What do you think of the warning on these low energy light bulbs containing mercury, extreme care to get rid?

Question

What do you think of the warning on these low energy light bulbs containing mercury, extreme care to get rid?

Answer 1

Those things are sure green safe 'eh?

Imagine the amount of mercury that is going to end up in landfills and drinking water.

But hey - you can save 2 or 3 bucks on your yearly energy bill.............

Answer 2

I'm glad you pointed that out. That's why we should push for more LED lighting solutions. As for the poster directly below me. Many small leaks can sink a great ship. It is important to worry about that. That's where you are wrong.

Answer 3

Whats the prob you Greene's wonted this type of light and now you find out there is mercury in it and don't know what to do with it .Well i say play with it it's Cool.Or go back to the old light bulbs it's your choice.And if you break one ,call no one ,The green police  AKA the  EPA will take all your money.You asked for it you got it!

Answer 4

I find it interesting that we worry about a little mercury in light bulbs, yet inject it in our infants and children with every vaccine they get.

Answer 5

I am thinking that I am a bit surprised and that I did not know that.

Answer 6

You  should never send a CFL to landfill

Answer 7

they are fairly safe, don't worry about the mercury each bulb only contains a very small amount of mercury. you would probably be more at risk from eating predatory fish. the Mercury emissions into the atmosphere are actually lower then incandescent lights because burning coal also releases Mercury vapor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mercu...

Answer 8

they only pose a dangerous treet if 4 are broke all at the same the time

Answer 9

They're an easy way to "go green."  Just ignore the mercury, it doesn't harm the environment as bad as CO2.  HA HA HA.  Yeah, that's why i don't use them.  They're toxic!  Don't even think about breaking one or throwing one in the trash.

Answer 10

I am not sure what you're trying to find out. I think it's great that it has the warning or else people would throw them into trash and thus introduce mercury into the environment...

Answer 11

I just think "when one of these finally dies on me, I'll have to look into safe disposal".  I switched all my light bulbs to these three years ago and have not yet had to replace one.

I think it's a case of good outweighing bad, in favor of using them.

Answer 12

Using low-energy light bulbs could make you ill, according to a new UK study.

Eco-friendly, low-energy light bulbs work in the same way as old-school fluorescent bulbs. Their flickering could aggravate migraines, make you nauseous or dizzy, or cause physical pain, research by the Migraine Action Association has found.

"For some people a migraine attack can be triggered by fluorescent lights, video screens, stroboscopic effects and flashing lights," Migraine Action Association director Paul Jansen told the Daily Mail.

The CFL mercury nightmare

Steven Milloy, Financial Post  Published: Saturday, April 28, 2007

How much money does it take to s***w in a compact fluorescent light bulb? About US$4.28 for the bulb and labour -- unless you break the bulb. Then you, like Brandy Bridges of Ellsworth, Maine, could be looking at a cost of about US$2,004.28, which doesn't include the costs of frayed nerves and risks to health.

Sound crazy? Perhaps no more than the stampede to ban the incandescent light bulb in favour of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).

According to an April 12 article in The Ellsworth American, Bridges had the misfortune of breaking a CFL during installation in her daughter's bedroom: It dropped and shattered on the carpeted floor.

Aware that CFLs contain potentially hazardous substances, Bridges called her local Home Depot for advice. The store told her that the CFL contained mercury and that she should call the Poison Control hotline, which in turn directed her to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

The DEP sent a specialist to Bridges' house to test for mercury contamination. The specialist found mercury levels in the bedroom in excess of six times the state's "safe" level for mercury contamination of 300 billionths of a gram per cubic meter. The DEP specialist recommended that Bridges call an environmental cleanup firm, which reportedly gave her a "low-ball" estimate of US$2,000 to clean up the room. The room then was sealed off with plastic and Bridges began "gathering finances" to pay for the US$2,000 cleaning. Reportedly, her insurance company wouldn't cover the cleanup costs because mercury is a pollutant.

Given that the replacement of incandescent bulbs with CFLs in the average U.S. household is touted as saving as much as US$180 annually in energy costs -- and assuming that Bridges doesn't break any more CFLs -- it will take her more than 11 years to recoup the cleanup costs in the form of energy savings.

The potentially hazardous CFL is being pushed by companies such as Wal-Mart, which wants to sell 100 million CFLs at five times the cost of incandescent bulbs during 2007, and, surprisingly, environmentalists.

It's quite odd that environmentalists have embraced the CFL, which cannot now and will not in the foreseeable future be made without mercury. Given that there are about five billion light bulb sockets in North American households, we're looking at the possibility of creating billions of hazardous waste sites such as the Bridges' bedroom.

Usually, environmentalists want hazardous materials out of, not in, our homes. These are the same people who go berserk at the thought of mercury being emitted from power plants and the presence of mercury in seafood. Environmentalists have whipped up so much fear of mercury among the public that many local governments have even launched mercury thermometer exchange programs