Here's a neat list from our own Food and Drug Administration of Drug and Biologic products which contain the dreaded element mercury to this very day:
https://www.fda.gov/regulatoryinformatio...a/ucm100218.htmThe mercury containing chemical Thimerosal is a preservative frequently used in vaccines, and is even used in those vaccines routinely given to infants and children, such as DPT vaccine. Of course, dental amalgam containing mercury is still in widespread use simply because it lasts longer and performs better than the non-mercury alternatives. I'd imagine that most of us were routinely painted with Mercurochrome or Merthiolate by our Mom's when we cut ourselves or skinned our knees.
About 50% of the world's exposure to mercury contamination is from natural sources such as emissions from volcanic activity.
That said, I would do everything I could to reduce or eliminate exposure to mercury by myself or my kids. Although I can get mercuric chloride, I won't be mixing up any of Angier's recipes that utilize it because there are safer alternatives. Mercury is seriously bad stuff, but the risks from the limited exposure found in most modern cultures appear to be somewhat exaggerated. Excessive regulation of heavy metals here isn't doing much, if anything, to prevent Brazilians from dumping them into the Amazon, or Chinese from exporting consumer goods painted or tainted with them. Damascus obviously understands the risks, and knows how to minimize and control them. Certain others here probably shouldn't be permitted to use scissors or pencils without adult supervision.
Now, perhaps... a word or two from an anti-2nd Amendment guy with a giant carbon footprint, who helps feed a multi-megawatt biomass burning power plant at a pulp mill in Canada...
