Panasonic to End Mercury Lamp Production in 2020

October 17, 2018

Osaka- Panasonic Corp. said Wednesday that it will end production of its mercury lamp products for use mainly at gymnasiums and factories at the end of June 2020.

The major Japanese electronics maker will take the move as the Minamata Convention on Mercury will prohibit the production, export and import of high-pressure mercury lamps for general lighting from 2021.

The company will recommend that users of such products shift to energy-efficient products featuring light-emitting diodes.

Specifically, Panasonic will halt output of 31 types of mercury lamps used in high-ceiling lighting, projectors and street lights, for example, aiming to end sales of these products around the same time.

The convention was named after the city of Minamata in Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, where methylmercury-tainted wastewater released from a local plant decades ago caused what came to be known later as Minamata disease, a neurological disorder. Jiji Press