Re: [Leica] Re: Battery adapter wanted (became a long story)

[khmiska <khmiska@umich.edu>]

John,
The idiocy of banning mercury has reached new heights in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
After a small mercury spill in a nearby school, the Ann Arbor city council passed
a resolution banning mercury thermometers. Owners of mercury fever thermometers
may trade theirs in for a non-Hg version at no charge. The idocy of it boggles the
mond.
Kurt
Ann Arbor

John Coan wrote:

> There are other sources of mercury that were NOT banned, many with much larger
> quantities than tiny photo batteries.  Take for instance fluorescent lights.
> Or, as a personal example, I recently purchased a sphygmomanometer .  It
> contains about an ounce of pure elemental mercury.  How come that wasn't
> banned?  I think banning the batteries was a symbolic gesture and we
> photographers were sacrificed on the enviroalter.
>
> Buzz Hausner wrote:
>
> > Trust me, Hans-Peter, mercury is one very nasty environmental contaminant,
> > it is extremely toxic in even small doses and it may be both ingested in its
> > liquid form and inhaled as a vapor.  EU and US regulators were unusually
> > wise in banning the production of mercury batteries.  They were not being
> > capriciously mean to devotees of old photographic equipment.
> >
> >         Buzz Hausner
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Hans-Peter.Lammerich@t-online.de
> > [mailto:Hans-Peter.Lammerich@t-online.de]
> > Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2000 4:43 PM
> > To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> > Subject: [Leica] Re: Battery adapter wanted (became a long story)
> >
> > After all I find it stupid that EU and US legislators banned mercury
> > batteries instead of just requiring that new cameras, hearing aids etc.
> > shall work with mercury free batteries. Mercury cells in my cameras seem
> > to last for years instead of the 4 to 6 weeks quoted for zinc-air cells.
> > Are 30 to 60 zinc-air cells that I would need to purchase over five
> > years better for the environment than a single mercury cell, even
> > without recycling? Where is the proper environmental impact assessment
> > to prove that zinc-air is better? Why legislators are bashing the
> > minority of classic camera users, but not owners of 3 ton, 400 hp "sport
> > utilitiy vehicles"? Zinc-air is probably ok for hearing aids which suck
> > any battery in 4 weeks, for occasional use and low current applications
> > like photoelectric meters mercury is hard to beat. I am not really
> > willing to accept the limited life of the . Because the battery is
> > hidden inside the Rollei 35 and Leica CL, you can replace it only in the
> > dark or when you change the film.