From: Ernest Lippert >The Bakersfield mercury response suggests we still have some learning to do about how to sanely respond to chemical incidents... By all accounts, I should have died long ago but at 84 I am in excellent health. In high school I was the local authority on mercury. I knew how to amalgamate dimes. I recovered several grams of mercury from the dust outside of school where it had been lost by another kid. In graduate school I used sodium-mercury alloy to amalgamate potentiometer contacts, and on and on throughout many years. I was careful and didn't do anything really stupid. Yes, Don, we really need to bring back some (chemical, at least) sanity and understanding. Ask around and you'll be surprised how many people don't even know what a chemical is, just that they fear them all. I ask "even vinegar, salt and sugar?"
Subject: Mercury
Date: August 5, 2015 at 12:37:46 PM EDT
Ernest Lippert