1.   He said government officials have ignored the issue, in part because mercury spills are expensive to clean up.

2.   A mercury spill was discovered in a heavily populated area in the Russian republic of Buryatia and a cleanup operation is underway, a news agency said Tuesday.

3.   In Barnaul, a mercury spill contaminated a terminal.

4.   That can happen, for example, when mercury spills are tracked onto carpets and dispersed by something as simple as a vacuum cleaner.