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The fact of the matter is that schools do not constitute one of the largest sources of mercury to the environment. However, they are places where mercury and children may come together. They are also places where we should model appropriate health and environmental protection behaviors. Lastly, schools can also be catalysts for reducing mercury in homes of their students (and staff.)

We have all seen the reports and the newspaper headlines-"School Closed for Mercury Contamination Investigation," "School Closed for Cleanup after Mercury Scare" or "Student Prank Shuts Down Mercury Contaminated School." There is still a lot of mercury sitting in schools and it is spilling regularly if spill incident reports from state and federal agencies are to be believed. Most high schools and middle schools have had one or more mercury spills-elemental mercury, thermometers, sphygmomanometers or barometers.

Focusing on mercury in schools can achieve all of the following:

• help educate students, teachers and administrators about the health hazards and environmental fate of mercury;
• promote the proper management and recycling of mercury and mercury containing products at schools;
• promote use of alternative products that do not contain mercury;
• prevent mercury spills and promote proper spill cleanup;
• encourage schools to take advantage of free mercury recycling programs that may be available to them; and possibly most important--bring the message home, so that students and their families can evaluate mercury use in their homes and learn about less toxic alternatives.

Typical of most state health departments across the country, the Illinois Department of Public Health has been involved in several mercury spills in Illinois schools over the past few years. Students, teachers, and other school employees have been exposed to hazardous mercury vapor because of these spills. Mercury spills in Illinois schools occurred when-

• A student stole a significant amount of mercury from a chemical storage room, spread it in the hallways and on lockers, and spilled it in multiple classrooms. Areas of the school were closed for approximately two weeks, and cleanup costs exceeded $250,000.
  
• A student brought a vial of mercury to school. The student spread the mercury on a desk and spilled some on the carpet. School was canceled for the rest of the day, and the contaminated items were placed in drums.
  
• A student had a vial of mercury, divided it into Ziploc bags, and distributed it to friends. Some was spilled on other students and in the school music room.

School building equipment containing mercury includes mercury switches, mercury vapor lamps, and fluorescent light bulbs. Mercury is regulated as a hazardous waste and each of these products must be disposed of in accordance with state environmental regulations. In most states, both fluorescent light bulbs and mercury vapor lamps can be stored on site (provided certain procedures are followed) and then recycled.

Mercury can be found in the science area in thermometers, barometers, Charles' law tubes, J tubes, diffusion demonstration apparatus, density demonstrations, elemental mercury, sphygmomanometers, mercury compounds such as mercurous nitrate, mercuric nitrate, mercuric oxide and solutions containing mercury such as Million's solution and Hayem diluting fluid.

Many school safety experts strongly recommend the removal of all mercury and mercury containing compounds from schools, based on the growing number of incidents involving mercury, the cost of disposal and the probability that many teachers and students are exposed to mercury unknowingly. For all current applications, safe alternatives are available. For most applications alcohol thermometers are adequate. Temperature probes are available which give nearly the same precision and accuracy as precision mercury thermometers. There are also barometric pressure probes that provide reasonable accuracy for most applications.

A typical barometer contains 1 pound of mercury and poses a significant spill risk. For example, vandalism of a barometer cost one school district $7,000 to clean up. Use of mercury solutions should be avoided, as mercury is highly toxic to the environment and very expensive to dispose of properly.

CASE STUDY: IMPACTS OF A SCHOOL MERCURY SPILL

On March 5, 1999 Green Bay East High School students playing with mercury caused a health hazard that sent four people to the hospital by ambulance and forced 88 students into decontamination showers. In all, 20 people were treated at St. Vincent hospital's emergency room and released. The four people treated at the hospital suffered from symptoms such as irritated eyes and nausea. Their conditions were caused by mercury acting as an irritant, not as a poison. One was taken to the hospital because she swallowed a small amount of mercury.

A fourteen-year-old girl stole the mercury, approximately five fluid ounces, from the school's Science Lab. One student stated that another student showed him a bottle of mercury and they played with the substance by letting it roll on their skin. Other students who got hold of the mercury squirted it at students from a small bottle. Throughout the course of one day the chemical spread throughout East High, a student's home and Riviera Lane's bowling alley.

The students in the building when the spill was discovered at 1:30 p.m. were held in their classrooms until firefighters could determine the extent of the spill. Once that was established, they released students, but only after asking them if they had handled any mercury. Students who handled the mercury or were found to have it on their clothes had to strip and place their clothes in plastic bags. They were told to shower and were given sweat pants, sweat shirts, and bedroom slippers that staff bought at a discount store. The last students were sent home by 6:30.

The principal for East High spent Sunday, March 7, 1999 answering questions from about 25 parents and teachers who called to ask when the school may reopen and when students could collect belongings that were contaminated with mercury. She told them that most of those belongings, including anything porous such as book bags, shoes, clothes and coats were destroyed. "I had to tell a lot of people they weren't getting their stuff back, things that are nonporous like drivers' licenses and credit cards could be dipped in acid and cleaned, but shoes and bags had to be destroyed."

On March 10, 1999, East High was back in session. Classes resumed after air testing revealed no lasting mercury contamination from a spill that forced classes to be canceled for two days. Some of the mercury taken from East High School was spilled on the lanes of a local bowling alley, threatening to cancel a state tournament planned for that weekend. Students had filled holes in the bowling balls with mercury and rolled them down the lanes. About nine students were exposed to the mercury, along with a newspaper photographer who arrived to cover the event. The hazardous materials response team checked ten lanes and 450 pairs of shoes.

Another related mercury incident occurred on Wednesday March 10,1999 at the 1300 block of Cherry Street where a resident found two splotches of mercury on the sidewalk outside his home. Yellow fire line tape and barricades were used to block off the area. Fire officials at the scene speculated the 14-year-old girl who originally took the mercury from the school last Friday spilled the mercury on the sidewalk. The spills were along the same path that she would have taken to her house.

The owner of Riviera Lanes expects his expenses from the mercury spill to be around $35,000 for cleanup costs and equipment replacement--109 pairs of shoes at $18.00 each and a lane stripper costing $4,000 - $5,000.

Superior Special Service's bill to decontaminate Green Bay East High School after a mercury spill was $172,104, and when all the bills are totaled, the school district's cost to clean the spill topped $200,000. The costs were boosted because much of the decontamination was done at night and over the weekend when workers earn higher overtime wages. Had the cleanup been done from 8a.m to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays it would have spanned about a week and a half, forcing the district to keep the school open longer at the end of the year.

The decontamination process included picking up the mercury with special equipment, washing down the contaminated area with a nitric acid solution, using a special chemical that eliminates mercury vapors and washing everything down again. The bill from Cardinal Environmental, the company that did the air monitoring tests for mercury, was about $10,000.

The total costs will likely go higher as additional bills from the police and fire departments and several students' families could be filed with the school district. How much of the bill will be paid by the district and how much will be paid by insurance remains to be seen. No one would comment on if the district will seek compensation from the girl who took the mercury or her family. The girl has been referred to juvenile authorities and could be charged with theft and criminal damage to property.

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