Mercury Battery Contamination Question

PGraham3 · Oct 19, 2018

Hello, APUG.
I picked up another Ricoh Singlex TLS a few days ago, and I opened up the battery compartment, and found what I think was a mercury battery. I was kinda in a rush getting it all geared up and don’t recall everything. I recall seeing a “P” and one number with it, maybe P-7 or P-5 or P-12 and it was “Made in USA”. There was a green ring seal that appeared to be within the battery, and no leakage. It appeared solid. The battery dropped on my desk and was quickly put in a special trash can at my school to be disposed of correctly later. It reminded me of a zinc-air battery, but not very sure. There didn’t seem to be any residue of anything, except for a little white crystallized material within the battery chamber. I had taken a close look at the battery chamber, and while I wasn’t super close, it does concern me now that perhaps I breathed in some mercury-alkaline of somekind, etc. Not likely, but I’ve read about many concerns regarding degraded Mercury batteries.

For those experienced with dealing with mercury batteries, does this sound like something to be concerned about?

Thanks, APUG!
-Paul

AgX · Oct 19, 2018

Handling old cameras in the field (rummage boxes, fleamarkets) one will always come in contact with these salts (from whatever kind of battery). I try to reduce such contact as much as possible. And clean my hands as often as possible. But so far I have not taken on single-use gloves to handle these.

As a teenager I cut-open with a saw a NiCad cell on the kitchen table to see how it was built...

AgX · Oct 19, 2018

The white stuff at Mercury, Silver, Alkaline and NiCad cells is basically solid KOH. To what extent it contains these metals, I wondered myself in the past.

PGraham3 · Oct 19, 2018

Thanks @AgX
I’m figuring it’s nothing as I handled the battery correctly, but just got concerned with another teacher mentioned numerous dangers with old mercury batteries and it made me concerned.
-Paul

MattKing · Oct 20, 2018

Don't eat them and don't burn them.
The ban on mercury batteries arose mostly because of the danger to those involved in manufacturing the batteries - think continuous exposure.

BMbikerider · Oct 20, 2018

When you think of the billions of fluorescent lighting tubes and the screw in bulb equivalent that are made and disposed of every year I am not sure of the risk of mercury in batteries is as severe as has been projected. These lighting tubes are coated inside with a compound which has a mercury base and would not work unless they did. These are made in factories and the workers are 'subject to constant exposure' to the process so why are these not banned?

Simply, like batteries, the process of manufacture of these tubes and bulbs, is a sealed process without human contact and employees are not subject to continuous exposure.

Additionally the mercuric content of the amalgam used by the majority of dentists world wide is still a current practice so why has this not been banned? If it was that bad it would have been dropped like a hot potato! I have several fillings all containing Mercury and have yet to suffer the consequences of mercury poisoning. The manufacture of many things all contain poisonous materials which have not been banned. I just don't understand it.

(I still have one very accurate mercury thermometer in regular use and guard it carefully, knowing that I can never replace it.)

bernard_L · Oct 20, 2018

Don't eat them and don't burn them.

+1
"Mercury" by itself is no indication of the degree of toxicity. I remember in high school the chemistry professor demonstrating (iirc) a spectroscopy experiment involving vapors from heated mercury. And playing with that funny liquid metal. And remember all the practitioners of daguerrotypes developing with mercury vapors. All these are less than ideal, but the people involved at least did not die on the spot.

You have to distinguish between: mercury metal; inorganic compounds, e.g. mercuric chloride, nasty, and organic compounds, e.g. mercury dimethyl very nasty
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Wetterhahn

pentaxuser · Oct 20, 2018

I may be doomed. I obtained an old meter that still had a mercury battery in it and while it's still working it also had a bit of powder around its edges which I cleaned off with wirewool using my bare hands.

When at school many years ago, the teacher gave us mercury to examine and I handled some as did all the other kids. It's fascinating stuff. Despite both those incidents I still have my health and all my six fingers on each hand

Seriously you can obsess over this kind of thing to an unhealthy extent. I would not worry

pentaxuser

BrianShaw · Oct 20, 2018

MattKing said:
Don't eat them and don't burn them.
The ban on mercury batteries arose mostly because of the danger to those involved in manufacturing the batteries - think continuous exposure.

