A small vial holding “teaspoons or tablespoons” of mercury spilled a bit of its contents at a Minnesota school yesterday, and now 600 people are being tested for exposure. Haz-mat teams are collecting contaminated shoes, bags, and equipment for disposal at a toxic waste facility. The total cleaning bill could top $100,000.

I find the reaction amusing considering how nonchalantly we handled mercury spills when I was in high school. Back then, the mercury and its broken vessel were placed in a hazardous materials container at the school, and that was it. Now it’s a multi-agency, multi-day decontamination extravaganza. Ah, the good old days.