Hazard!

[R. Richard]

You can save energy and carbon emission, perhaps at the cost of your life. Comment?

Warning: Vacate room when CFL bulb breaks

Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) Bulbs called so dangerous everyone must leave for at least 15 minutes.

Less than a month after the U.S. Congress passed an energy bill banning the incandescent light bulb by 2014, the UK Environment Agency issued guidelines calling for evacuation of any room where an energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulb is broken, releasing toxic mercury.

The warning comes a month before the British government begins its phase-out of tungsten bulbs, scheduled to be completed in 2011. The switchover to CFL bulbs will save at least five million tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year, the government said.

Health experts warned this week that people with certain skin ailments will suffer from the new eco-friendly bulbs which cause conditions such as eczema to flare up. Additionally, the bulbs have been linked to migraine headaches in some people.

The Environment Agency's latest advice focuses on the 6 to 8 milligrams of toxic mercury in each bulb.

Users who break a bulb should vacate the room for at least 15 minutes, the new guidelines say. The debris should not be removed with a vacuum cleaner, which could put toxic dust into the air, but with rubber gloves. The broken glass and all residue is to be placed into a sealed plastic bag and taken to a local official recycling site for proper disposal.

"Because these light bulbs contain small amounts of mercury, they could cause a problem if disposed of in a normal bin," environmental scientist Dr David Spurgeon told the London Daily Mail.

"It is possible that the mercury could be released into the air or from land-fill when they are released into the wider environment. That is a concern, because mercury is a well-known toxic substance."

The Environmental Agency noted that neither warnings about the bulbs' toxicity nor directions for proper disposal is printed on any packaging.

Such warnings aren't necessary, said one toxicologist who said a number of bulbs would have to be smashed simultaneously before there was a danger.

"Mercury accumulates in the body – especially the brain," Dr. David Ray, from the University of Nottingham, told the BBC. "The biggest danger is repeated exposure – a one off exposure is not as potentially dangerous compared to working in a light bulb factory.

"If you smash one bulb then that is not too much of a hazard. However, if you broke five bulbs in a small unventilated room then you might be in short term danger."

The most-immediate hazard from the CFL bulbs may be to Brits' pocketbooks. It costs about $1,300 to properly dispose of one municipal recycling bin full of bulbs – a figure that is sure to increase residents' tax bills.

 

[DesertPirate]

When I served on a Submarine in the late 70s we only changed bad tubes in port due to the mercury being an atmospheric hazard. All flourescent bulbs have mercury, not just the little spirals that are so popular now.

 

[R. Richard]

When I served on a Submarine in the late 70s we only changed bad tubes in port due to the mercury being an atmospheric hazard. All flourescent bulbs have mercury, not just the little spirals that are so popular now.

I can imagine that the breaking of a fluorescent bulb containing mercury in the confined spaces of a submarine would indeed be a health hazard.

 

[DesertPirate]

I can imagine that the breaking of a fluorescent bulb containing mercury in the confined spaces of a submarine would indeed be a health hazard.

All the lights on the whole boat were 18 inch flourecent tubes in enclosed fixtures. At 5' 11" my hair used to catch in the screws on the covers. Felt sorry for that one friend that was 6' 4"
He stayed in the reserves got a comission and is now a LTCDR with 32 years total and a 6 month stint in Baghdad

 

[Katyusha]

You can save energy and carbon emission, perhaps at the cost of your life. Comment?

They are making a huge deal out of nothing. I've broken one of those in my house and suffered no ill effects. My cats didn't even suffer any ill effects and you'd think that if any living creature in this house would have had a problem, it would have been them.

I don't know why there's this whole huge flap about CFL's when we have flourescent lights in our schools that can be shattered by unruly kids, or by the kids in the high school marching bands that do the hall marches before pep assemblies (one of our sousaphones got a little too enthusiastic my sophomore year and slammed his instrument into a light...shattered it all over us. The director and the school nurse were more worried about the broken glass all over us than they were the chemicals in the tubes).

