Banning barometers

The EU has come in for mockery in the past for rules threatening such traditional manufactures as organ pipes (because of their lead content). Now it is mercury barometers facing a blanket ban, but it is still unclear if there will be an exemption for antiques.

Quite a few American states have passed quite stringent laws regarding mercury-bearing instruments, many of which do not exempt antiques. The Maine Antique Digest has been on the story for some time:

A nightmare scenario has developed for sellers of antique barometers. An event has crept up on them silently and suddenly, with little publicity and no warning. The sale of mercury barometers, new or antique, has been outlawed in most of the New England states . . .

Legislation is pending in several state legislatures, and mercury regulations in others are murky at best and totally confusing at worst. . .

In addition to state laws, some cities and counties have their own regulations.

Note that this also potential affects the sale or ownership of thermometers and clocks with mercury-filled pendulums. Further updates here and here, including the news that Maine has now passed a new law explicitly permitting the sale of antique barometers in the state. At this point, however, cleanup costs in case of a mercury spill can run so high that the potential liability for those selling mercury-containing instruments may prove a powerful deterrent. Many people scoff at the elaborate measures taken nowadays in case of spills (one of the RISD buildings was completely closed for an extended period at the end of last academic year after a small amount of mercury was found on a staircase), but the law is the law -- we're not going back to the days where kids were given mercury from broken thermometers to play with.

Posted by David on June 6, 2007 10:03 AM