As a general philosophy, don't ban it, regulate the use of it. What if trace amount of mercury are needed for the next world changing technology? By precluding reasonable access you're ensuring that will be invented somewhere else.

..and yes, I realise "bans" are colloquisms for heavy regulation I tend to think of a ban as lazy regulation that only specifies the few small exceptions as opposed to detailed regulation that defines the areas where care needs to be exercised.