Glass from lightbulbs is considered valuable in industrial processes, since it can withstand high temperatures and varying levels of pressure. Producers of the bulbs use the purest possible materials. The glass washing process leaves behind a sludge with a high mercury content. Mercury is distilled from this, just like in a liquor distillery. The pure illuminant is returned to lightbulb producers.
They gladly pay for it, because it contains the rare earth elements yttrium and europium. From the vacuum dryer comes pure mercury. Since the metal is quite dense, it weighs 1. The amount shown in the jar here is from , compact fluorescent light bulbs. Sulfur is directed to the left part of this machine, while from above comes the liquid mercury. The combination produces mercury sulfide, which has a very stable composition and is no longer poisonous.
Mercury sulfide can be disposed of through storage in old mines. It's used, along with rock filling, to fill in old mine shafts and stabilize them. This piece of modern art, made from mercury sulfide, hangs on the wall at the DELA recycling company in Dorsten, Germany. Visit the new DW website Take a look at the beta version of dw.
Go to the new dw. Exposure to mercury can occur when people handle or play with the liquid metal, or when a measuring device breaks and mercury beads scatter onto floors or other surfaces. Spilled mercury is very hard to clean up, especially if it rolls into cracks and crevices, or if it is on fabric, upholstery or other porous material. Avoid contact with the spilled mercury until you decide who will be cleaning it up - you or a professional. In general, you can clean up a small mercury spill yourself, such as from a fever thermometer or thermostat.
This fact sheet provides a step-by-step guide on pages on how to do the cleanup. The New York State Departments of Health and Environmental Conservation recommend that a trained professional, such as a hazardous waste contractor, do the cleanup whenever the amount of mercury spilled is greater than what is typically found in a fever thermometer or thermostat.
In other words, if the amount of mercury spilled exceeds 3 grams or about the size of a green pea, a trained professional should do the cleanup. If the spill is Check your telephone Yellow Pages under "Hazardous waste", "Engineering services" or "Environmental engineers". If in doubt Use a squeegee or cardboard to gather mercury beads into small mercury balls. Use slow sweeping motions to keep mercury from becoming uncontrollable. Take a flashlight, hold it at a low angle close to the floor in a darkened room and look for additional glistening beads of mercury that may be sticking to the surface or in small cracked areas of the surface.
Note: Mercury can move surprising distances on hard-flat surfaces, so be sure to inspect the entire room, including any cracks in the floor, when searching. Use the eyedropper to collect or draw up the mercury beads. Slowly and carefully squeeze mercury onto a damp paper towel. Alternatively, use two pieces of cardboard paper to roll the mercury beads onto the paper towel or into the bag. Place the paper towel in a zip locking bag and secure.
Make sure to label the bag as directed by your local health or fire department. After you remove larger beads, put shaving cream on top of small paint brush and gently "dot" the affected area to pick up smaller hard-to-see beads. Alternatively, use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments Peel the tape very slowly from the floor to keep the mercury beads stuck to the tape.
Place the paint brush or duct tape in a zip locking bag and secure. Mercury poisoning can lead to death. Elemental and oxidized mercury have adverse effects on enzymes associated with thyroid function; reproductive health; genes, respiratory system; gastrointestinal digestion system; liver; immune system; and the skin.
What is an endocrine disrupter? Can mercury compounds act as endocrine disruptors? Mercury accumulates in almost all hormone producing glands in mammals and has been shown to adversely affect thyroid and reproductive function in human beings.
Mercury disrupts the normal functioning of the endocrine system. Elemental or inorganic oxidized mercury exposure has been shown to increase spontaneous abortion rates, congenital anomalies, and reduce fertility among women in some cases among men as well.
Some studies have clearly shown that people who have been exposed to BOTH organic and inorganic mercury have higher cancer incidence rates, specifically leukemia, lung and liver cancers. While each and every atom of mercury in any form is toxic, wildlife at the top levels of the aquatic food webs such seabirds, seals, eagles and otters are particularly vulnerable. Arctic ecosystems, wetlands, tropical ecosystems and soil microbial communities are also highly negatively affected by mercury exposure.
Animals with the highest mercury levels include otter, mink, raptors, osprey, and eagles. Eggs of certain Canadian bird species have mercury levels that are a threat to reproduction.
Mercury levels in Arctic ringed seals and beluga whales have increased by 2 to 4 times over the last 25 years in some areas of the Canadian Arctic and Greenland. In addition, recent evidence indicates that soil health is adversely affected by mercury exposure.
