Old thermometers pose new problems

For decades, mothers checked their children for fevers by using a fragile glass stick filled with a silvery liquid. Formerly a medicine-cabinet staple, these mercury thermometers have lately been ruled a public health hazard. If broken, they release mercury, a poison that vaporizes and can then be inhaled. Last year, an American Academy of Pediatrics report designated mercury a major environmental toxicant that “should not be present in the home or other environments of children.”