EPA discovers new mercury isotope?

The federal government is taking steps to remove mercury thermometers from use, reports the Baltimore Sun.

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The EPA is quoted as follows:

“Due to elemental mercury’s high toxicity, EPA seeks to reduce potential mercury exposures to humans and the environment by reducing the overall use of mercury-containing products, including mercury-containing thermometers.”

This policy, however, apparently doesn’t apply to mercury-containing compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), to which the EPA has given its ENERGY STAR rating. Although the mercury in CFLs requires a 3-page set of EPA-issued safety instructions for CFL clean-up, it is apparently a new and distinct form of mercury — i.e., a politically correct isotope. Call it HgPC.

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