Ed Huntress wrote:

The danger of mercury lies primarily with its organic compounds. Liquid,
metallic mercury itself is not particularly toxic. The problem, of course,
is that letting it out into the environment allows the production of organic
compounds.

This is true, with one exception: mercury is absorbed very easily
through the lungs as a vapour, and can cause illness as a result.
However, this only happens when there is a lot of mercury vapour in the
air. You would need a large spill, time, and possibly heat to cause it.
Opening a bottle or spilling a few drops won't cause harm.

To put some of the scare stories into perspective, you can eat small
amounts of mercury without coming to any harm. I also read about a guy
in Germany who injected himself with mercury in an attempted suicide.
Some doctors started monitoring for research, and while he suffered some
health problems, he was still alive several years later.

It is pretty damn hard to kill yourself with elemental mercury.

Best wishes,

Chris