Scandal! So can I summarize the Lateral Thigh Trainer that my wife bought today at InterSport in Täby Centrum.
When we came home I proceeded to assembly the trainer. On the right pedal an embedded computer has been placed to count strokes, stroke rate, workout time and expended kilocalories.
I pulled out the computer in order to put the supplied LR03 (AAA) battery and make sure that everything worked fine.
I could not believe my eyes when I saw the stroke counter switch placed on the computer board. The switch is a contactor, a glass bulb with two electrodes and a drop of mercury (Hg) inside. When the pedal changes its angle, the mercury drop rolls inside the bulb closing or opening the circuit, which gives the sensor a signal to count strokes. The solution is as simple as it is dangerous.
Due to my environmental protecting orientation, I'm deeply concerned about the impact that such a product could have. How many of them have been manufactured? How are they disposed? And many other questions.
I will start the week with a call to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. Where this history will end I can't imagine right now. I'm not sure whether use of mercury is prohibited in the European Union but, anyway, its use should be very very limited and strongly discouraged.
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