The chemical is often mixed with sand and spread around wooden houses and walls to protect the wood from termites
HYDERABAD: Mercury is a dangerous chemical but its open sale in markets is more dangerous than mercury itself. During final year project of my chemical engineering programme, our manometer leaked and all of the mercury drained out. We visited various registered medical stores of Hyderabad to buy mercury for the manometer, but it was not available there. Then, one shopkeeper told us we could get it from any ordinary grocery shop near the jewelry market in Hyderabad. We reached the said market and found hundreds of shops selling this dangerous chemical without any fear or necessary preventive measures. They were selling mercury in ordinary polythene bags.
I asked the shopkeeper about regular buyers of mercury, which he informed me were farmers and jewelry manufacturers. The chemical is often mixed with sand and spread around wooden houses and walls to protect the wood from termites. However, we need to be careful about the sale of mercury and should not forget about the incident in Minamata, Japan in 1956, which claimed 900 precious lives and badly affected thousands of people. I humbly request the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency and all other departments concerned to curb the sale of this dangerous chemical in local shops to protect the environment and people.
Sadam Rustamani
Published in The Express Tribune, January 9th, 2017.
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