UN Treaty to Control Mercury Toxin.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

A Very Serious Environmental Danger.

 

When I was a kid, mercury was considered to be a laboratory curiosity.  However, as time has progressed it has been found to be a serious health hazard producing terrible symptoms and mental diseases.  In the 19th century mercury was used in the production of felt, and gave rise to the phrase "Mad as a Hatter" due to the serious exposure to persons making felt hats.

[AkemiAzula 280]

Well I've never touched the stuff so I must be sane lol. 

 

Hmm. Not sure how mercury could cause mental illness. Is it psychoactive? I thought it was a liquid at room temperature, thus you'd have to ingest it?

[Wiimeiser 445]

Hmm. Not sure how mercury could cause mental illness. Is it psychoactive? I thought it was a liquid at room temperature, thus you'd have to ingest it?

I think Mercury Poisoning happens when the Orange-Yellow Magicite in the liquid breaks down into its component Quivira Positrons and M'aiq Bosons, which bond with the unique structure of the Non-Henantieric McDonald Hyena Myelin found only in Non-Magical Humans and seizes control of the cells in a process known as Triforcification, causing the cells to lose all control of themselves and be at the mercy of the M'aiq bosons. Furthermore, the deranged will seek out Dragon, Fairy and/or Flying Matter and attempt to infuse themselves with it, which results in the body taking the form of a Cthulean messenger known as a Zant Corpse, named after a Yuke Sinistral who used such corpses as soldiers in the NY 1234 war of Hyrulean Ghirahim, AKA the Twilight War of Mint and Warner Sargeras.

 

In other words, I have absolutely no idea.

 

EDIT: Specifically, the Positrons destroy the Selenium, turning it into a no-electron variant of Vespene commonly found in Red Eco

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

What a load of baffle-gab. 

 

Elemental mercury easily sublimes into a gaseous forms.  When inhaled is forms noxious compounds with the human metabolism that cause dysfunctions in the operation of neurons and other operations in the human brain.  The result can be insanity and eventually death.  It is a form of heavy-metal poisoning.

 

Almost all foods everyone eats, particularly fish, contain trace amounts of mercury.

[Wiimeiser 445]

I was joking.

[AkemiAzula 280]

But your advice is naturally not to stop eating fish, amirite Moose?

 

As man has eaten of these goods for many millennia and while mental illness may well have ridden with us through all the ages, our eternal poltergeist, surely the greater percentage of able bodied men have had clearesque thoughts?

 

But I ramble sidewards... Mercury 'sublimes' to gaseous form... I have observed it in liquid form in tubes and on television in a container (open) and did not observe gas. Does this aforementioned sublimation activate due to some temperature difference, air pressure difference etc? Or is this just a regular steaming process chugging along eternally whilst the substance is in existence?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Mercury vapour is a colourless gas.  In considerable concentrations it does coat object that are very clean.  I have not be knowingly exposed to elemental mercury since my early high-school chemistry classes and I do not recall that there was any odour associated with it either.  Mercury pools were used in early barometers as well as in felting for hats.  It was also used as a buffer memory in some early printers I have used and some lighting systems.

[Fatherted 129]

I should be OK. The only mercury I know of is in my (admittedly many) computer-like appliances and in my environmentally friendly lightbulbs, EU standard, despite the fact I'm not technically in the EU.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

If you are using CFLs or fluorescent tubes just be careful to not rupture them.  There is not much mercury there, but repeated exposure is a little on the dangerous side.  Also, some of the phosphors used can cause cuts that are very hard to heal.

[Bipin 3,402]

But your advice is naturally not to stop eating fish, amirite Moose?

 

As man has eaten of these goods for many millennia and while mental illness may well have ridden with us through all the ages, our eternal poltergeist, surely the greater percentage of able bodied men have had clearesque thoughts?

 

But I ramble sidewards... Mercury 'sublimes' to gaseous form... I have observed it in liquid form in tubes and on television in a container (open) and did not observe gas. Does this aforementioned sublimation activate due to some temperature difference, air pressure difference etc? Or is this just a regular steaming process chugging along eternally whilst the substance is in existence?

