Cinnabar & Galena

Want to know what those are?
I'll get to that later. When my sister and I were growing up, we occasionally got sick like all kids did and still do. Mom would bring out the mercury thermometer and take our temperature. On occasion she would drop it in the sink and it would break. My sister and I loved when that happened. We got to play with the little balls of mercury sliding around in the sink. We had a lot of fun doing that, in fact I would even coat copper pennies with it and carry them around with me making believe they were dimes. Well, my sister and I, and a lot of other kids are still around and in good health, despite doing this on occasion. I had a part time job on a school bus a few years ago, and one day we arrived at Pomperaug High School to pick up our kids. The school was locked down. The police, fire department, and DEP personnel were there in their hazmat suits. It seems some kid had brought some mercury to school, and spilled it in the cafeteria. You would have thought the world was coming to an end! Everyone in the cafeteria had to be decontaminated by DEP and the school had to decontaminated. Why? I know that long term exposure to mercury can be hazardous, but we're talking long term (emphasis on long), continual exposure, and it usually has to be ingested. Not a one time exposure for a short amount of time. This type of stuff is ridiculous, and expensive.
I watch the evening news every night, and it seems that at least 2-3 times a week they talk about a recall of toys which are decorated with paint that has a high lead content. Once again, how many of you played with toys back in the '50's, '60's, & '70's that probably were loaded with lead based paints. How many of you are suffering from symptoms of lead poisoning? Once again the problem is long term exposure. Prevent long term exposure? Absolutely, but this over the top baloney is ridiculous.
Today, we have to do everything possible to keep lead and mercury out of the environment, which brings me to Cinnabar and Galena, They are respectively Mercury Sulfide and Lead Sulfide. They are the major ores that mercury and lead are derived from. So if we put them back into the environment we are polluting? I'd say we're putting them back where they came from. That's known as recycling, which is what we are supposed to be doing today.