LA Gear and other shoe companies have been using mercury to make the switch active in their shoe that light up when a person walks. The shoes should return to the company after the user is done with the to be recycled. Since LA never advertises this, people just thrown them away like any other pair of old shoes. Eventually the shoes end up in a land fill and the mercury can leak out into …showed first 75 words of 376 total…

…showed last 75 words of 376 total…the saying "mad as a hatter." In the 1800's, hats were made with mercury to stiffened the brim. The hatters that made the hats worked with mercury all the time. The mercury was absorbed into their skin and caused them to develop neurological and physiological disorders. People just assumed they were going crazy. From then on, when someone thought another was going out of their mind they would say they were "mad as a hatter."