Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Sat, 22 May 1999 02:56:48 -0400 (EDT)
On Fri, 21 May 1999, Sil Horwitz wrote:
>
> Mercury is not only very toxic, but has the nasty habit of not being excreted
> from the body, so the concentration builds. Yes, it is prohibited from being
> dumped into sewer systems and standard waste disposal sites because it also
> contaminates them. It is very difficult to remove from surfaces as even traces
> cause problems. As you know, I am very liberal when it comes to use of
> chemicals, but mercury is so insidious that its compounds should be kept out of
> the darkroom (or workroom, for that matter). (As an example, the manufacture of
> mercury batteries is now strictly prohibited in Japan, as well as the US, not
> because the batteries are toxic but because the manufacture is dangerous, and
> the batteries are impossible to dispose of properly.) There are other, less
> toxic materials, so my personal advice is to turn over any mercury materials to
> the proper disposal agency for safety reasons.
>
> Check the MSDS information - as misinforming as they are for many of the
> chemicals we use, they are downright scary for mercury salts.
I am dismayed and disappointed that no one mentioned this until Judy
played the heavy. I believe the mercury formula(s) had been on the list
nearly 24 hours before I mentioned it. At the same time folks -- or one
folk -- so quick on the hair trigger, threw a wingding because some
well-meaning kid naively posted a non-alt message, which, annoying or not,
was essentially harmless. But this LETHAL, not at all harmless message,
was let go by.
Talk about strain at a gnat and swallow a camel...
Judy
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Thu Oct 28 1999 - 21:39:34