I have never, EVER understood why it is that the press will blow things way out of proportion. It's no wonder we live in fear of everything...we think everything can have a fatal effect on us when the truth is it's probably only even dangerous, let alone fatal, in much larger amounts than we'll ever be exposed to under normal circumstances. The saccharine scare, the radiation-from-computers-and-cell-phones thing, the carbon monoxide used to preserve meat for longer...

Good god.

 

[R. Richard]

They are making a huge deal out of nothing. I've broken one of those in my house and suffered no ill effects. My cats didn't even suffer any ill effects and you'd think that if any living creature in this house would have had a problem, it would have been them.

I don't know why there's this whole huge flap about CFL's when we have flourescent lights in our schools that can be shattered by unruly kids, or by the kids in the high school marching bands that do the hall marches before pep assemblies (one of our sousaphones got a little too enthusiastic my sophomore year and slammed his instrument into a light...shattered it all over us. The director and the school nurse were more worried about the broken glass all over us than they were the chemicals in the tubes).

I have never, EVER understood why it is that the press will blow things way out of proportion. It's no wonder we live in fear of everything...we think everything can have a fatal effect on us when the truth is it's probably only even dangerous, let alone fatal, in much larger amounts than we'll ever be exposed to under normal circumstances. The saccharine scare, the radiation-from-computers-and-cell-phones thing, the carbon monoxide used to preserve meat for longer...

Good god.

It may be a bit overblown, but mercury is nasty stuff. In the old days, hatters used mercury to make hats [I haven't a clue.] They suffered ill effects from the mercury and the phrase 'Mad as a hatter' was the result.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Actually, some of the bulbs do have warnings printed on them indicating that they should be disposed of in special ways. Unfortuantely, when one of NPR's reporters attempted to work out how to dispose of one in her home town, she discovered that no one in the city knew how, and that ultimate there was no such facility available.

I do think that this is a serious concern. Yes, the media likes to blow things out of proportion, but mercury really is no laughing matter.

We've also had two CFLB's catch fire while in use in our home. Each was in a socket for which it was properly rated. Fortunately, we've been at home both times, but we're starting to wonder if there might be reliability issues with them that will only come to light as they come into wider circulation.

 

[starrkers]

I've used them exclusively for over 5 years and never had a problem.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I remember seeing a skit on a satirical TV show. Somebody was lauding the benefits of these bulbs, and he accidentally broke one. A Hazmat team had to come and scrub him down with chemicals, and a whole to-do was made. It was exaffwrated, of course, but it wouldn't be the first time the government tried to do something good and ended up doing something very bad.

 

[Weird Harold]

I do think that this is a serious concern. Yes, the media likes to blow things out of proportion, but mercury really is no laughing matter.

The phosphors that coat the inside of the tube to turn the ultraviolet given off by mercury vapor into white light are no health club supplement of the week either.

However, I don't think that flourescent lights -- compact or otherwise -- are a particular health hazard in the home or office; the amount of mecury vapor exposure in a typical breakage situation is miniscule -- even for babies and small animals.

(Which raises the question, how can you tell if your cat has gone "Mad as a Hatter" or is just being a normal cat?)

Where Florescents become a serious hazard is when they accumulate in landfills and the phosphors and mercury start leaching into the water table and accumulating in the food-chain.

Sombody needs to come up with a way to wash the toxic chemicals like mercury and phosphors out of garbage without having to collect and separate traces of contaminated glass fragments and dust-bunnies for hazmat handling.

We've also had two CFLB's catch fire while in use in our home. Each was in a socket for which it was properly rated. Fortunately, we've been at home both times, but we're starting to wonder if there might be reliability issues with them that will only come to light as they come into wider circulation.

I've had one CFL burn out the transformer in the base, with a terrible stink of burning transformer (probably more dangerously toxic than Mercury Vapor) and enough smoke to set off the smoke detector but it never really got too hot to handle, so it was no real fire danger. (That was the one Three-way CFL I ever bought and it lasted less than two months. I rewired the lamp for a one-way bulb and it's been fine since.)

However, I have NEVER come close to the advertised life span of a CFL which is supposedly a primary factor in the "cost effectiveness" of CFLs.

Given the Mythbusters' result in their lighting savings segment, I'm seriously thinking about replacing the CFLs in my most used lights with LED Clusters -- they're seriously more spendy than any other option, but if Mythbusters got the test procedure right they're damned near literally everlasting; the kind of lightbulbs you can pass down to your great-grandchildren with some resonable expectation it will still work.