Association with mercury makes enzymes, nerves, antibodies and in some cases hormones non-functional. Due to differences in age, health, route of exposure, and target organs, vulnerability to mercury poisoning may vary from individual to individual. The crucial point is that mercury exposure in any form burdens the biochemical machinery within all living cells. Minimizing mercury exposure is, therefore, essential to longevity of human beings and wildlife, and ecosystem health.
Latinos are disproportionately exposed to toxic mercury and other harmful pollutants emitted from coal-fired power plants. Latinos are primarily exposed to mercury because of fishing—one-third of Latinos fish in freshwater lakes, where mercury pollution levels are significantly higher. Latinos tend to fish in their immediate urban communities due to a lack of adequate transportation to safe fishing areas.
Fish caught in these areas tend to have the highest concentrations of mercury; as a result, Latinos fishing in contaminated urban areas consume an average of Read more on mercury and the Latino community.
Compared to the white population, African Americans are more likely to suffer health effects from air pollution. African Americans are far more likely to live near power plants and power plant waste sites. Another large concern is the fact that one-third of African Americans are avid anglers, and they eat fish more often and in larger portions than whites. Consequentially, African Americans have higher exposure to mercury.
In , there were 1. The U. Environmental Protection Agency EPA notes that some Native Americans are among the highest risk groups for mercury contamination due to their heavy fish consumption. Members of an Indian tribe may eat up to ten times as much fish as the average American and might not even be aware of fish consumption advisories because of their separate governing institutions.
The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule reduces the amount of mercury emissions from power plants. Prior to the finalization of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, the Clean Air Act did not have limits on the amount of mercury that can be emitted by power plants.
The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule will also limit mercury, acid gases, particle pollution, and other dangerous emissions from power plants. These legislative attacks would continue to allow uncontrolled air pollution— leading to more lives lost or impaired, more asthma attacks, more emergency room visits, and more children suffering from respiratory infections and compromised lung development. But unfortunately that is the reality, and therefore it is important to Take Action!
As of June , nearly 40 coal plant units had installed technology to reduce mercury emissions, and more than additional units had ordered the technology. Together, these plants total more than 55, megawatts of generating capacity. As stated in this letter , signed by CEOs of major utilities, many companies have invested in modern air-pollution control technologies and cleaner and more efficient power plants.
The sample can then be analyzed for its contents of mercury or other emissions, depending on the system. See this description for more detail. After coal-fired power plants, industrial boilers are the second biggest source of mercury pollution.
There are more than 1. The worst offenders tend to be at chemical plants, refineries and other industrial facilities. After boilers, cement plants are the worst sources of mercury pollution. And I had the honor of joining them! Together, our group of scientists represents at least a million hours of study on mercury and its effects. We felt compelled to write to President because, during recent Congressional hearings — despite voluminous scientific literature to the contrary — a few people actually claimed that there is no science to back up the health benefits of decreasing pollution from power plants.
Some of us have studied how mercury travels in our air, soils or waters — and how it ends up in our bodies. Some of us specialize in how various forms of mercury affect everything from our individual enzymes and cells all the way to our ecosystems.
We have, collectively, traced mercury all the way from smokestacks to the cells in our bodies. We also represent physicians who actually treat patients, including children, who have chronic pulmonary, cardiovascular, and neurological diseases caused by air pollution. No form is mercury is safe. One of my personal heroes is the late Dr.
Kathryn R. Mahaffey, who conducted careful studies for over a decade to test the mercury levels in the blood of women of child bearing age in the U. Her research is the reason we know that about 10 percent of babies born in America each year have mercury levels sufficient to cause adverse neurological and developmental health effects. Along with her collaborators, she also carefully compiled information on the effects of all forms of mercury on our endocrine system, including hormones that control functioning of our reproductive system.
The pioneering research tools and methodologies developed by several of the mercury research giants who have signed on to this letter helped Dr. Mahaffey reach her conclusions. Some of the signatories are now building on Dr. For example, Dr. Chad Hammerschmidt from Wright State University has written that unless we decouple mercury emission from power production, we could have as many as 30 percent of children born in the U.
S with too much mercury in their blood. Along with their collaborators, Drs. David Evers, Charlie Driscoll and Thomas Holsen identified that local mercury emissions are linked to such high mercury concentrations in multiple biological species that these areas of high mercury emissions were referred to as biological mercury hotspots. I would love to write more about the fundamental ways in which the signatories of this letter have added to the understanding of the transport, transformations and toxicity of mercury, and I encourage you read the entire letter to see who they are, and to learn more about the work they do.
We fully understand the remaining uncertainties in our understanding of the global mercury cycle. Yet we believe there is irrefutable proof for:. Thus, we attest to the wisdom of stringent national-level mercury regulation. Now we need our policy makers to act. We need them to create and support a strong Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. Read the entire text of the letter.
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