Ingesting elemental or metallic mercury is pretty harmless, it’s very poorly absorbed by the digestive system. The real danger is mercury compounds, especially halogens. Who’s to say what mercury sitting in dumps, reacting with other discarded chemicals and leaching into ground water will get up to.
Our rulers are buffoons.
Yes.
Guess which is present in fluorescent bulbs? Mostly elemental mercury.
Guess which is more common in environmental exposure as a result of incandescents? Compounds.
Our rulers are buffoons.
Agreed.
They should be demanding stricter controls, instead of letting a power company dump its waste onto my property via air deposition. That would reduce the tragedy of the commons we face.