The big news right now in Washington is mercury — that mysterious liquid metal keeps popping up at Cardozo High School, despite two previous cleanings. Today, for the third time, more mercury appeared in the school just after the EPA declared the site clean.
It’s interesting reading about the clean up and seeing the pictures of Tyvek-clad decontaminators; the hyped “hot zone” and the involvement of the EPA.
When I was a kid in 7th grade, me and two friends started a “detective agency” in a basement just up the hill from where I live now. And one day, the staff of CTS Investigations — Cowan, Treacle, and Sprague — procured a bottle of mercury (I think we got it in school at the science class) and had fun playing with this hideous, toxic substance. We marveled at the liquid, tried to fathom why it wasn’t magnetic, and just generally played around with it, without giving thought to vapors or whether it would kill us after touching it.
That was nearly 30 years ago. I have no idea where Treacle and Sprague are today, but it doesn’t seem like the mercury did anything to me… I mean, it’s not like I’m mad as a hatter or anything. Just on a whim, let’s see what chronic mercury poisoning is sometimes misdiagnosed as:
Addison’s disease
Allergies
Alzheimer’s disease
Amylotrophic lateral sclerosis
Ankylosing spondylitis
Anorexia nervosa
Anxiety
Asthma
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Autoimmune disease
Bipolar disorder
Borderline personality disorder
Bulimia
Candidiasis
Chronic fatigue
Colitis
Crohn’s disease
Depression
Endocrine disorders
Environmental illness
Fibromyalgia
Food allergies
Gastritis
Hypogonadism
Hypothyroidism
Infertility
Insomnia
Irritable bowel syndrome
Juvenile arthritis
Learning disabilities
Lupus erythromatosus
Manic depression
Multiple chemical sensitivities
Multiple sclerosis
Myasthenia gravis
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Panic attacks
Parkinson’s disease
Pervasive developmental disorder
Psychosis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Schizophrenia
Sciatica
Sleep disorders
Yeast syndrome
Hmm. Psychosis. Hmmmmmmm.
