Products That May Contain Mercury

  • Thermostats
  • Thermometers with silver bulbs
  • All fluorescent and HID lamps, some neon lamps and “bug zappers”
  • Batteries: mercuric oxide and some alkaline batteries
  • Various switches and relays in electronics (e.g. clothes’ irons, curling irons, computers, cellular/portable phones, sump pumps and some appliance lid lights)
  • Pilot light flame sensors
  • Gauges (e.g. barometers, manometers)
  • Automotive HID and Xenon headlamps, some interior lights, some hood/trunk lights and entertainment systems
  • Mercurochrome®/merbromin (topical disinfectant)
  • Thimerosal (preservative found in some nasal sprays and older contact lens solutions) and other drug uses
  • Weight/counterweight in grandfather clocks
  • Jewelry (usually glass ampules made in Mexico)
  • Spiritual/ritual use in some Caribbean/Hispanic communities
  • Vintage toys (e.g. the Mercury Maze game)
  • Some chemistry sets
  • And some people have jars of elemental mercury (a silver liquid) just sitting around!

 

If you come in contact with mercury, call your State, or National Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222!