Any sciencey types? Don't know whether to worry about old mercury incident

[RainbowWorrier123]

4 years ago I smashed an old mercury thermometer in my kitchen. Without thinking I hoovered it up, then afterwards thought "hmm perhaps I shouldn't have done that"... It was a new hoover, so not wanting to throw it away I ran it for an hour outside whilst also airing out the house. After that I sort of forgot about the whole thing.

I now have a 12 month old daughter and have suddenly thought about the mercury thing again. She is missing a few of her milestones (HV aware) and now I'm terrified that the mercury has damaged her. That particular hoover wasn't used while I was pregnant or for 4-5 months after she was born, but I have used it again daily for the last 6 months or so. It did have a couple of years' regular usage before I was pregnant. I am ordering a new hoover today but feel absolutely sick about it. How worried should I be?

hi OP, have you mentioned your worries to the HV? Also, if the mercury is still in your hoover and you are concerned what to do with it I would contact the council, they should be able to advise or put you in touch with the appropriate dept.

Re the milestones, obs they are there for a reason and understand your worry but that said I remember HV being concerned about DS not walking and mentioned referring him to ortho specialist, he started walking at 15 months and had no probs with it, just a bit later than some others. I found they could get a bit fixated on these things and pass extra worry on to you.

sorry, I should have said I don't know if anything does need to be done regarding the hoover but at least the council will advise.

Put the Hoover outside for now. Ask local council for disposal advice.
Chat with HV.

Is there still mercury in the hoover? If not, where is it? It won't have evaporated, it'll be somewhere.

Contact your local council or COSHH for advice if you know where it is.

This is the very first thing on google. I don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about, especially for an incident that took place 2 years before you were pregnant

I think it is exceedingly unlikely it has any effect at all.

The amount of mercury in a thermometer is small. The incident happened 2 years before you were even pregnant, and you used the hoover regularly over that time. The chance of there being any mercury left in the hoover is miniscule, and if there was it would be a tiny amount. It would then need to be giving off fumes to an amount it could effect you/her.

I really truly wouldn't worry about that any more. (and I'm a worrier!)

However, it is normal to worry that something you have done has caused your dd to miss milestones. The chances are very high you have done nothing. Please talk to your HV and they should be able to reassure you of that.

You simply do not have to worry about that quantity of metallic mercury.

As nurses in the 90's we were well used to chasing mercury from smashed thermometers round the word floor with syringes.
I wouldn't worry.

Dd bit into one when she was little. X rays confirmed swallowing and exit.
She has a degree in human biosciences.

Thanks everyone. I wouldn't be worried if I hadn't hoovered it up. I've read on poison control websites that it's the worst thing you can do, as it heats up the vapour and spreads it everywhere. The advice says that if you've already done it, the hoover would need to be thrown away afterwards as it will carry on contaminating the environment. It's in the garage at the moment

If you have any silver tooth fillings they contain Mercury and hundreds of thousands of people happily walk around just fine with those so I wouldn't worry about a tiny amount you hoovered up years ago.

But it would be a tiny amount anyway. Even if it was heating it up and giving off fumes, how much Mercury do you think would have needed to be in the hoover in the first place for it to be a problem 4 years later? Masses. Not a tiny tiny bit.

It probably didn't do you good to be breathing in any fumes when you first hoovered it up, but I can't imagine there would be much mercury left after you'd emptied the hoover and run it through for a while.

I remember playing with it on a tile in science classes back in the 80s

@pennylane83

If you have any silver tooth fillings they contain Mercury and hundreds of thousands of people happily walk around just fine with those so I wouldn't worry about a tiny amount you hoovered up years ago.

Metal fillings contain amalgam, an alloy of mercury. Not the same thing.

School science tech so i've cleared up lots of broken mercury thermometers. Such a small amount won't be much of a risk even if it's still around somewhere.
As long as you thoroughly scrubbed the area it broke in/on and cleaned the vacuum as well as you could then there is miniscule risk. Try not to worry too much and talk to HV and GP about any fears.

So grateful for the reassurance, I feel (slightly) less sick about it than I did earlier. Thank you. I will also mention it to the GP when I'm next there / talking to them about DD.