Mercury-poisoned herbarium specimens

[Robin van Velzen]

L.S.

I am a biology student from Wageningen, The Netherlands. I am doing a
molecular systematic thesis project. I am doing DNA extractions using the
CTAB method. There are some herbarium specimens that are sublimated with
mercury that I want to extract DNA from.

Does anyone know about any health risks doing a CTAB DNA extraction on
mercury-poisoned herbarium material?

thanks in advance, Robin van Velzen