[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.

[freeeee]

And what of the 10th Amendment, and the concept of limited, enumerated powers?

Note, this isn't a libertarian argument, but a constitutional one.

[rhombus]

How did we ever survive? And with lead paint too! Oh my, better let Sadaam know right away. </sarcasm -- in case you didn't figure that out>

[PaulKersey]

If you fully realized the health dangers of mercury,

In teeth, maybe. I used to play with it as a kid. Rolled it around in my hands in the Physics lab. So maybe I'll die young? Too late for that!

Mercury came from the earth, and can safely return to the earth. Best not to pour it down the sink perhaps, but a drop of mercury in the yard won't hurt anything. This is just another case of enviro-nuttyness.

[babygene]

Actually, you probably have more metallic mercury in your teeth than what would be in a fever thermometer.

The amalgm used for dental fillings is 50% metallic mercury and 50% silver. Yet we are told that this is no problem.

[riverrunner]

What to you consider a large area. And to do any harm something would have to eat it. Just more untruths put out by the wackos on the left. It is the degree on contaminate that is in question here. The anti's always make things worse then they are.

[TC Rider]

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.

Just what is so bad about mercury?

As a child, we played with it, coating pennys so they would like dimes. We let it roll around in our hands, arms, etc.

We never ingested any, but had plenty of contact with it.

I turned 50 today and as far as I know, I've suffered no ill effects.

I'm not too concerned. My Dad tells us how as a child in Louisville, KY, he and his buds would wait for dry spells. Then they would slip into the storm sewers with a empty coke bottle and a big spoon.

They would navigate the dry storm sewers, looking for the shiny puddles of mercury. They would scoop it up with the spoon and pour it into the empty coke bottle.

Once they had retrieved enough mercury, they would go back above ground and present the now full coke bottle to their Moms. Mom would keep the mercury under her sink ready to use again, as a drain cleaner.

Dad is 83 now and still going strong.

I'm sure mercury is toxic in some circumstances, inhaling the heated vapors for example. But, I'm not convinced that it's the toxic killer it has been made out to be.

[steve-b]

Let me guess -- you're using the junk science assumption that mercury spreads evenly over a large area rather than the real world assumption that it stays in a few large droplets.

[Conservative til I die]

Emotionalism trumps the 10th Amendment eh? So, do you belong to the ELF or something?

[cinFLA]

From the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services:

"When liquid mercury is spilled, it forms droplets that can accumulate in the tiniest of spaces and in small pools and droplets and then emit vapors into the air. Mercury vapor in the air is odorless, colorless, and very toxic. Whole families have been poisoned from mercury spills in the home which have not been cleaned up or were cleaned up improperly, especially by using an ordinary vacuum cleaner. Children are at highest risk. Pets are at risk, also. The small amount of mercury in a fever thermometer or fluorescent bulb is not likely to cause a problem but should still be cleaned up. For additional information about mercury, including health effects, see the NJDHSS publication: n Your Mercury Exposure"

[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.

[Old Professer]

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?

[Calvin Locke]

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?

[LurkingSince'98]

That is absolutely untrue. Metallic mercury is extremely insoluble (does NOT dissolve)in water lake or otherwise. In fact metallic mercury is so heavy if poured into a lake will bury itself deeply in the mud and can stay that way for a hundred years. People like yourself with NO specific knowledge of mercury are spreading these unbelieveable assertions. Those in teh know realize when people speak of contaminating grounwater it is methyl mercury NOT the metallic mercury in thermometers. I work with it everyday.

Lurking'

[demlosers]

say a thermometer-full, can contaminate a LARGE area, especially if it makes its way to the groundwater.

BS! Mecury is not water soluble.