Considering the mercury hazards of mercury thermometers, many countries have adopted bans on them. As early as 1992, Sweden banned the sale of all medical devices containing mercury. Britain, France, Denmark and the Netherlands have also banned the use and sale. In the United States, 13 states and cities, including San Francisco, Boston and Michigan, have banned the sale of mercury thermometers since 2000.
The European Commission has also banned the sale of mercury thermometers since 2005 and their export since 2011, and in December 2008, the Argentine government announced that it would ban the production and import of mercury thermometers. The World Health Organization has also established a Global Mercury Elimination Program, with the goal of reducing demand for mercury-containing thermometers and sphygmomanometers by 70 percent globally by 2017.
But mercury thermometers have not been banned in China. Mercury thermometers are widely used in the medical field and in ordinary households, and are available in some pharmacies. Data from the China Medical Devices Industry Association (CMDIA) show that in 2008, the national production of mercury thermometers consumed 109.25 tons of mercury, equivalent to the amount of mercury used in 21.85 billion standard mercury-containing energy-saving lamps. According to statistics, the country produces about 120 million mercury-containing thermometers each year, and China has more than 10 tons of mercury each year due to mercury thermometer breakage as waste disposal.