MERC Vermont | Advisory Committee on Mercury Pollution Meeting Minutes


		Vermont Agency of Natural Resources Advisory Committee on Mercury Pollution

Advisory Committee on Mercury Pollution

Meeting #63: Thursday, September 15, 2005

Time: 9:00 am to Noon

Location: Conference Room, Environmental Assistance Office

Laundry Building, Waterbury State Complex, Waterbury, Vermont

MINUTES

Members Present:

Michael Bender, Abenaki Self-Help Association, Inc.

John Berino, Fletcher Allen Health Care

Representative Carol Reed Hosford

Neil Kamman, Agency of Natural Resources, Water Quality Division

Ruma Kohli, Chemical Management Program Manager, IBM

Eric Palmer, Agency of Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife Division

Guests Present:

Jennifer Holliday, Chittenden Solid Waste Management District

Rebecca McCarty, Auto Alliance

Sue Premo, interested citizen

Laurey Tedeschi, Autism Support Daily

Angela M. Timpone, Autism Support Daily

Gary Gulka, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, Environmental Assistance

Karen Knaebel, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, Environmental Assistance

Alison McKay, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, Environmental Assistance

The Committee members and interested parties gathered in Conference Room 034 in the Laundry Building of the Vermont State Complex in Waterbury. Michael Bender called the meeting to order.

Agenda Item 1-

No changes to agenda

Agenda Item 2-

Discussion of S.143-Thimerosal

The Committee reviewed specific sections of the bill including:

Section 2. 10 V.S.A. §6621d(h) Health Care Products
Section 3. 18 V.S.A. §1008(c)
Section 4. 8 V.S.A. §4100d Child Vaccine Benefits
Section 5. 18 V.S.A. §12 Mercury Fillings; Brochure and Poster
Section 7. Study of Vermont’s Fish Consumption Advisory

Meeting was opened for guest input:

Members of Autism Support Daily expressed concerns over Thimerosal, particularly labeling and supplemental package inserts for vaccines as being inconsistent.
Suggestion to the Committee that there be no age limit regarding Thimerosal-containing vaccines because of the links between Thimerosal and Alzheimers.
Concern about excess quantities of Thimerosal-containing vaccines being distributed to states that have not banned its use.
Suggestion was made to address this issue and to include state toxicologist, Bill Bress.
John Berino pointed out that physicians are data-oriented. Inquired about information from medical journals and what educational campaign efforts were made for physicians.
Suggestion by Committee that the Senate language be amended and make sure that it is manufacturers not the physicians who would be responsible to comply with the requirements of the law.
Michael Bender pointed out that the Committee does not want to get into the debate on health issues associated with Thimerosal.
Michael Bender to set up subcommittee and will report back via email updates with recommended changes to S.143.

Agenda Item 3-

Update on Committee Appointments

Committee discussed the continuing search for a public health specialist. Qualified people are available but they do not meet the geographical criteria needed for diversity.
Michael Bender suggested to again identify the difficulties of obtaining members in geographical regions that are outside of the immediate area due to driving and work constraints.
John Berino volunteered to attempt to find a qualified public health specialist from outside Washington and Chittenden Counties.
Committee agreed that Jen Holliday be re nominated as the Solid Waste Representative to the Committee.

Agenda Item 4-

Updates on mercury outreach projects:

Outreach to sensitive populations

Recent outreach was targeted to members of the Abenaki, Vietnamese, African and Bosnian communities. In addition, outreach mailings went out to physicians, childbirth educators, grocers, libraries and school nurses.
Mission Mercury, an educational video with video games, targeted at 8th grade students should be complete in December and ready for distribution to Vermont schools both public and private as well as home schoolers.
A two-year survey of new parents will be complete in 2007 to determine the effectiveness of outreach to women of childbearing age.

