The dump is spread out. A barrel is found lying on its side on the forest floor, spilling out the contents of broken thermometers, some containing mercury. The bottles and their erstwhile contents of refined mercury were supplied by Pennsylvania-based Bethlehem Apparatus. They are obviously trying to hide what evidence they can of waste dumping. I'm not authorized to speak.
Nobody is authorized to speak today.
I'm merely a scrap merchant. Nobody told me it was illegal or that mercury is dangerous. Mercury is a powerful neurotoxicant that can also damage internal organs. Once it enters the environment, it is converted through natural processes into a form that works its way rapidly through the food chain where it can concentrate to dangerously high levels. The broken thermometers now lie in Piraviyam's cluttered shop in open and torn sacks, exposed to the environment, a stone's throw away from two schools.