Editing Dimethylmercury (section)

== Incidents ==
* As early as 1865, two workers in the laboratory of [[Edward Frankland]] died after exhibiting progressive neurological symptoms following accidental exposure to the compound.<ref name=":0" />
* [[Karen Wetterhahn]], a professor of chemistry at [[Dartmouth College]], died in 1997, ten months after spilling only a few drops of dimethylmercury onto her latex gloves.<ref name="OSHA" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=October 2003 |title=DimethylMercury and Mercury poisoning |url=http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/dimethylmercury/dmmh.htm |access-date=2022-08-25 |website=Molecule of the Month www.chm.bris.ac.uk}}</ref> This incident resulted in improved awareness of the substance's extreme toxicity, and its ability to easily penetrate latex, compared to less porous materials such as [[Nitrile rubber|nitrile]]. New [[OSHA]] material-handling guidelines were published, many institutions purged their supplies of the compound, and it became almost impossible to buy.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Cavanaugh |first=Ray |date=2019-02-19 |title=The dangers of dimethylmercury |url=https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/the-dangers-of-dimethylmercury-/3010064.article |magazine=[[Chemistry World]] |publisher=[[Royal Society of Chemistry]] |access-date=29 January 2021}}</ref>
* [[Death of Christoph Bulwin|Christoph Bulwin]], a 40-year-old German database administrator for [[IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie]], claimed to have been attacked with a [[Bulgarian umbrella|syringe-tipped umbrella]] on 15 July 2011 in [[Hanover]], Germany. Bulwin, who died a year later from [[mercury poisoning]], had said he confiscated the syringe, which was later found to contain dimethylmercury.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Albers |first1=Anne |last2=Gies |first2=Ursula |last3=Raatschen |first3=Hans-Jurgen |last4=Klintschar |first4=Michael |date=2020-09-01 |title=Another umbrella murder? – A rare case of Minamata disease |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-020-00247-y |journal=Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology |language=en |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=504–509 |doi=10.1007/s12024-020-00247-y |issn=1556-2891 |pmc=7449996 |pmid=32323188}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=11 May 2012 |title=Umbrella stab victim dies of mercury poisoning |language=en |website=www.thelocal.de |url=https://www.thelocal.de/20120511/42495/ |access-date=13 June 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |date=11 May 2012 |title=Quecksilbervergiftung |trans-title=Mercury poisoning |url=https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/quecksilbervergiftung-mann-stirbt-nach-angrif-mit-spritze-in-hannover-a-832677.html |magazine=[[Der Spiegel]] |language=de |access-date=3 September 2020}}</ref>  According to a 2020 article in ''Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology,'' police investigations revealed a syringe containing a typical mercury thallium compound in Bulwin's car, and mercury and thallium in thermometers at his workplace. Inconclusive antemortem and postmortem blood, urine, and tissue analysis cast doubts on the assault account. The absence of an identified assailant or motive, as well as the presence of different mercury compounds in Bulwin's car, led police to conclude that the intoxication was likely self-administered, thereby terminating the preliminary investigation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Albers |first1=Anne |last2=Gies |first2=Ursula |last3=Raatschen |first3=Hans-Jurgen |last4=Klintschar |first4=Michael |date=2020-09-01 |title=Another umbrella murder? – A rare case of Minamata disease |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-020-00247-y |journal=Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology |language=en |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=504–509 |doi=10.1007/s12024-020-00247-y |issn=1556-2891 |pmc=7449996 |pmid=32323188}}</ref> The ''Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology'' account is contradicted by other reports, including the August 24, 2022 episode of the German flagship true crime TV program [[Aktenzeichen XY... ungelöst|Aktenzeichen XY .. ungelöst]] that was co-edited by the Hannover criminal police and in which information was solicited from the public based on Bulwin's own umbrella scenario.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-08-30 |title=Heimtückischer Mord - Familienvater stirbt nach Spritzenattacke - ZDFmediathek |url=https://www.zdf.de/gesellschaft/aktenzeichen-xy-ungeloest/xy581-fall1-heimtueckischer-mord-100.html |access-date=2024-10-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220830210717/https://www.zdf.de/gesellschaft/aktenzeichen-xy-ungeloest/xy581-fall1-heimtueckischer-mord-100.html |archive-date=30 August 2022 }}</ref>