Mercury clean up

[gnukfu]

45 years ago it wasn't a problem. I remember playing with mercury that fell on the floor when I broke my toys that contained it. Now if you spill some you have created a Superfund site and millions of dollars must be spent to clean the area. Anyway this repeats the gist of what has been said above but I still felt like typing it....probably due to mercury exposure when I was a child.

[Starscream]

Originally Posted by gnukfu

45 years ago it wasn't a problem. I remember playing with mercury that fell on the floor when I broke my toys that contained it. Now if you spill some you have created a Superfund site and millions of dollars must be spent to clean the area. Anyway this repeats the gist of what has been said above but I still felt like typing it....probably due to mercury exposure when I was a child.

Kinda like DDT. Both were harmless in their day, but now they're both the start of the end of the world.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by andysutherland

Kinda like DDT. Both were harmless in their day, but now they're both the start of the end of the world.

DDT really was an environmental hazard. It screws up eggs. It's why there were no turkeys and the fish were nearly gone around here.
It's also to blame for anything the sharp decline in all things that came from eggs.
It's been done away with in my time, and as an outdoorsman and anal scientist who has always lived in farm country in the sticks, I've got to see the resultant rebound myself.
I still won't eat fish from the Great Lakes, but we used tons for our trapline when we were kids. Raccoons love mercury.

[Starscream]

Originally Posted by shilala

DDT really was an environmental hazard. It screws up eggs. It's why there were no turkeys and the fish were nearly gone around here.
It's also to blame for anything the sharp decline in all things that came from eggs.
It's been done away with in my time, and as an outdoorsman and anal scientist who has always lived in farm country in the sticks, I've got to see the resultant rebound myself.
I still won't eat fish from the Great Lakes, but we used tons for our trapline when we were kids. Raccoons love mercury.

Not trying to start a debate or anything, Scott, but DDT has saved billions of lives. I'd go without eggs if it meant billions not dying from malaria. BTW, there is also no proven link between DDT and cancer. I couldn't tell you about cancer and mercury, though.


End thread jack.

[lightning9191]

Originally Posted by shilala

It's been done away with in my time, and as an outdoorsman and anal scientist who has always lived in farm country...

Really?

Originally Posted by andysutherland

Not trying to start a debate or anything, Scott, but DDT has saved billions of lives. I'd go without eggs if it meant billions not dying from malaria. BTW, there is also no proven link between DDT and cancer. I couldn't tell you about cancer and mercury, though.


End thread jack.

But without eggs we lose a ton of biodiversity...a ton....not good. We don't just lose eggs for breakfast.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by andysutherland

Not trying to start a debate or anything, Scott, but DDT has saved billions of lives. I'd go without eggs if it meant billions not dying from malaria. BTW, there is also no proven link between DDT and cancer. I couldn't tell you about cancer and mercury, though.
End thread jack.

Andy, the egg thing doesn't have any connection to cancer (and I didn't know there was even controversy as to ddt being a carcinogen).
DDT gets in the environment, then gets in the animals.
It causes the shells of eggs to become very fragile. This goes for all egg laying critters.
As a result, the eggs break, and no baby critters.
That's all good proven stuff.
I don't think we disagree at all. It had it's time, and it did a lot of damage that's been reversed by it's discontinuation.
There's new more gooder stuff nowadays that doesn't cause the damage DDT did. It's cause we got a bit smarter. I hope.
I'm all for chemicals, by the way. I just use stuff I'm not afraid to drink.
I spend a lot of time reading all the little black letters on the white paper, not that it helps, but the things I use are stuff that hasn't killed me yet.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by gnukfu

45 years ago it wasn't a problem. I remember playing with mercury that fell on the floor when I broke my toys that contained it. Now if you spill some you have created a Superfund site and millions of dollars must be spent to clean the area. Anyway this repeats the gist of what has been said above but I still felt like typing it....probably due to mercury exposure when I was a child.

It was probably the paint chips, George.
You quit eating them yet?