Mercury in our Environment - a recommended read

Mercury in our Environment - a recommended read
by admin on May 6, 2009
By Rosemary Stephen, Elements: Environmental Health Intelligence
I clearly remember a particular grade 7 Science class when our teacher did a lecture on mercury. He described this amazing silvery liquid as being “unwettable” meaning it did not bind to anything. He than gave us a demonstration of this peculiar property; he poured a small amount of mercury on a student’s desk and pushed it around with his finger. Yes indeed, the liquid did not leave any trace on the desk. Once the demonstration was complete, he pushed the mercury back into a small bottle which was also full of mercury.
Many years later, during my training as an inspector, I became aware of the negative health effects of mercury on humans. Students attending a course in aircraft engineering were becoming ill. The history of the building was the cause; the classroom was located in an old building that originally was used during WWII as an aircraft dial production shop. Investigation uncovered the presence of mercury bubbles in the spaces between floor tiles — the students were being affected by mercury vapours !
I assumed these types of situations no longer existed, but I was wrong. I was shocked when I came across a web article from Environmental Health News that describes similar stories. I recommend reading Special Report: Thousands of kids exposed to dangerous liquid mercury in schools, homes. Contamination can last years, and cleanups are costly written by Jessica A. Knoblauch (excerpt and link below). It really opened my eyes as to how easily our environment can become contaminated and in such unexpected ways.