Reports of high mercury levels in Tondo to be probed

MANILA, Philippines—The Manila City health office fielded on Monday a team to investigate the reported high levels of mercury vapor detected in a lamp waste recycling station in Tondo.

Assistant city health officer Dr. Benjamin Ysan told the Inquirer that he had ordered the sanitation office to look into the results of the tests conducted by environmental groups at Pier 18 in Tondo.

“Regardless if there are above normal levels of mercury vapors or not, that is not the proper way [to dispose of] compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs),” he said.

He added that the team from the District I sanitation office would also look into possible violations of the city’s sanitation code.

Ysan admitted that he had yet to see the actual report prepared by environmental groups Ban Toxics, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Health Care without Harm and the Eco Waste Coalition.

“I am not saying it (the report) is inaccurate but it would have been more conclusive if they had coordinated their test with the city government and we had been able to dispatch a composite team to the site,” he told the Inquirer.

He pointed out that the results of the test, conducted by the groups with a handheld ambient air analyzer, depends on where specifically the tests were conducted.

“The result would depend on where they actually got the air. There would expectedly be a vast difference if they tested right at the site where the CFLs are destroyed. It would be another matter if they tested for mercury vapors at a neighboring community,” Ysan explained.

In a statement, the groups said they tested 14 used CFLs in two sites where the used lamps were being broken before these were disposed of. The average reading for the tested lamps was 117.20 micrograms per cubic meter (mcg/m3) with one product registering mercury vapor of 502.40 mcg/m3.

The permissible exposure limit for mercury vapor as set by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration is 100 mcg/m3, they said.