Who else "played" with mercury as a kid?

[annabanana]

Back in the dark ages, before we knew how dangerous it was, a broken thermometer was an occasion to satisfy our curiosity. We'd let the little ball of mercury roll around in the palm of our hand. . poke it into little balls, then watch them re-join..

Millions of kids... Prolonged exposure might be exceedingly dangerous.. once or twice, maybe not so much...

[notadmblnd]

1. I don't recall playing with it

but I know I've broken more than one thermometer in my life. Now days, they'll they'll declare your home a toxic waste site and make you evacuate.

[Midlodemocrat]

2. Hell, we did it in science class as part of a lab.

[midnight]

3. annabanana when I read this I had to chuckle. How did we

live through those dark ages. And yes I did have the joy of playing with that deadly stuff. It was fun wasn't it. Now we get to worry about the mercury via the fish we are eating. O how times have changed.

[dipsydoodle]

4. Isn't it the compounds

that can be dangerous rather than the pure element ? I've seen a picture of someone standing in a large bath of pure mercury.

Mercury occurs in deposits throughout the world and it is harmless in an insoluble form, such as mercuric sulfide, but it is poisonous in soluble forms such as mercuric chloride or methylmercury.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(element)

[depakid]

8. Not just the compounds

Elemental mercury isn't absorbed well though the skin or the gut- but mercury vapor is another story.

Think: Mad Hatter.

http://www.calpoison.org/public/mercury.html

[timtom]

13. I just did a quick Google search

and the contention is that mercury in its liquid metallic state is, indeed poisonous.

I, too, played with it as a young teen and I now wonder (at age 65) why wasn't it dangerous before? I mean, my health is quite good (and always has been).

I have a full head of hair and 2 healthy kidneys.

[dipsydoodle]

28. Well at least

I can match the kidney count.........lol. I was 64 last week. Hips are both in pretty good nick too - comes of dancing to swing music frequently.

[Catch22Dem]

5. We each had a blob put on our desks in school one day

We played with it for quite a while that day.

[xchrom]

6. i remember the little silvery balls rolling around in my hand.

and then making more little balls out of them.

yeah we played with it as kids.

[Ilsa]

7. I did once. My mom was very upset and "cleaned" it up. I had an autistic child

thirty years later. Don't know if it matters. Or that my measles titer is 100times what it should be.

[madokie]

9. and rub it on a penny to make it all shiny like a new dime is

we played with it quite a bit IIRC

[terip64]

20. I forgot about that! We did that too! n/t

[ThomWV]

10. We played with it all the time, and were surrounded by lead-based painted stuff too.

[karynnj]

35. Most of the kids in my subdivision ran behind the trucks spaying pesticides in the late 50s

My sisters and brothers and I were among the few who didn't - because my mom made it very clear that she did not think it a good idea - and we'd be in trouble.

[soothsayer]

41. Kids today are real wimps!

[rzemanfl]

60. That brings back memories. I remember the trucks coming

around spraying for mosquitoes. I used to love to spray DDT with one of those pumps with a tank attached.

[bpeale]

52. our house was covered from the roof to the ground in asbestos shingles

still is today too.

[sendero]

11. I did...

... it was fascinating. You could coat a quarter with it and make it very shiny.

As for effects, who knows? I think most of my liabilities are genetic :)

[RebelOne]

12. I played with it as a child and I am now 68 and still alive and well.

So, no long-term effects.

[lateo]

14. Yep, used to do it all the time.

[acmavm]

15. Oh yeah. I wonder how we ever survived childhood as it is. But

with every new revelation of all the toxic stuff we got into, I wonder that we're still alive.

[mindfulNJ]

16. Yes...

I remember my dentist putting a little blob in my hand...just to show me what he had just put into my MOUTH.

I also remember running around outside at the military base where we lived in a thick cloud of DDT. They used to come around and spray regularly. We called it "Smokey Joe". Great fun for the kiddies! I still remember the prickly feel in the back of your throat when you breathed it in.

[yy4me]

17. All of us over 60 or so played with Mercury blobs, great fun. We

also chewed in lead based windowsills, rode in cars with no seat belts, got a whack on the seat of the pants for our bad behavior, did many of the things that are now taboo. Sometimes I wonder how we all survived. There was lead paint on not only our houses but also all of our toys..which were made here, not in China.

