On Wed, 6 Jun 2007 09:25:40 +0100, cupra wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6725161.stm

Why is the picture that of an aneroid barometer?

From a linked page: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4801434.stm

Typical - ban the 'easy' targets leave the coal burning power stations
etc....

Mercury is nasty, that's where the phrase "mad as a hatter" comes from and
there was a serious case of mass poisoning in Japan from eating
contaminated seafood but the exposure levels were rather high.

I expect most of the population over about 35 have a fair amount of Hg in
their mouths and have a far greater exposure to Hg from that source than
the effectively sealed in glass mercury barometer.

It's interesting that they are aiming to ban the sale of all products
containing mercury. What about flourescent tubes? They all contain
Mercury... I see the second article mentions schemes for the collection
and recovery of the mercury from products containing it. So not only do we
have a fridge mountain we'll shortly have a florescent light mountain as
well.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail