Contrary to popular belief, it is somewhat difficult to poison anyone with mercury in its elemental, liquid state. Neither ingesting, nor intravenous injection provide enough mercury absorption for systemic toxicity to result. For that, you would need to alter the mercury to release vapor as inhaling it is much more harmful than swallowing it. Of course you would then most likely poison yourself too so it’s not recommended. Unless whoever it is you are trying to knock off has absolutely no powers of observation, they’re very likely to notice you wandering around in a full biohazard suit, including helmet with face shield.
Only slightly more effective are mercury salts. Prolonged or heavy exposure to them will eventually result in neurological damage. However, you’d cause kidney damage long before that and probably get caught too.
If you seriously want to do away with someone via mercury, your best bet would be a compound such as dimethylmercury which is so toxic even a few drops coming in contact with the skin or even a latex glove would be enough. It is, however, damn difficult to obtain unless you work in a specialized lab to that pretty much rules it out as well. In other words, come up with some method other than mercury if you’re that determined.
That said, people do still have all sorts of mercury-related issues. Most come from methylmercury which is an organic compound that works its way up the food chain through bioaccumulation. In other words, it’s in the stuff we eat, mainly fish such as swordfish and tuna, but also land animals. There have been studies however, and the benefits of eating one or two servings of fish a week far outweigh the risks.
Oh, so you know, there can be a period of latency between eating contaminated seafood and symptoms appearing. If you ever experience tingling or numbness in the skin or sensory impairment, vision, speech, or hearing, do not just ignore it. In many cases, treatment can be administered and the effects of the poisoning minimized. On the other hand, if the wrong dosage of the substance used to treat the mercury poison is given the side-effects are just as bad and can speed death rather than prevent it. Still, it’s better to be safe.
Some interesting tidbits:
The phrase mad as a hatter is a reference to mercury poisoning because mercury-based compounds were often used in the manufacture of felt hats in the 18th and 19th centuries.
In Iraq in 1971 there were 6530 cases of mercury poisoning including 459 deaths that were the result of treated seeds being used to make bread instead of being planted. There was a mercury compound formerly used as a preventative against seed mold.
In 2008, a man died from inhaling mercury vapor while trying to extract gold from computer parts. His residence was found to be so contaminated that it had to be completely gutted.
In Japan in the 1950’s there were almost 3000 cases of poisoning with 600 deaths due to industrial discharges into rivers and coastal waters.
In 2000, a man attempted to kill a former employee by pouring mercury into the ventilation system of her car. It didn’t work so don’t bother.
In December 2008, actor Jeremy Piven was diagnosed with mercury poisoning resulting from eating sushi twice a day for twenty years.
Only slightly more effective are mercury salts. Prolonged or heavy exposure to them will eventually result in neurological damage. However, you’d cause kidney damage long before that and probably get caught too.
If you seriously want to do away with someone via mercury, your best bet would be a compound such as dimethylmercury which is so toxic even a few drops coming in contact with the skin or even a latex glove would be enough. It is, however, damn difficult to obtain unless you work in a specialized lab to that pretty much rules it out as well. In other words, come up with some method other than mercury if you’re that determined.
That said, people do still have all sorts of mercury-related issues. Most come from methylmercury which is an organic compound that works its way up the food chain through bioaccumulation. In other words, it’s in the stuff we eat, mainly fish such as swordfish and tuna, but also land animals. There have been studies however, and the benefits of eating one or two servings of fish a week far outweigh the risks.
Oh, so you know, there can be a period of latency between eating contaminated seafood and symptoms appearing. If you ever experience tingling or numbness in the skin or sensory impairment, vision, speech, or hearing, do not just ignore it. In many cases, treatment can be administered and the effects of the poisoning minimized. On the other hand, if the wrong dosage of the substance used to treat the mercury poison is given the side-effects are just as bad and can speed death rather than prevent it. Still, it’s better to be safe.
Some interesting tidbits:
The phrase mad as a hatter is a reference to mercury poisoning because mercury-based compounds were often used in the manufacture of felt hats in the 18th and 19th centuries.
In Iraq in 1971 there were 6530 cases of mercury poisoning including 459 deaths that were the result of treated seeds being used to make bread instead of being planted. There was a mercury compound formerly used as a preventative against seed mold.
In 2008, a man died from inhaling mercury vapor while trying to extract gold from computer parts. His residence was found to be so contaminated that it had to be completely gutted.
In Japan in the 1950’s there were almost 3000 cases of poisoning with 600 deaths due to industrial discharges into rivers and coastal waters.
In 2000, a man attempted to kill a former employee by pouring mercury into the ventilation system of her car. It didn’t work so don’t bother.
In December 2008, actor Jeremy Piven was diagnosed with mercury poisoning resulting from eating sushi twice a day for twenty years.
4 comments:
Great blog, B.
You have to love the mind of a writer! And yes, you are making me laugh.
:}
Mad as a Hatter. I always wondered about that phrase. Hmm. This is very interesting.
You just never know what you're going to come up with next, do you?
What a wonderful post! Amazing where our research takes us, isn't it?
Thank you!
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