[fini]

"Metallic mercury is a hell of a lot less dangerous than the EPA and the CDC pretend."

I read an article about five years ago that backs up your statement.

A local public works sent a camera down their sewer pipes and found several pools of mercury in the pipes. The amount was "several pounds." No one knew how the mercury got there, but it was mentioned that it was not the dangerous kind, but was being removed via suction.

[LegendHasIt]

I played with mercury as a child, even swallowed some, probably a half ounce over the years.

Worked with it by the gallon as an adult in the mining- refining business.

Did get mercury vapor poisoning pretty bad once... Whole body hurt like hell for four days, but didn’t even lose a tooth.

Mercury only becomes a significant health hazard when you ingest mercury compounds, especially the ‘mercury salts’, or eat critters that have ingested them. Even then, it is over hyped you’d have to eat ‘mercurized tuna every day for months to have any significant effects.

[tet68]

Just as a note of interest, Alexander Calder made a fountain with Mercury as the running ingredient for the Headquarters of NATO I believe, where ever, it's located in Spain. A cool and stunning device although not very large as his later works.