You can't ban an element on the periodic table. This is just another way for the EPA to take control using regulations. The mercury science is just as bad as the climate science.
271 comments so far. LOL
later
40 years ago we used to play with mercury in science class. Being the only metal that was liquid at room temperature was very cool. As far as I know, I’m still alive (unless I’ve died and gone to hell and just can’t tell the difference).
If mercury is so dangerous, why is the government requiring that we bring it into our homes in these stupid cfl bulbs?
I have no doubt that mercury is toxic but there are far more dangerous things to worry about.
If mercury was as lethal as proclaimed, dental assistants and dentists would have a very short life expectancy considering how much they are exposed to it in their work.
This isn’t about “safety” of the public, its about control of the public.
http://www.mercurypoisoningproject.org/pdf/october2003gastroenteritis.pdf
Mercury, metallic mercury, has been used as a folk remedy for decades.
Also, Santaria uses metal mercury, as do some other Carribean practices:
http://www.mercurypoisoningproject.org/pdf/2008GARETANOetal.pdf
If Hg were as deadly as EPA wishes it to be, it would be an obvious health problem. Consider that a drop of Hg can shut down a State-monopoly school for a week, yet a Santaria practitioner will sprinkle a gram on their floors for “health and luck”.
Metallic mercury is not the main problem. It’s the organic compounds it forms in nature or that are man-made. They are far from harmless. One drop of dimethyl mercury is deadly.
Here’s an interesting article.
http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/dimethylmercury/dmmh.htm
So there is Hg in Sea Salt?
Compact Fluorescent Bulbs and Mercury: Reality Check
Though its nothing to laugh at, unless you wipe up mercury [without gloves] and then lick your hand, youre probably going to be okay.
What is the proper way to handle a broken CFL?
Open the windows and let the room air out for 15 to 30 minutes, then remove as much material as possible without a vacuum cleaner. Using disposable gloves, scoop the glass onto a piece of cardboard and wipe the area with a wet paper towel. For smaller pieces of glass and powder, use duct tape to pull up the fragments and wash your hands after cleaning up the debris.
Another public service by EPA (EVERYONE'S PAIN in the ASS)
> the regulations will cost electricity producers $10.9 billion annually,
No, it will NOT.
It WILL coast electricity consumers $10.9 billion.
Producers pay nothing, they just pass along the costs.
The regulations will cost electricity CONSUMERS $10.9 billion annually!
There, fixed it!
I listened to a presentation at e Bostn Sci Museum last mont. It was given by a leading expert From MIT. She clearly showed that the US produces very little mercury emissions, but is poisened but those of China and other developing countries. The US governs the mercury emissions, and the others don’t. Mercury gets into the atmosphere and deposits on us. We could eliminate all of our mercury and that wont change the level of poluton we suffer. The answer has to come from China and others; fat chance of that.
So let’s pass more feel good laws that shackle our businesses. Let’s pretend we are responsible and pay for false promises. Let’s pretend that government isn’t the problem, the cause of America’s ills.
The benefits of hormesis are also being ignored.
Quicksilver ping.
From Wikipedia:
"Although the name "Mad Hatter" was clearly done and inspired by the phrase "as mad as a hatter", there is some uncertainty as to the origins of this phrase. Mercury was used in the process of curing pelts used in some hats, making it impossible for hatters to avoid inhaling the mercury fumes given off during the hat making process; hatters and mill workers thus often suffered mercury poisoning, causing neurological damage, including confused speech and distorted vision."
That $10.9 billion will be lining somebody's pockets. Most likely those with political connections.
If they want to do something a little more useful, they should ban those chinese light bulbs that have mercury in them.
I betcha we’ll be reading about all the mercury pollution from landfills in the not too distant future.