Liberalization of postal services, more transparent plane fares, new rules for solar creams, more information to consumers in relation to food: in these days, the community institutions are tackling several subjects influencing the lives of citizens in a direct way. The most famous measure was adopted in Strasbourg by the European Parliament today, with the approval of the report by Spanish MEP María Sornosa Martínez. Therefore, there was the final issue of the directive forbidding, "starting from 2009, the production of thermometers and other measuring equipment meant for sale to the general public", such as manometers, barometers and sphygmomanometers, "containing mercury". On the other hand, the sale of antique apparatuses, over fifty years old, will be allowed, while the already produced or already used will be allowed to remain operating. The prohibition "is meant to prevent mercury from entering the waste flow, thus avoiding pollution of environment". A special two-year dispensation is conceded for the use of traditional barometers, thus "allowing the few specialized small-sized enterprises", which are present "above all, in the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Low Countries", to adequate their productions "and then start producing barometers without mercury".
