Recent studies have reported dangerously high levels of mercury in tuna served in sushi restaurants. In one study, one-third of the samples had more than one part of mercury per million, the level that allows the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take fish off the market. Our exposure to mercury from all sources could be reduced in a number of ways, at vastly different costs.
Mercury is released into the environment when blood-pressure monitors break and spill their mercury. The cost of a proper cleanup of a spill is about $35,000 per kilogram of mercury spilled. Alternatively, a switch to non-mercury monitors would cost about $597 per kilogram of mercury avoided.
Many vehicles contain mercury in switches for lights and antilock braking systems, and mercury is released when the vehicles are recycled and incinerated. The cost of a system that prevents releases during incineration is about $27,000 per kilogram of mercury captured. Alternatively, the cost of removing the switches prior to incineration is only about $590 per kilogram of mercury captured.
The cost of reducing mercury emissions from power generation is about $27,000 per kilogram avoided.