15 Mile Falls projects

Dairy manometer removal and replacement project started. DEC is working with Annie McMillan of the Agency of Agriculture, who will take the lead on this project.
Michael Bender inquired as to what was being done regarding non-active dairy farms in VT. Outreach needs to be done to these farms including farms sold in the last 10 years. Mr. Bender would also like to see the funding issue revisited. Also, he would like to see a follow-up letter done in addition to Ms. McMillan’s efforts.
Annie McMillan has a list that she is working with for both active and non-active farms. She is coordinating with manometer sales reps for installation of non-mercury manometers and contracting with solid waste districts for proper handling of the mercury manometers.

Lamp outreach project

Update on project included discussion of newspapers ads, media outreach complete in August and again in October, and plans for another direct mailing of brochures to businesses and possibly brochures as newspaper inserts.
There was some discussion of the fluorescent bulb dumpster stickers and outreach to Vermont solid waste haulers.
Inquiry about rates of lamp recycling. We do not know our true recycling rate but we are receiving hard numbers from recyclers on the quantities of lamps that are being recycled. There are increases in recycling from calendar year 2003 to 2004, and similar comparisons will be made with 2005 data from lamp recyclers.

Button cell battery project

This project is in the early stages and the project is funded for one year. There is a possibility of getting additional funding for the second year. This project is funded through a Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP).
Mary Shriver of the VT Nursing Homes Association is administering the program for collection locations in both nursing homes and Vermont pharmacies.

Agenda Item 5-

Update on S.84 implementation:

Auto switch/appliance report to Legislature

Gary Gulka reviewed progress by a DEC workgroup to develop recommendations to the legislature on auto and appliance mercury switch removal and collection programs.
General support of the workgroup for mandating auto switch removal from all incoming vehicles received after a certain date. There was also support for DEC to use some of the 15 Mile Falls Settlement monies to assist auto salvage yards in cleaning out the current inventory of auto switches. If a mandatory removal program is recommended in the legislative report there is support for this mandate to include agency assistance in not only cleaning out the existing inventory of auto switches but also providing collection containers and covering disposal/recycling costs (possibly utilizing 15 Miles Falls funds).
It may be possible to recommend that the auto manufacturers contribute to the collection program costs, but concerns were raised that opposition to legislation from this group could thwart efforts to pass legislation dealing with auto switch collection.
Rebecca McCarty from the Auto Manufacturer Alliance stated for the record that the Alliance will “fight tooth and nail” against a mandatory switch removal program subsidized by auto manufacturers.
Michael Bender suggested asking the Auto Manufacturer Alliance for voluntary removal efforts and to help with the pilot project. He believes we need to look at more efficient collection efforts.
Suggestion of looking at Connecticut and Maine for ideas for potential collection plans.

Mercury planning report to Legislature

Neil Kamman indicated that he will be working with VT Fish and Wildlife and the VT Department of Health to develop a legislative report with recommendations on a monitoring plan to assess and predict trends (time trend analysis) in fish contamination.
Eric Palmer stated that the Fish and Wildlife Department is willing to use what resources they have towards this study effort. They would also like to tie in PCB and some other contaminant testing as well.

Dental BMPs

Gary Gulka said that there is currently a workgroup drafting dental BMPs to reduce amalgam release to the environment. The workgroup includes the Vermont State Dental Society, National Wildlife Federation and DEC staff from the Environmental Assistance Office and Waste Management Division. The draft contains BMPs for amalgam waste, amalgam separators and other hazardous wastes. There are approximately 35-40 BMPs in the document. Dental offices would be required to self-certify compliance with BMPs every year or two and there would be some process to verify compliance through field visits to a smaller percentage of clinics.

Hospital mercury reduction plans

DEC will begin working on the guidance for mercury reduction plans for hospitals and affiliated facilities next month and plans to finalize plan guidance by January. Plans are due by July 2006.
Nursing homes are not subject to mercury reduction planning in the statute. Concern expressed by committee that mercury use in nursing homes may need to be addressed through legislation.

Agenda Item 6-