Why is the government forcing toxic light bulbs on us?

Question

Soon we will all be required to use CFL's. Why is there no public outcry? Why is there no outrage? Do people just not understand how dangerous they can be? Besides, they lose brightness over time and fade pictures on the wall.

At least one politician gets it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-LOtKIIKcg

Answer 1

The prolifiration of "going green" is like a freightrain that too many people have bought into and regardless of the consequences they continue to push this agenda.

Personally I feel mercury is much worse for the earth than co2 which plants use for food but hey call me crazy.

Answer 2

I've had them throughout my house for years and enjoy lower energy bills and a cooler house in summer. Some have been running for five years now.

Here's food for thought: The largest source of atmospheric mercury is burning coal to generate electricity. Enviro Cda believes that the amount of mercury used in a bulb is more than offset by the reduction in coal burned due to the energy savings.  Due to public concern, makers of CFL's have developed bulbs which use a fraction of the mercury of earlier units.

Soon LED lights will be available for most household applications. They use no mercury and use even less power than CFL's.

To summarize, save your outcry for buffoons who commute 100Km's to work by themselves in their Escalade, morons who smoke with their kids in the back seat, jerks who dump alkyd paint down the sink and any other genuine threat to the environment.

Answer 3

It's funny how an "environmental" issue immediately invokes "it must be the liberals fault" knee jerk response. In reality, look where the money is flowing - into the conservatives' friends pockets. Ethanol and CFL mandates are BOTH tools for money making wrapped in environmental disguise just to divert your attention in this manner. Both liberals AND conservatives are interested in money, but since Reaganomics and subsequent conservative entrenching, business now runs this country. Those darn incandescent bulbs are just too cheap, and we make grocery bags out of our imported oil, so we need ethanol - oh by the way, my political friend is setting himself up in the CFL business while waiting for enough momentum in his ethanol investments. Whadd'ya think? that political support for these programs is an ideal to help us be green?

The incandescent lamp is reliable, cheap to make, and harmlessly disposable. See my question - and my reference to see why we should keep them.

Answer 4

You can replace the word "government" with the word "liberal" in that sentence.

Same is true for the Ethanol Fuels scam.

Answer 5

Chill out, the microscopic amount of mercury in bulbs pales to that released every day by volcanoes and other sources. Do your part and safely recycle your bulb.

Below are the known sources of atmospheric mercury:

Natural sources such as volcanoes are responsible for approximately half of atmospheric mercury emissions.[9] The human-generated half can be divided into the following estimated percentages:

65% from stationary combustion, of which coal-fired power plants are the largest aggregate source (40% of U.S. mercury emissions in 1999).[10] This includes power plants fueled with gas where the mercury has not been removed. Emissions from coal combustion are between one and two orders of magnitude higher than emissions from oil combustion, depending on the country.[9]

11% from gold production. The three largest point sources for mercury emissions in the U.S. are the three largest gold mines.[11]

6.8% from non-ferrous metal production, typically smelters.

6.4% from cement production.

3.0% from waste disposal, including municipal and hazardous waste, crematoria, and sewage sludge incineration. This is a significant underestimate due to limited information, and is likely to be off by a factor of two to five.[9]

3.0% from caustic soda production.

1.4% from pig iron and steel production.

1.1% from mercury production, mainly for batteries.

2.0% from other sources.

Answer 6

same reason we are stuck with toilets you have to flush twice

Answer 7

Fantastic

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Flat out fantastic

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The way he stated it is like telling it like it is

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Fantastic

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I book marked the youtube

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Got ta get this - Youtube - around the net I think E mail my frinds

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Got ta send it to my representative of congress and the house

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And I am going to send one to the EPA too

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We got to get a movement started in outlawing the usage of CFL lighting

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Answer 8

I agree with luck… the liberals see dollar signs with anything that is connected with global warming, or green living. I have had it up to here with this c**p.

The other day, some lib tried to give me a slip of paper telling me how to buy green before I entered the grocery store, when I crumpled it up in my hand and threw it into the nearest trash container. The look on her face was priceless.

LOL; We all should just laugh at these people when they try and push their c**p on us. s***w this dangerous product that could cause brain damage. The day will come when the first law suit comes over these bulbs comes to court, and if I am part of the jury, I will find fault with the companies who are pushing these things on us, all in the name of global warming. They will pay for this; BIG TIME.

By the way; That was a great video.