Mercury rises as latest environmental worry

Blood Brothers Auto Wreckers is getting a 1988 Buick Century ready for its final ride – into the giant maw of a crusher that will flatten it like a crumpled soda can. But first, the company has to remove something dangerous from the stripped-down sedan: the small light switch that automatically comes on when the hood is opened. The switch, about the size of a pencil eraser, contains one gram of mercury, a toxin.

"We just rip it out, and the car will go in the crusher after that," says Doriano Totis, one of the owners at Blood Brothers.

In the past, wreckers and junkyards didn't worry about these small amounts of mercury. But the prospect of the silvery-colored metallic element accumulating in riverbeds, lakes, and oceans has alarmed everyone from lawmakers to businesspeople to environmentalists.

Seven states have passed some form of legislation on disposing of the substance, labeling it, or phasing it out, and there are 50 bills pending in 20 more states. Last month, Maine became the first state to require car companies to take financial responsibility for the mercury in their cars. And two weeks ago, Westchester County in New York State required wreckers like Blood Brothers to remove the mercury light switches.

Moreover, the White House has agreed to form an interagency task force "to develop and improve sound science-based policies to address mercury." Even the American Dental Association, which has long defended the use of mercury in fillings, is reassessing the effectiveness of technology to capture it after patients are treated in dentist offices. And by this September, the United Nations hopes to have completed a global assessment of mercury.

"What we are seeing is a combination of public awareness and policy actions by decisionmakers to address a solvable problem," says Michael Bender of the Mercury Policy Institute in Montpelier, Vt.

In fact, businesses have been making huge strides to reduce their use of mercury. In the 1960s, they annually consumed 3,000 tons of the toxic substance. Now, the Department of the Interior estimates that annual consumption is down to 200 tons.

Despite the reduction, a problem of significant size remains. In 1997, the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that 158 tons of mercury was emitted into the air, but environmentalists say that number is too low. Cars on the road may contain as much as 200 metric tons total in light switches, antilock brakes, high-intensity headlights, and the new navigational systems, estimates the Clean Car Campaign, a national initiative coordinated by various environmental groups. Mercury is still used in everything from switches in gas stoves to bilge pumps on boats.

Some of that mercury ends up in wastewater and rivers and lakes. For example, the Blood Brothers' wrecking yard is not far from the Sheldrake River, which drains into Long Island Sound.

"What happens is when you crush cars and the mercury goes on the ground, it gets washed into the aquifers. It affects a great deal, especially as it accumulates," says Andrew Spano, the Westchester County executive who signed the new law mandating switch removals. "It takes less than a teaspoon of mercury to contaminate a lake and result in health warnings about eating fish caught there."

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