she was using the thermometer in her mouth.

peoplefromibiza 4y ago
Please consider the fact that the World is larger than the USA and that we were talking about Italy and specifically I was talking about thermometers breaking in hospitals in Italy - a work place I've been acquainted with for 4 decades -, not about lead poisoning. Please also consider the fact that Italy is in the EU, EU made those kinds of thermometers illegal in the Union with the directive 2007/51/EC [1] that was ratified in Italy by the decree n. 245 on 18.10.2008 which basically made it illegal to sell measuring instruments containing mercury since April 3rd 2009. Mercury is considered toxic waste in EU. [1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32007L0051 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A...
- jaclaz 4y ago
  I don't get it. Surely they were made illegal by the EU directive and the following Italian decree. That doesn't mean that people in Italian hospitals having thermometers break in the mouth (or other orifices) was "not uncommon" (possibly we use different definitions for not uncommon). Unless - of course - you can recall many cases in your 40 years of acquaintenance with hospitals in Italy. Let's say that a hospital has 100 beds and average stay is one week, that should be in the ballpark of at least 52x100x2 (temperature checks) = 10,000 measurements per year x 40 years around 400,000 uses of thermometers (possibly many more). How many of these accidents can you remember roughly (1, 10, 100, 1000)?
  - peoplefromibiza 4y ago
    > That doesn't mean that people in Italian hospitals having thermometers break in the mouth (or other orifices) was "not uncommon" As I've said, I'm familiar with the specificity of Italian hospitals, and I'm saying to you it was not uncommon. Does not mean very often, it means "something every person working in healthcare has been trained for, because it happens (happened) more often than you might think". Especially if you think about the fact that I've already specified that they simply broke, not that "they broke in people's mouth" all the times. > Let's say that a hospital has 100 beds and average stay is one week Let's say that the average Italian hospital in big cities has hundreds of beds, at the times of the ban on mercury Rome had ~6 beds every 1,000 residents, US had 2.7 of them. Let's also add that in Italian hospitals you don't pay for the bed. My mom stayed in hospital for 6 months when she had tuberculosis. Many of the patients in the same ward staid on average for a year. > 10,000 measurements per year That's per week here, probably more than that. The hospital where my parents worked has > 1 thousand beds and > 5 thousands employees. Not counting the ER and daily scheduled examinations. And it's not the biggest one.
    - jaclaz 4y ago
      >That's per week here, probably more than that. Good, so in a week, or 10,000 thermometers uses, how many broke, on average? 1, 10 or 100? And we are talking only of those that you prompted to imagine the danger of: >Imagine the danger of a glass tube filled with mercury breaking while measuring the temperature anally or from the mouth.

by jaclaz 4y ago

peoplefromibiza 4y ago

Please consider the fact that the World is larger than the USA and that we were talking about Italy and specifically I was talking about thermometers breaking in hospitals in Italy - a work place I've been acquainted with for 4 decades -, not about lead poisoning. Please also consider the fact that Italy is in the EU, EU made those kinds of thermometers illegal in the Union with the directive 2007/51/EC [1] that was ratified in Italy by the decree n. 245 on 18.10.2008 which basically made it illegal to sell measuring instruments containing mercury since April 3rd 2009. Mercury is considered toxic waste in EU. [1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32007L0051 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A...

jaclaz 4y ago
I don't get it. Surely they were made illegal by the EU directive and the following Italian decree. That doesn't mean that people in Italian hospitals having thermometers break in the mouth (or other orifices) was "not uncommon" (possibly we use different definitions for not uncommon). Unless - of course - you can recall many cases in your 40 years of acquaintenance with hospitals in Italy. Let's say that a hospital has 100 beds and average stay is one week, that should be in the ballpark of at least 52x100x2 (temperature checks) = 10,000 measurements per year x 40 years around 400,000 uses of thermometers (possibly many more). How many of these accidents can you remember roughly (1, 10, 100, 1000)?
- peoplefromibiza 4y ago
  > That doesn't mean that people in Italian hospitals having thermometers break in the mouth (or other orifices) was "not uncommon" As I've said, I'm familiar with the specificity of Italian hospitals, and I'm saying to you it was not uncommon. Does not mean very often, it means "something every person working in healthcare has been trained for, because it happens (happened) more often than you might think". Especially if you think about the fact that I've already specified that they simply broke, not that "they broke in people's mouth" all the times. > Let's say that a hospital has 100 beds and average stay is one week Let's say that the average Italian hospital in big cities has hundreds of beds, at the times of the ban on mercury Rome had ~6 beds every 1,000 residents, US had 2.7 of them. Let's also add that in Italian hospitals you don't pay for the bed. My mom stayed in hospital for 6 months when she had tuberculosis. Many of the patients in the same ward staid on average for a year. > 10,000 measurements per year That's per week here, probably more than that. The hospital where my parents worked has > 1 thousand beds and > 5 thousands employees. Not counting the ER and daily scheduled examinations. And it's not the biggest one.
  - jaclaz 4y ago
    >That's per week here, probably more than that. Good, so in a week, or 10,000 thermometers uses, how many broke, on average? 1, 10 or 100? And we are talking only of those that you prompted to imagine the danger of: >Imagine the danger of a glass tube filled with mercury breaking while measuring the temperature anally or from the mouth.