"Big Brother, give us back our MERCUROCHROME!"

Apropos of Shannon's recent owie, I googled the stuff my dad always reached for when I had a boo-boo: Mercurochrome. Right up there with tobacco'n'spit in the first aid kit. The simple word "mercurochrome" evokes images of toxic waste, yet it was often applied with that little wand right on my open cuts and scrapes. That there's this mini-movement to bring it back amuses me.

But isn't it harmful?

Oh, and the "most toxic element" comment is a scare-tactic also.... The key to that comment is the word element. There's millions of more toxic compounds than Hg (shoot a hornet's nest with mercury and then with Hotshot (tm) Wasp and Hornet spray and then tell me which you think is more toxic). And one other thing about the "toxic element" BS, you will die from a smaller dose of arsenic (you know, the toxic element in apple seeds) quicker than if you sucked 20 thermometers dry!

I know I say this about a lot of things, but you could talk about this in a first-year composition class.