Legislation Banning Mercury from Button Cell Batteries

Question

A few of my patients have mentioned hearing about a ban on mercury in button cell batteries. Is it true that there's a ban, and are hearing aid batteries affected?

Answer

Legislation in the United States has been enacted at both the state and federal levels, which identifies mercury as being a hazardous substance that is undesirable in the environment. Several U.S. states, particularly Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, and now Louisiana, have taken action to in fact eliminate the sale of mercury-containing button cells. Hearing aid batteries are affected as traditional zinc air batteries contain mercury amalgamated with the zinc. Other button cell batteries such as watch batteries and toy batteries are also affected.

It started back in the late 1990s into the early part of the 2000s where we saw a number of states and municipalities contemplating bans on the sale of batteries containing mercury. A critical mass was reached in a couple of key places, and that raised a lot of concerns because at the time suitable substitutes weren't available. A June 2011 deadline was decided in a collective agreement with battery manufacturers, and then other states and localities decided that they no longer needed to enact their own bans. The June 2011 deadline provided the battery industry with the time to adjust and got us all behind one approach.

At Rayovac, all of our standard product lines are now available in our Mercury Free formulation. For hearing care professionals that buy directly from Rayovac, our ProLine line is fully available in mercury free, in all package sizes and in all cell sizes. The Extra brand is converted as well for those who buy products through distributors. In addition, Rayovac branded hearing aid batteries shipping to all other major retailers are fully converted to mercury free.

Ann Rule is Marketing Manager at Rayovac, and focuses on the company's hearing aid battery business in North America. For more information, please visit Rayovac's website for professionals at www.ThePowerofHearing.com, or the Rayovac web channel on AudiologyOnline..