Is the Mercury in Your Home… Making You Sick?
by P.K. Odle, The Feng Shui Advantage
Mercury is a known neurotoxin, and elevated blood mercury levels may lead to retardation and deformities in children. In America, 1 in 6 children born every year have been exposed to mercury levels so high that they're are potentially at risk for learning disabilities, motor skill impairment and short-term memory loss.
If you're unsure whether or not you've been contaminated watch for symptoms of irritability, excitability, excessive timidness, headaches, drowsiness or insomnia, weakness, acrodynia or pink disease (which causes the skin to turn pink). Many cases of mercury contamination also include reports of sore mouths, excessive salivation, loss of appetite, weakness, digestive disorders, kidney damage, and bleeding gums, and perspiration. In mercury intoxication, a common symptom is a tremor which is aggravated by emotion or excitement.
Most compounds of mercury are toxic, especially its organic compounds (such as methylmercury). Chest pains, dyspnea (also called "air hunger" causes difficulty in breathing), coughing, hemoptysis (coughing up of blood from the respiratory tract), and sometimes interstitial pneumonitis leading to death may follow acute inhalation exposure to mercury vapor.
Commercial properties usually have larger water heaters, furnaces and appliances (depending on the type of property). Check to see if the owners of the building sold any devices containing mercury that might still be in it or require special kinds of cleanup. Boiler rooms usually contain mercury devices. Mercury switches are frequently associated with all types of heating and cooling equipment.
For more information on the types businesses where mercury is present and devices containing mercury visit…Purdue University’s study on Mercury in Buildings.
Replace Mercury Devices with Mercury-Free Substitutes – After you’ve identified the mercury contained within your building, develop a mercury reduction plan. Most mercury devices pose little immediate risk, so there isn't necessarily a need to immediately get rid of mercury-containing devices. However, most mercury-containing devices are now easy to replace with mercury free alternatives.
You should develop a plan to:
- Quickly replace any device that poses a threat of accidental spills, such as mercury manometer or mercury thermometer
- Replace mercury thermostats with more energy-efficient models
- Replace other mercury devices at the end of their useful lives and dispose of them properly.
Before beginning any renovation or demolition projects walk-through your home or office to identify any items which will require special handling and disposal, such as thermostats, fluorescent lamps, and mercury switch-containing devices. Other hazardous materials which don't contain mercury need to be identified as well. Materials that are difficult to identify or that are suspected of being potentially hazardous should be isolated, until they can be identified or tested to choose a disposal method.
Also, identify which materials are to be removed and sold for reuse or processed and recycled. For additional cues about where mercury might be contained within a building, consider the building's history and look at the building's blueprints. Blueprints can help you locate lights, switches, and thermostats that might have mercury in them. If you sell the building, it is a good idea to let the buyer know about all the remaining mercury in the building, so they can responsibly handle the problem.
It’s important to specify in contracts for remodeling or demolition that mercury containing devices must be removed and disposed of properly. You need to include a hazardous materials clause making the contractor responsible for removing and properly disposing of all hazardous materials expected to be encountered during the demolition. If unexpected materials are encountered, the contract may need to be adjusted.
Should you keep your mercury containing fluorescent bulbs? – These lights are very efficient, which is good for the environment as long mercury stays inside the bulb and you remember to recycle CFL blubs properly. However, when CFL lights are broken, the mercury in them will be let out in the form of mercury vapor, one of the most toxic forms of mercury because mercury vapors can be inhaled and absorbed through the skin. If you were to accidentally break one CFL bulb in your home or office the contamination level would be 6 times that of what most states identify as a "safe" level for mercury contamination, and this accident could cost you about $2,000 to safely clean-up the hazardous mercury spill. Due to the large number of fluorescent blubs in most office it’s important they have some kind of contract with maintenance personnel to insure the fluorescent lamps are disposed of properly.
Potential Hazardous Effects of Fluorescent Lights on the Environment – The EPA estimates that approximately 800 million fluorescent lights are disposed of every year, which can have a huge effect on our plant because it only takes one gram of mercury to contaminate a two-acre pond. Some lights are disposed of properly however, most are NOT because people are unaware that CFL bulbs contain harmful chemicals like mercury. What if all 800 million fluorescent lights were improperly disposed of each year, because they were just tossed in the trash with the rest of the garbage? That would produce enough mercury to contaminate up to 20 million acres of water.
Improperly disposing of mercury containing products, including CFL blubs can lead to… not only our oceans and lakes becoming contaminated but their inhabitants. When mercury reaches water it becomes methylmercury which is highly soluble in water. Even small amounts of methylmercury in the water can contaminate large amounts of fish and animals that we consume. Predator animals automatically have higher amounts of mercury than the prey they consume; therefore, the higher up the food chain you go the higher the amounts of mercury you could be consuming.
Methylmercury leaves the body through excretion and metabolism, but the process is fairly slow. Mercury is found in all tissues and body parts of a contaminated fish.
