Parentpedia

What Experts Say

Most stories about mercury today have headlines that shout about limiting seafood on your weekly menu. But parents should also be wary of glass thermometers that contain this silvery liquid. Should the glass casing on a mercury thermometer break, your child could be exposed to mercury vapors that are toxic, even in the short run, and difficult to remove. (The broken glass could also cut or otherwise injure a child.)

Exposure to mercury can damage the kidneys, skin, and lungs. It also affects the central nervous system, causing learning disabilities, blindness, retardation, and other damage.

Though mercury thermometers had been widely relied upon for gauging fever for hundreds of years, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) began pushing parents and pediatricians to trade them for the digital variety in 2001. State laws have also been enacted to stop their sale to the public. As a result, mercury thermometers today are scarce.

Keep the following points in mind when using or disposing of a thermometer.

• The AAP recommends that parents and caregivers use rectal digital thermometers for children under age 3. Learn more about taking your child's temperature.
• If you have a mercury thermometer, don't throw it in the garbage; it could wind up harming wildlife, the environment, and humans. Instead, contact your state pollution agency or local health department for information on local household hazardous waste collection, or check your telephone book under "hazardous waste removal."
• If a mercury thermometer breaks on your watch, don't vacuum it up. Open windows to vent the room, sweep the mercury onto a piece of cardboard, then place it inside two plastic bags and dispose of it safely (see above).