The magical properties of Mercury, the metal the EU wants to ban

Daily Mail (U.K.) ^ | 6-7-07 | MICHAEL HANLON

[Renfield]

Few substances on Earth are stranger. It shines like a mirror, conducts electricity and is as much of a metal as copper or iron.

~~~snip~~~

And now Brussels is banning it. Of course, not even the European Commission has the power to ban a chemical element, but what they have done is forbidden its use in traditionally made scientific instruments on health and safety and environmental grounds.

Britain's traditional barometer makers now face closure, effectively bringing to an end more than 350 years of a unique craft. Mercury thermometers - every mother's godsend - are similarly under threat.

~~~snip~~~

[Hegemony Cricket]

Whelp - so much for the CFL...

[saganite]

What’s the Canadian Football League got to do with it?

[Don Corleone]

The Unpleasant Truth....Most Governments are NUTZ!

[Lokibob]

I once found Tuna fish in my thermometer.

[massgopguy]

It’s an element for Pete’s sake, just like Arsenic in the drinking water. You can’t destroy an element.

[preacher]

Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb

[coloradan]

They don’t want to destroy it, they want to ban it. No mercury for YOU!!

[Hegemony Cricket]

Hehehe...

[Lokibob]

When you barometer reads 30”. That is 30” of mercury. In other words, the weight of the atmosphere is capable of supporting 30” of mercury in a glass tube.

[Bender2]

Re: Mercury compounds have been used even in modern medicine, and mercury was also allegedly used as an extremely cunning weapon in World War II. Allied spies spread a paste of mercury on the wings and fuselages of German planes.

Mercury dissolves aluminium, and the planes mysteriously fell apart in mid-air.

Whoa! Never heard that before...

And that's probably why... I have this lingering fear of Rectal Thermometers!

[mtbopfuyn]

And it’s fun to play with!

[sittnick]

Don’t some vaccines and metal dental fillings still contain traces of mercury?

[wysiwyg]

Whelp - so much for the CFL...

Not to mention neon and mercury vapor lighting...

[dawn53]

The silver fillings (amalgams) are about 50 percent mercury. Most dentists don’t use them very much nowadays and opt for the composite (or white) fillings.

Thimerisol, contains mercury, and it was used in many vaccines, but it also has been eliminated from most childhood vaccines (the flu vaccine being the exception...however you can get a flu vaccine without thimerisol.)

[Dick Bachert]

And once these brilliant folk solve THIS problem, it’s on to a meeting with King Canute on the shore of the Bay of Fundy — at low tide — concerning those unruly TIDAL MOVEMENTS.

[dawn53]

I heard a 12 year old call into our local radio’s fishing show (we’re in Florida) and tell the hosts about the many mackeral he’d been catching. They warned him not to eat too many mackeral because of their high mercury content, and he said, “I know, they give you ADD. We usually give them to our neighbors.”

[Joe 6-pack]

Cinnabar / Vermilion is a classic mercury based pigment used in many historical paintings no doubt hanging in the state museums throughout Europe.

I'll look forward to acquiring a few Vermeers at "must go" prices once the ban goes into effect.

[Fresh Wind]

Mercury...rots the brain...

OK, so why don't they ban TV?

[Renfield]

That must explain my mental peculiarities. I used to catch (and eat) a lot of King Mackerel.