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US Senate votes to ban mercury fever thermometers
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ^
| September 9, 2002
Posted on 09/10/2002 9:56:27 AM PDT by Korth
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To: dighton; aculeus; general_re
61
posted on
09/10/2002 11:31:21 AM PDT
by
Orual
To: Korth
I used to have a neon manufacturing facility. Mercury is used in the manufacture of neon. We would buy mercury by the pound. It is very nasty stuff. There is always the issue of disposal. I would never do it, but I always thought the best and cheapest way to dispose of mercury would be to just ship it to Iraq via post.
62
posted on
09/10/2002 11:32:17 AM PDT
by
abner
To: Chemist_Geek
I cannot comment, however, on the ease of fixing Hg from metallic to organometallic form. Methylation via the acetyl-CoA pathway in bacteria. Easy as pie ;)
Funny what you remember, isn't it? I haven't thought about this stuff in years ;)
Comment #64 Removed by Moderator
To: Tony Niar Brain
If you fully realized the health dangers of mercury, you wouldn't be so willing to make this some lame states-rights issue. A small quanity of mercury, say a thermometer-full, can contaminate a LARGE area, especially if it makes its way to the groundwater. So please, spare us your libertarian spiel. I am not familiar with the process of mixing liquid mercury with water, could you enlighten me?
To: Orual
Good old Detroit heavy metal ;)
Comment #67 Removed by Moderator
To: Tony Niar Brain
something would have to eat the mercury Almost forty years ago, at age fifteen, I had abdominal surgery, and had a tube into my stomach weighted with mercury. When they withdrew it, the pouch of mercury ruptured, and I swallowed approximately 10 cc of mercury.
I never suffered any ill effects from that, or from playing with mercury as a kid, or even playing with asbestos as a kid. Oh, and we used to ride our bicycles behind the truck fogging for mosquitos using diesel fuel and DDT, happily inhaling gobs of the stuff.
I guess living dangerously had no effect on me. (And we had guns and knives as well.)
To: rhombus
Oh my, better let Sadaam know right away. Yes, it is a wonder the British and Germans weren't firing mercury thermometers at each other instead of mustard gas during WW1.
69
posted on
09/10/2002 11:41:17 AM PDT
by
Hacksaw
To: lotus
Might as well use their logic and ban copper, after all it's poisonous too. Can kill rather quickly....that is the proper Compound of copper Might as well ban dihydrogen oxide (water). Don't you know that so many people and kids die from too much water?
Do it for the chill-ren!!!!
To: lotus
Mercury wont even dissolvwe in water..... According to the industry standard, Lange's Handbook of Chemistry, mercury is soluble only in nitric acid (HNO3.)
To: TopQuark
Priorities, go figure. Martha Stewart. Guess she didn't give enough money to the correct democrats. Either let the DOJ do their job, or you might as well let Mineta frisk Martha for any insider information.
How come the envirowackos aren't up in arms on this Congressional assualt on Mercury, one of the natural
"fruits" provided by Mother Nature?
Comment #73 Removed by Moderator
To: steve-b
Did you ever see the show on that Spanish Galleon that still had recoverable mercury? The divers "spoon-fed" what I
remember as an 80cu/ft tank. They could not lift it back to the ship.
So "puddles" of mercury stayed in place after 3-4-500 years, in a very unkind environment.
Can't remember what was recovered v. what they suspected from the ship's manifest.
To: Chemist_Geek
Yeah, but the Hg in thermometers is in the metallic form, not fixed in organic compounds like methyl mercury. The metallic form has a lower bioavailability and toxicity in general than the organometallic form. I cannot comment, however, on the ease of fixing Hg from metallic to organometallic form. There may be sufficient risk to caution about direct association with Hg on a daily basis; Evangelista Torricelli devised the barometer and invented the necessary vacuum pump to build such a device by "playing" with Hg for years on end; he died at the ripe old age of 39. However, natural sources of Hg are far more abundant in our waters than man-made releases, therefore a convincing argument of the folly of limited-mitigation will fall on deaf ears among the "comfortably ignorant."
Comment #76 Removed by Moderator
To: Tony Niar Brain
Okay, Art Bell time. A guest, an MD, pontificating about the dangers of vaccines in general, the yearly flu in
particular, claims something like 1-2mics mercury of are in each shot. That mercury stays in the body. Time to ban
flu shots too?
To: RightWhale
A mercury barometer is really something. Mercury thermometers have the advantage of working over a wider temperature range than alcohol thermometers, that's all. Actually, alcohol thermometers have a high limit of just around boiling water while they can be used down to close to 80 degrees below zero F; Hg thermometers can't be used below 40 degrees below zero because Hg chrystallizes there, but are great for high readings.
To: Old Professer
There are but 3 possible reasons the Senate would vote and pass this ACT.
(1) Pressure from GREEN lobbyists.
(2) Susan Collins owns stock in digital thermometer manufacturers
(3)Mercury contamination caused by manufacturing processes can be 'masked' by blaming it on thermometers. Passing this Act will convince the public (and hold off liability lawsuits) that the government 'did' something about the problem.
79
posted on
09/10/2002 12:13:28 PM PDT
by
UCANSEE2
To: rosebud
I'm a Flower Child myself....LOL - I smell the roses
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