Mercury - the most toxic substance on the planet! (sarcasm). Seriously, when I worked in the hospital in the late 80's (pre-digital thermometer days), whenever we broke a mercury thermometer, we would just get the portable hand vac and suck it up. Now, whenever there is a mercury "spill", they call in the Haz Mat team!
Heck, when I was a kid and a thermometer broke we used to "play" with the spilled mercury -- pushing the little balls around on the table. The other day, my husband and I had to turn in 5 lbs of mercury in powdered form that had been left in our manufacturing plant years ago by the previous owner. It was in a Rubbermaid container. We took it to the county hazardous waste yard, had to wait at the gate for 1/2 hour to be admitted while they checked our credentials. After they buzzedus in, my husband had to stop at a special office and spend another 1/2 hour filling out forms. Finally he came out, accompanied by a lady, and retrieved our small box of mercury from the car. She was filling out still more forms and weighing it. Then she had him place it on a roll around cart and she finally took it inside the warehouse. It cost us $50 to get rid of it. She blamed Homeland Security. It was so much trouble that it is no wonderthat people dispose of things illegally.