Hoppyland
Senior Member
Old mercury thermometers were banned years ago.
What?? I'd never heard about this. My most recent mercury thermometer is, I guess, about 5 years old - from a scientific supplier, certified accuracy.
I'm astonished at a ban. Why? Metallic mercury does not react with water or I believe oxygen at normal temperatures. Even if it did, I also thought that inorganic mercury compounds weren't dreadfully toxic - whereas organic ones certainly can be.
I value mercury thermometers for their rapid response time. And, at least in my past, they were the only ones that you could get with certified accuracy.
It strikes me as a bit like banning lead from artist's paints - targeting a problem that is only theoretical, whilst pumping thousands of tonnes of CO2 into our already overly-modified atmosphere!
Hey Ho!! ....