College Scientist Dies Of Mercury Poisoning

A Dartmouth College scientist whose specialty was the dangers of heavy metals died of mercury poisoning this week, 10 months after as little as a drop of a rare toxic compound apparently seeped through her rubber gloves.

Karen Wetterhahn, 48, had been hospitalized since January, when tests showed 80 times the lethal dose of mercury in her blood, a college investigation showed.

After she was diagnosed on Jan. 28, Wetterhahn told investigators she remembered spilling one to several drops of dimethylmercury in August, Chemistry Department Chairman John S. Winn said Tuesday.

Three weeks after she was diagnosed, she went into a coma that lasted until her death Sunday.