7 Sep
2004
7 Sep
'04
8:28 p.m.
I suspect the hazmat team over reacted just a little.
This is often the case - the hazmat guys I have talked to have been pretty
reasonable, but due to public pressure, they often have to put on a show.
Mercury in elemental form is not all that dangerous (
or
most of us old timers would be dead or vegetables by now ).
It is most dangerous as salts or as long term exposure
to vapor.
Finally someone speaks the truth! Elemental mercury mostly passes thru the
body in one big blob, and very little is absorbed. I think it is rarely
used as an antibiotic, as well.
The compounds are the nasty things, as they due damage pretty
quickly. Also, mercury vapor is also very dangerous *even in short
periods of exposure*! The poor guys in South America that purify gold thru
amalgamation (and the subsequent vaporizing to get the mercury back) tend
to have very short lives if they are not careful.
William Donzelli
aw288(a)osfn.org