Also think quantity of the product ... I’m not sure how much mercury is actually in a single cell but in worldwide quantities, over a prolonged period of time... I’m quite sure there was a lot of mercury to be concerned about.

In the factories the quantities and exposure were quite high. In consumer usage, much less so on an individual basis.

But don’t eat them, or burn them and always try to find a responsible way to dispose of any that are found.

pentaxuser · Oct 20, 2018

BrianShaw said:
But don’t eat them,.

Now he tells me!

pentaxuser

ic-racer · Oct 20, 2018

I used to have one of those older metal screw-cap 35mm canisters filled with mercury; I can't say I ever had an inclination to eat it. That, 'silly putty' and a 'slinky' were all one needed to keep occupied as a kid...

Ces1um · Oct 20, 2018

BMbikerider said:
Additionally the mercuric content of the amalgam used by the majority of dentists world wide is still a current practice so why has this not been banned? If it was that bad it would have been dropped like a hot potato! I have several fillings all containing Mercury and have yet to suffer the consequences of mercury poisoning. The manufacture of many things all contain poisonous materials which have not been banned. I just don't understand it.

Think more about the number of dentists who have placed and removed tens of thousands of these things during their career and not suffered any injurious health effects. The average person having 5-10 of these things in their mouth is nothing like the exposure dentists would have every single day of their career.

pentaxuser · Oct 20, 2018

ic-racer said:
I used to have one of those older metal screw-cap 35mm canisters filled with mercury; I can't say I ever had an inclination to eat it. That, 'silly putty' and a 'slinky' were all one needed to keep occupied as a kid...

Based on the thread about privacy invasion and Sean's very interesting link about China's social credit score for its citizens, I'd apply for enhanced medical and life assurance before "Big Brother" picks up on your admission

pentaxuser

Svenedin · Oct 20, 2018

pentaxuser said:
Based on the thread about privacy invasion and Sean's very interesting link about China's social credit score for its citizens, I'd apply for enhanced medical and life assurance before "Big Brother" picks up on your admission

pentaxuser

Really? I have clocks with mercury compensated pendulums. Pints of it swinging back and forth for decades, unsealed (but with a lid to keep dust out). As said above, the organic compounds of mercury are extremely toxic as is the vapour if inhaled. There was a form of gilding (mercurial gilding) whereby a gold/mercury amalgam paste was painted onto metal which was then placed in a fire to boil off the mercury leaving the gold behind. Unsurprisingly this was highly injurious to the health of the gilders. Also mercury compounds were used in felt for making hats, hence the Mad Hatter (they used steam which caused them to inhale the mercury compounds). It’s a cumulative poison, neurotoxic. A very large dose is rapidly harmful, otherwise it builds up over time rather like other heavy metals, lead etc. The body finds it very difficult to get rid of.

bernard_L · Oct 21, 2018

BrianShaw said:
I’m not sure how much mercury is actually in a single cell but in worldwide quantities, over a prolonged period of time... I’m quite sure there was a lot of mercury to be concerned about.
In the factories the quantities and exposure were quite high.

(my emphasis) This is not something of the past.
How much mercury is emitted worldwide each year? Estimates of annual global mercury emissions from both natural and anthropogenic sources are in the range of 5,000 to 8,000 metric tons per year.
quoted from:
https://www.epa.gov/international-cooperation/mercury-emissions-global-context
At least the mercury in batteries was contained inside a metal shell, and would noawadays be collected together with other used batteries, not released in the atmosphere.

The tree (that horrible mercury battery or CFL) and the forest (global emissions).

AgX · Oct 21, 2018

bernard_L said:
At least the mercury in batteries was contained inside a metal shell, and would noawadays be collected together with other used batteries, not released in the atmosphere

Is that so ???

The EU currently prescribed minimum rate for battery recycling is 45%, some EU contries are actually above it, Germany for instance below.
However the actual percentage for button cells is only at 20%.
In the headays of mercury cells there was not even a recycling system for them, they went the way of generic waste, thus they either ended in a landfill or were inceinerated.

Mercury Battery Contamination Question

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