Warning about CFL bulbs

D

David W. Richardson

Chapelgrove Films
A word of caution here about CFL bulbs...

I was reading that these bulbs contain mercury. Mercury is nasty, deadly stuff. If one of your CFL bulbs happens to break, the article advised you should open all the windows in that room and immediately leave the room for 15 minutes. Then you should CAREFULLY clean up the debris. NEVER use a vacuum cleaner or your bare hands. Sweep the debris into a plastic bag and seal it. Then wipe the area with a damp paper towel, and seal that in the bag as well.

According to the article, CFL bulbs -- whether broken or whole -- should never be thrown in the trash. They have to be taken to a recycling center that is capable of handling mercury, and apparently there aren't very many of them. The danger of throwing them away is that they get into landfills, then break and the mercury leaks down into the water table. Bad bad bad stuff!

This is not the article I read, but it gives the same information -- even though most of the article is spent trying to downplay the danger. Read all the way to the end, then make up your own mind.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...fls-bulbs.html
 
What David?
you don't like Mercury, C'mon.
The EPA thinks Mercury is OK. At least they did after 9/11 when something like 1 billion CFL bulbs broke when those buildings went down and they said the air was safe to breathe. Not to mention all the other mercury and toxic fumes in all the CRTs in the buildings, etc.. etc.. etc...

Thanks for the info though. I'm sure its news to many of us. :)
 
Damn, i just broke one of them a few days ago. I knew there was something wrong with them...
 
Metallic mercury is not all that poisonous.

I have my mouth full of mercury-silver fillings like most people my age, no strange effects at all.

Did I mention my mercury-silver amalgam filling have caused no ill effects?

have to go now...
 
I wouldn't compare mercury vapor that can hurt you to the small amount of bonded mercury in a silver amalgam that is non reactive.

Mercury is a component of the amalgam used for "silver" fillings. The other major ingredients are silver, tin, copper, and zinc. When mixed, these elements bond to form a strong, stable substance. The difference between bound and unbound chemicals can be illustrated by a simple analogy. Elemental hydrogen is an explosive gas. Elemental oxygen is a gas that supports combustion. When combined, however, they form water, which has neither of these effects. Amalgam's ingredients are tightly bonded to each other. Although the types of chemical bonds in water and amalgam differ, saying that amalgam will poison you is just as wrong as saying that drinking water will make you explode and burst into flames.

from quackwatch

Feel free to break a few CFL bulbs and inhale the vapor if you think it is so safe. They thought Lead was safe in the 50s and 60s when they put it in paint and gasoline.
 
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