We also played with toys with small pieces, had jack-knives, rode bikes without helmets. I wonder how long the list would be if we took the time to list the hazardous things we did or played with.

[Mend]

23. and our food came from family farms, our water from artesian wells, and

the air looked and smelled pretty good, except on the New Jersey Turnpike. Oh, and we had snow in the winter to clean things up. We caught the measles, mumps, and chicken pox instead of getting vaccinated.

[rzemanfl]

59. Remember taking the cork out of bottle caps, filling two of them

with the heads of farmer matches, taping them together with lots of tape and then throwing them so they'd explode? I remember a kid tried this with electical conduit and then tried to seal the ends in a vise. Lost some digits as I recall....

Everbody had a slingshot and a BB gun. It's a wonder we lived.

Not all our toys were made here. I remember Japanese tin toys that said Budweiser or Schlitz on the inside.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

61. I think you got it

There was lead paint on not only our houses but also all of our toys..which were made here, not in CHINA.!!!!

[NutmegYankee]

63. well, you survived because not everyone gets in a bad car accident.

Sure did help having less cars on the road to hit as well.

[izzie]

18. I did as it was interesting stuff.

Oh well some thing has to kill me.

[terip64]

19. It was like the little silver balls for decorating Christmas cookies. We played w/it when we could.

[Ian David]

21. My mom used to play with the stuff.

[Cetacea]

22. Dentists still claim that Mercury is safe.

In your mouth.

[goddess40]

24. I had those fillings replaced

more because of I developed an allergy to all metals not just the ones toxic to everyone. I won't let them put metal fillings in my kids mouths either.

[Thothmes]

26. fillings

Asked my dentist about that. I have 8 or 9 fillings done 54-50 years ago when mercury was part of the amalgam. He said don't need to replace them unless the filling had to be replaced because it was crumbling or had developed decay under it. Still have 4 or 5 of the old ones left.

[dipsydoodle]

29. That's the whole point about amalgam

far far tougher than any of the white substitutes. Last time I had a filling I made it clear I wanted metal and the dentist just said "good on you".

Health warning : this thread may contain nuts.

edit - speeeeeeeelling mistakes

[MuseRider]

25. Yes.

It was fun to mess with. Add to that all the nuclear testing, cholordane injected all around your house etc. etc. it is a wonder we are still here.

[Blue Diadem]

27. When my son was little, one of his classmates brought in a jar full.

It fell and broke on the classroom floor and they scooped up as much as possible and then it was vacuumed up. I remember being upset about it and took my son to his Doctor where we discussed it. Doc said..hey don't worry, don't you remember how we played with it as a kid and let the little balls roll around on our hands? :wow: Of course I remembered that, but then here I was reading about the University having a spill and sealing off the area and spending thousands to clean it up, while my kid's class was vacuuming it up? The Dr. didn't seem to think it was a big deal, so I let it go. I still wonder about it..and it's been 18 yrs.

But to answer your question, I do remember doing that as a child, usually at school when someone brought in some. I always wondered where they got that much mercury.

[MrMickeysMom]

30. As a kid, through my "science experiment" via elementary school teacher!

So.... here's another excuse of how the 1960's "influenced" my thinking...

:banghead: ... I could have been a contender!!!

[TalkingDog]

31. Yep. And ran through the "mosquito fog" (DDT) after the trucks

would pass by our house.

At least I had sense enough to hold my breath.



My Favorite Master Artist: Karen Parker GhostWoman Studios

[NNN0LHI]

32. I played with myself as a kid

Does that count?

;-)

Don

[lonestarnot]

33. Used to smear it on pennies to turn them silver. Yikes, I'm a gonner.

[Arkansas Granny]

34. We played with it in grade school science class and any time we

had access to a broken thermometer. Roll it around in your hand, smash it into little globs and then let the little globs unite into the original big blob. We would rub it on pennies to make them look like new dimes.

Like many others who have posted here, I don't know how so many of us baby boomers survived childhood with the exposure we had to all the chemicals that were being used when we were kids and before it was discovered (or disclosed, at least) just how toxic they were.

