Hear and THere

This is a copy of E-Mail received from Tom Watson, a writer for the Seattle Times on ecological matters. This e mail was response to Ray Loercher who was doing research on button cell zinc-air batteries. We think it is timely and of concern for hearing aid dealers who sell zinc-air batteries in their practices when there are viable alternatives to selling strictly zinc-air batteries.

Ray Loercher - Sorry it has taken awhile for me to respond on this - I
have been out of the office.... Zinc-air hearing aid batteries do
contain added mercury. For details, see this Maine Department of
Environmental Protection report from March 2005:
http://www.maine.gov/dep/rwm/mercury/button_battery_report.htm

Here is a quote from page two of the main report text: "In button
batteries, small amounts of mercury still are used to prevent the
formation of gases. There are three separate button battery chemistries
that typically contain added mercury. These include the zinc air
batteries used mainly in hearing aids; silver oxide batteries, most of
which are used in watches and cameras; and alkaline manganese batteries
used in digital thermometers, calculators, toys and a myriad of other
products requiring a compact power source."