CFL: Compact Flourenscent Lightbulbs - Are They Dangerous?
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
Some interesting articles for your reading pleasure relating to this blog entry.
Someone sent me an interesting article called The CFL Mercury Nightmare, about a woman from Ellsworth, Maine, and her recent ordeal.
Essentially, she broke one of those new fangled "compact flourescent lightbulbs" (CFL) in her daughters bedroom. She'd heard they contained hazardous materials and called Home Depot (where I assume she got it). They told her that the CFLs contain mercury, and advised her to call Poison Control, who in turn recommended that she contact Maine's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The DEP sent out a specialist who took some measurements in the bedroom and discovered "mercury levels in the bedroom in excess of six times the state's "safe" level for mercury contamination". The DEP agent suggested she contact an environmental cleanup firm, who gave her a cleanup estimate of $2,000.
OUCH!
These bulbs are supposed to save you money. But they're DANGEROUS! Damn, I don't want a bulb in my house that can cost me $2,000 to clean up if I break one - or pose serious health risks if I don't clean up a broken bulb properly.
Worst case scenario for a broken light bulb should be a few cuts on your feet or hands, not birth defects.
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It is kinda fun to tweak the environmentalists though.