On Jun 6, 12:58 pm, "Darren Prescott"
wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6725161.stm

This was mentioned on TWO a couple of months ago and (unusually for the BBC)
it's little more than an anti EU rant.

No, you won't (easily) be able to buy a new mercury barometer, but you will
still be able to get old ones repaired.

It's a mountain out of a molehill really.

See Euromyths for more info:

http://ec.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/pr...myth150_en.htm

As I suspected. Thanks, Darren. Mercury (as the metal) is
not really a hazard. Although pretty toxic its vapour pressure is
very low. When I worked for BP I was using mercury as a hydraulic
fluid and on one occasion the pipe burst, spraying fine droplets of
mercury everywhere. The mercury detector in the lab just reached the
8-hour working exposure limit and it was situated close to the spill.
I strongly suspect that if you had a mercury barometer and the tube
broke and all the mercury fell on the floor and you left it there you
would not be in any danger whatever. The mercury would get covered in
dust and a film of household grease and dirt which would in effect
reduce the vapour pressure even further. This effect is well-known
among industrial chemists and perhaps the European Parliament, or
least its advisors, know it as well. Mercury compounds, on the other
hand, are very toxic if ingested. The Mad Hatters probably licked
their fingers. It would not happen today or even 40 years ago. Staff
would simply wear gloves and there'd be one or two other elementary
safety precautions which people would take as normal even before we
went safety-mad.

Tudor Hughes (ex industrial chemist), Warlingham, Surrey.