Mercury rising as a potent killer in state

By John David Sutter

Published: March 31, 2008

COLBERT — A man and woman in southern Oklahoma were hospitalized with mercury poisoning last week after engaging in what officials said is a rare and dangerous science experiment — using mercury to pull gold from electronic equipment, apparently for profit.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials were called to Colbert to rid the couple's home of mercury, a highly toxic heavy metal that can cause long-term damage to the brain and nervous system.

A man and a woman, whose names have not been released, were hospitalized after inhaling large quantities of the element, said Bryan County Sheriff Bill Sturch. Lynn Chambers, the cousin of the male victim, said the man is on life support in a Tulsa hospital. The female victim has been released from a hospital in Durant, Chambers said.

The situation is calling attention to the difficulty of disposing of mercury in Oklahoma. Only Oklahoma City and Midwest City provide free and regular access to a hazardous waste facility that can dispose of mercury safely.

"It's a tremendous environmental mess,” said Lee McGoodwin, a toxicologist and managing director of the Oklahoma Poison Control Center. She added: "Elemental mercury is not something to play with, and I don't know why these people had such large amounts.”

Gold is found in small amounts in some electronic equipment. To isolate the gold in the circuit boards, the couple put the boards on a frying pan on their kitchen stove, said Eric Delgado, on-scene coordinator for the EPA. They poured mercury over the electronics. Mercury attached itself to the gold and helped the couple separate the precious metal from the circuit boards. The couple then heated the gold-mercury substance until the mercury evaporated, leaving only the gold behind.

Mercury enters the body and causes poisoning most easily when in its vapor form. The element affects the central nervous system and can cause irreversible harm if a person is exposed for a length of time. With limited exposures, effects can be lasting but are more likely to lessen or disappear.

On March 19, the couple called a poison-control hot line complaining of severe respiratory distress, Delgado said. "They were irritable. They had some pain in their stomachs. They thought that they could get that to pass, and this wasn't going away,” he said. "They were having even more difficulty breathing.”

They were first taken to a hospital in Durant. The man was later taken to a Tulsa hospital.

"They were trying to gather up that gold for resale,” Delgado said, adding that the victims "were fairly poor and they were desperate for money.”

The vapors the Bryan County couple created in their kitchen left mercury on their clothes and furniture, and hanging in the air inside their home. Early EPA tests show "high levels of contamination” in the home. On Tuesday, Delgado began the process of testing the couple's belongings — most everything with a porous surface that could absorb mercury — and disposing of everything that was contaminated. He said mercury levels were "extremely, extremely high,” in the home — so high that he believes the entire home may be soaked in the toxic element, down to the wallboard.

The home has been quarantined, and Delgado said outdoor tests didn't show dangerous levels of mercury.

Delgado said only traces of liquid mercury were found in the home — probably less than a pound. But the level of contamination suggests much greater quantities had been vaporized, he said.

Wherever the mercury is coming from, officials are puzzled by a recent string of mercury spills and poisonings in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma had no documented mercury spills until 2001, said Kottke, of the state environmental agency. Kottke said she doesn't know how to explain the "rash” of recent poisonings.

McGoodwin, of the poison control center, also is worried.

"It's really alarming that in just this short period of time we've had at least three cases of large amounts of mercury, and that we've had people ill and that had to be hospitalized,” she said.

Part of Oklahoma's problem, McGoodwin said, is that there aren't enough places where people can safely get rid of mercury.

Many cities and towns host hazardous waste collection events, but those usually only happen once a year, officials said. Without better disposal options, people will store mercury or throw it in the trash, she said.

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