 

Mercury is indeed a liquid at room temperature. Like nearly all liquids, a certain amount of vapour exists around the liquid (a layer of matter in phase transition, as I recall). This gas, like the liquid, that toxic. Thus you don't need to be in physical contact with the liquid mercury to be affected by it. It is also for this reason that when someone dropped a box of mercury thermometers in my biology lab, we had to evacuate that area of the building and scrub the air as a precaution.  

[Easy Bakes 253]

Mercury vapour is a colourless gas.  In considerable concentrations it does coat object that are very clean.  I have not be knowingly exposed to elemental mercury since my early high-school chemistry classes and I do not recall that there was any odour associated with it either.  Mercury pools were used in early barometers as well as in felting for hats.  It was also used as a buffer memory in some early printers I have used and some lighting systems.

it was also used in household thermostat switches

 

 

probably a lot of these still around.

 

California did something similar to this last week

only with lead hunting ammunition.

 

 

http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_24291072/gov-jerry-brown-vetoes-rifle-ban-signs-lead

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Lead in the environment has been around for a very long time.  The Romans, and probably the ancient Greeks, used lead acetate (sugar of lead) to sweeten their wines.  No wonder that most rich Romans died young usually after a period of insanity.  It certainly explains the depravity of some Roman emperors.

 

Let's see, when was it we stopped using lead in red and white paints?  If your house is really old, you should have the paint checked and while you are at it, check for asbestos.

[AkemiAzula 280]

Didn't water pipes use to be made of lead? Hence plumbing? Surely there's a great deal of that and lead roofing still around

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I think most lead pipes have been replaced on this continent.  My maternal grandfather was a steam-fitter and dealt with a lot of lead.  However, he died of prostate cancer.

 

Don't know about lead roofing.  Who used that?  Lead used to be a relatively expensive metal.

[AkemiAzula 280]

Well my great grandfather was a plumber but I know little of what he did aside from that he worked on greenhouses (hence for growing, and probably growing food amongst other things)

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Fascinating.  My paternal great grandfather was a farm labourer in Kent.

[AkemiAzula 280]

Really? Mine lived in Sussex. My other one on my maternal side was a carpenter. 

 

But at any rate I think lead was quite common then. Cannon shot was leaden I think. (Incidentally a few of my ancestors in the nineteenth century were soldiers)

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I have no doubt that if I looked back, I'd find the same.  My paternal grandparents both emigrated from Blighty.  On the other side I am genuinely French from people who migrated to America then fled the revolution and became United Empire Loyalists.  That makes me a typical Canadian of my generation.

[AkemiAzula 280]

I daresay your ancestors had an easier time emigrating than we do these days lol. I haven't found any French people although there was a man from Berlin who moved to London in the 1850s.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Well, I am afraid you are on the wrong continent.  We just had a Throne Speech in which the government promised a revision to the immigration regulations to make it easier for trained people to enter the country and much harder for economic refugees.

[AkemiAzula 280]

I'd get some training if I had lived here for three years and was eligible for an apprenticeship or certificate. A lady who had spent the past six years in oz but was born and raised in the UK was ineligible... I'm not Romanian for goodness sake.

 

But this is somewhat off topic... 

[Easy Bakes 253]

Lead in the environment has been around for a very long time.  The Romans, and probably the ancient Greeks, used lead acetate (sugar of lead) to sweeten their wines.  No wonder that most rich Romans died young usually after a period of insanity.  It certainly explains the depravity of some Roman emperors.

 

Let's see, when was it we stopped using lead in red and white paints?  If your house is really old, you should have the paint checked and while you are at it, check for asbestos.

if i recall the article said lead ammo is probably the largest remaining source lead contaminating the environment.

[Fatherted 129]

Lead isn't as big a problem as used to be. Well, not really. Except for the multiple lead-paint-toy scandals.

My family is thoroughbred English through-and-through. So much in fact, that my Grandfather was a detective, and my Grandpa a miner.

I'm the most Swiss out of all of us, but that's only because of six years outside British residency. I would love to one day work in Seattle on the scripts for video games, or even in Ubisoft Vancouver. I like Canada, so it made it into my list of destinations.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Saw something recently about some country banning lead ammo.  Wonder if they'll go to depleted uranium? (not very radioactive by the way).