I recently attended a mercury conference at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in St. Paul. I took a lot of notes and collected some handouts after the meeting to share with you. There is a lot of new information about mercury and the effects we suffer because of the misuse or ignorance of it’s toxicity.

I believe most of us are aware that mercury is toxic to humans. It can cause damage to the nervous system and brain, interfere with fetal development in pregnant women, and cause liver and kidney damage. A major problem in reducing mercury from our environment is that once introduced into the air (by evaporation) it may remain airborne for up to a year. Thinking about this brings to mind all the mercury-containing devices and products we throw into the trash or burn barrel where it becomes heated and evaporates quickly. Additionally, as mercury enters the wastewater (lakes and streams, including the ocean) it is quickly absorbed by marine life, especially the fish we eat and animals that eat the fish. Once into the food chain we cannot control the numerous sources if affects.

Another problem in controlling mercury in our environment is that only 13 states currently test for mercury in fish (the most common source) and not all states use the same testing method for determining how much mercury they contain. The states and foreign countries that do not test, often claim they do not have a mercury contamination problem. Also, there is no state that has set a standard for mercury content in ocean fish, only a federal allowable limit.

The conference we attended included meeting the MPCA dog that is able to &uot;sniff&uot; out a mercury source. He has been trained similar to drug sniffing dogs used by law enforcement, only he responds to mercury. Using the dog, many schools have been visited and huge volumes of unknown mercury sources under cabinets and inside old lockers have been identified and removed.

Right in our homes, a broken fever thermometer can be heated by a furnace or the warm sun shining through a window and slowly evaporate over many months. A person sleeping or spending long periods of time in that room would be constantly exposed to high levels of mercury through their lungs. If a thermometer were broken in a sink, the mercury could stick to the metal pipes and evaporate over a long period of time whenever warm water was used. Mercury can adhere to jewelry and plumbing fixtures like a magnet.

There are many possible sources of mercury in our homes and removing them safely can reduce the possibility of exposure to you and your family. The Environmental Services Department has a brochure that will assist your walk through the home and identify possible sources. It will also explain how to handle mercury and where to take it. Our office also has a &uot;mercury thermometer exchange.&uot; Bring your old mercury (silver centered) fever thermometers to our office in the courthouse and we will exchange them for a free digital unit. There has been a huge response to this program and thus far we have received hundreds of thermometers. We were able to obtain the digital thermometers through a grant from the MPCA. The county &uot;match&uot; for the grant was our time spent advertising and distributing the units. It has been a great program. There is no limit on how many thermometers we will accept but we limit our free digit units to one per household so we have enough for everyone.

Randy Tuchtenhagen is head of the Freeborn County Environmen-tal Services department.