[ronnykmarshall]

36. Not Mercury ....

But I did play with Uranus.

[RandomKoolzip]

39. !

:thumbsup:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

37. my grandmother did. she would make the merc touch gold. the gold then goes white.

\

[MLFerrell]

38. When I was in 4th Grade...

My teacher, an abominably horrible woman name Mrs. Gilkey, who sent me to the principal's office for making a drawing of a frowning me with the caption "I am sad", once brought a GIANT bottle of Mercury to class to show us.

We must have played with the stuff for half an hour. God only knows how much vapor we inhaled. One kid, David, scooped some up and swallowed it. I've always wondered how much he fucked himself up doing that...

[soothsayer]

40. Of course! And I'd do it again. It's great stuff. Scientist dad would bring home vials

on rare occasions. Maybe he hated us.

[alfredo]

42. I did. I also used Carbon tetrachloride to see watermarks on stamps.

Reference(s)
Recognized:- Carcinogen P65
Suspected:- Cardiovascular or Blood Toxicant KLAA MALA RTECS
Developmental Toxicant- EPA-SARA OEHHA-AREL OEHHA-CREL
Endocrine Toxicant- RTECS
Gastrointestinal or Liver Toxicant- ATSDR DIPA EPA-HEN HAZMAP KLAA LADO MALA OEHHA-CREL RTECS ZIMM
Kidney Toxicant- EPA-HEN HAZMAP KLAA MERCK RTECS STAC
Neurotoxicant- DAN EPA-HEN EPA-SARA HAZMAP KLAA OEHHA-CREL RTECS STAC TANN
Reproductive Toxicant- OEHHA-AREL
Respiratory Toxicant- RTECS
Skin or Sense Organ Toxicant

It was also used as a fire suppressant. It came in red glass globes. You'd throw it at the fire.

[applegrove]

43. My mom and aunt played with it. I never did. Wasn't any around our house as kids.

[seemunkee]

44. Ordered it from Edmunds scientific

My brother ordered a bunch of odd stuff from Edmunds and that was one of them

[Sparkly]

45. I did. nt

[in_cog_ni_to]

46. I did, a few times. n/t

[KansDem]

47. Yeah, I remember playing with the mercury from a broken thermometer...

Fascinating stuff.

I even had a junior-high science teacher tell his class that he'd like to have a swimming pool filled with mercury because he could walk around on/in it and his feet would only sink a few inches.

How were we suppose to know it was dangerous?

[MilesColtrane]

48. Oh yeah.

Even worse, in high school, my buddies and I swiped a big chunk of sodium from the science lab and threw it in a creek just to watch it explode.

stupid...

[whoneedstickets]

49. Yeah, and Asbestos!!

Some relatives lived up north near an asbestos mine, as kids we were given chunks to play with, it would pull apart in shreds.

[MonkeyFunk]

50. Oh hell yeah

on more than one occasion, we "accidentally" busted a thermometer just for the fun of playing with the mercury.

[bpeale]

51. i remember doing that

and i'm still alive to tell about it!

[Canuckistanian]

53. I like pie.

[soothsayer]

54. Dunno, but Mickey Mouse played with Pluto

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

55. Mercury is dangerous.

Unfortunately, anecdotal stories of childhood exposure is not an adequate measure of toxicology.

[rzemanfl]

56. I have been waiting all day to post to this thread since I saw it at

work this morning. My uncle was a chemist, he gave me a whole test tube full of mercury back in the 1950's! I bet if somebody checked the basement of my old house there'd still be traces of the stuff.
I too had forgotten the shiny coin gambit. I am 60, have all my hair and most of my teeth. On a bike ride yesterday I saw a little kid with a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads and gloves on his little bike. We thought safety equipment was riding with your shoes on. Remember taking the tank, fenders and chain guard off your bike to make it "lighter and faster?"

[Vektor]

57. I totally did.

We had no idea at the time that it was dangerous.

Playing with the mercury ball was one of life's greatest pleasures when I was little.

[Brewman_Jax]

58. I remember that

pushing the silver blobs on the desk. Never tried to hold it, too hard to handle.

[NutmegYankee]

62. IIRC, the metal form (vice vapor or other compound forms) is far safer.

Its the other forms, or heated mercury that were far more dangerous.