There’s no way to clean or cook the fish that will remove or even reduce the amount of mercury present. Continual ingestion can create toxic levels… however, that doesn’t mean you must eliminate fish from your diet. Fish are a healthy choice because they provide protein and are low in saturated fat. The best way to reduce your exposure to methylmercury is to moderate or eliminate your consumption of predatory or long-lived fish (such as swordfish, shark, orange roughy and tuna). Refer to Health Alerts to see which species are known to have high levels of mercury. Be especially conservative if you're a woman of childbearing age or are feeding young children.
You can clean up a small mercury spill if you have the right supplies. Spills are considered small if there are less than 10 grams of mercury present (a pool about the size of a quarter). CFL light blubs, thermometers and thermostats usually contain less than 10 grams of mercury.
However, if the spill is larger than the size of a quarter, you should contain the spill (see below) and leave the area. Immediately call the local health department and a contractor who specializes in cleanup of toxic spills, as well as notify the property owner. It is a good idea to contact your State environmental agency for a list of contractors who cleanup toxic spills, so that you have phone numbers handy should you need them. If a spill occurs outside of regular business hours, call the local fire department.
Since mercury is very dense (more than 13 times as dense as water), one pound of mercury doesn’t take up that much space – only approximately 34 milliliters or a little more than two tablespoons equals a pound of mercury. A spill of one pound or more can occur if a container of mercury is spilled, or if mercury is spilled from a large device such as a manometer, flow meter, gas flow regulator, or industrial relay.
Regardless of the size of the mercury spill, you should:
- Dam the mercury (using rags or other disposable items) to prevent spreading.
- Divert the mercury from drains, cracks and crevices.
- Keep persons who aren’t involved in the clean-up away from spill area to limit exposures and to prevent the spread of contamination.
- Close doors to other indoor areas & immediately ventilate spill area - open outside doors and windows, plus use fans that exhaust to outdoors. Keep air flowing through the room with the mercury spill – making sure the contaminated air is ventilating outside.
- Turn off heating, ventilating or air conditioning systems that circulate air from the spill area to other parts of the building.
- If you've come in contact with the mercury, avoid spreading the contamination to other areas. Put contaminated clothing/shoes into a trash bag and wipe off any visible mercury beads into the bag. If it is a small spill that you're cleaning up yourself, shampoo and shower after the cleanup is complete. If it is a large spill, contact local health department and a contractor who specializes in cleanup of toxic spills, and leave the area.
- Use a chemical to coat the mercury or form an amalgam with the mercury, this will keep the mercury from vaporizing and being released into the air. Most sulfur compounds are good for this.
Things you should NEVER do in case of a mercury spill:
- NEVER use an ordinary vacuum or shop vacuum to clean up mercury. The vacuum will cause the liquid mercury to become mercury vapor which makes it easier for people to breathe it in and become sick. This will also cause the vacuum cleaner to become contaminated and it will have to be properly disposed of along with the spilled mercury. However, there are vacuums especially made for cleaning up mercury. These vacuums safely pick up mercury and safely store it for recycling without contaminating the vacuum or spreading the mercury vapor in the room that the spill was in.
- NEVER use household cleaning products to clean the spill, particularly products that contain ammonia or chlorine. These chemicals will react violently with mercury, releasing a toxic gas.
- NEVER use a broom or a paint brush to clean up mercury. It will break the mercury into smaller beads and spread them around.
- NEVER pour or allow mercury to go down a drain.
- NEVER allow people whose shoes or clothing may be contaminated with mercury to walk around or to leave the spill area until mercury-contaminated items have been removed.
Choosing LED lights are better for the environment – and LED lights are now available in a soft light version. Not only are LED lights safer for the environment… they're difficult to damage with external shock and don’t generate RF wavelengths or UV light (so they won’t attract bugs). LED lights are 300% more energy efficient than fluorescent lights, and about 1000% more efficient than incandescent lights. Your savings in the long run will justify the higher up-front cost of LED lights. Considering that it would cost you $54 dollars in electricity to power up to 540 kilowatt-hours over 50,000 hours if you used a LED light, compared to $500 to power a 100-watt bulb for the same amount of time.
Another thing to keep in mind is that carbon dioxide, which is a major contributor to global warming, is released when energy is emitted. Here again LED lights are the smart choice. For example in 50,000 hours of operation a LED light produces 1,080 pounds of CO2 compared to 10,150 pounds of CO2 which would be produced by an incandescent bulb. The bottom line is… by investing in LED lights you’re protecting our water and food supply from mercury contamination, while saving money and help to halt global warming.
© 2007 P.K. Odle. All rights reserved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
P.K. Odle is a celebrated classical Yi Jing Feng Shui consultant and the Executive Director of the world-renowned American Feng Shui Institute®, where she has taught since 1998. She created The Feng Shui Advantage's "Lifetime Keys Personal Directions Self-Mastery Toolbox." To learn more about using the ancient Chinese science of Yi Jing Feng Shui to improve your Health, Relationships and Finances... through 16 weeks of FREE TIPS subscribe to her award-winning eNewsletter, The Feng Shui Advantage MONTHLY, at http://www.FengShuiAdvantage.com. The next issue could change your life!
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