 

[R. Richard]

(Which raises the question, how can you tell if your cat has gone "Mad as a Hatter" or is just being a normal cat?)

Simple, if your cat begins working with felt and shaking uncontrollably while doing so, 'mad as a hatter.'

However, I have NEVER come close to the advertised life span of a CFL which is supposedly a primary factor in the "cost effectiveness" of CFLs.

Same here.

 

[Katyusha]

It may be a bit overblown, but mercury is nasty stuff. In the old days, hatters used mercury to make hats [I haven't a clue.] They suffered ill effects from the mercury and the phrase 'Mad as a hatter' was the result.

Yes...mercury is nasty stuff. But how much mercury were hatters exposed to in their daily work, and how likely are we to be exposed to the same amount of mercury with CFL's?

 

[Selena_Kitt]

I use them. When they finally DO burn out, you can recycle them, so you can do your part to keep mercury out of landfills. In the US, you can check for a place locally here that accepts them for recycling.

BTW, it's less exposure than an old mercury thermometer, if one breaks.

 

[R. Richard]

I use them. When they finally DO burn out, you can recycle them, so you can do your part to keep mercury out of landfills. In the US, you can check for a place locally here that accepts them for recycling.

BTW, it's less exposure than an old mercury thermometer, if one breaks.

The nearest recycling point for me is 40.2 miles distant and it's a private site, so there is a fee.

 

[jomar]

I'm hard put to decide between commenting "The more things change, the more they stay the same" and "If it's not one thing, it's another."

 

[Selena_Kitt]

The nearest recycling point for me is 40.2 miles distant and it's a private site, so there is a fee.

So you save them up and take them when you're going that direction.

And fee shmee... well worth it, considering the life of the bulb itself.

 

[oggbashan]

The amount of mercury in an old-fashioned thermometer used to measure patients' temperatures was more than is contained in a thousand flourescent tubes.

When patients bit them...

Then there is the mercury in amalgam tooth fillings.

Og

 

[DesertPirate]

The amount of mercury in an old-fashioned thermometer used to measure patients' temperatures was more than is contained in a thousand flourescent tubes.

When patients bit them...

Then there is the mercury in amalgam tooth fillings.

Og

Very true!
How many of us have been around a flourescent tube that broke? Most at one time or another. A case or two of 4 foot tubes might have the same amount as one filing.

 

[Weird Harold]

Yes...mercury is nasty stuff. But how much mercury were hatters exposed to in their daily work, and how likely are we to be exposed to the same amount of mercury with CFL's?

Hatters were exposed to several orders of magniude more mercury that is contained in all of the CFLs in a typical house, but it was NOT mercury vapor and it was absorbed mostly through the skin of the hands and arms rather than inhaled as a vapor.

But Hatter's Disease is caused by more than just mercury exposure, it was caused by several heavy metals and toxic compunds -- lead and arsenic compounds were also commonly used by Hatters.

The kind of exposure -- inhalation vs osomisis -- makes a big difference in the "safe" exposure level. (since mercury andother heavy metals are persistant and accumulate over repeated exposures, there really isn't ny "safe" exposure level for a single incident.)

 

[oggbashan]

...The kind of exposure -- inhalation vs osomisis -- makes a big difference in the "safe" exposure level. (since mercury andother heavy metals are persistant and accumulate over repeated exposures, there really isn't ny "safe" exposure level for a single incident.)

I should be dead from exposure to heavy metals, including mercury, lead and uranium, over a number of years.

Oops! I have been dead for 5,000 years anyway. No wonder heavy metals don't affect me.

Og

 

[R. Richard]

Hatters were exposed to several orders of magniude more mercury that is contained in all of the CFLs in a typical house, but it was NOT mercury vapor and it was absorbed mostly through the skin of the hands and arms rather than inhaled as a vapor.

But Hatter's Disease is caused by more than just mercury exposure, it was caused by several heavy metals and toxic compunds -- lead and arsenic compounds were also commonly used by Hatters.

The kind of exposure -- inhalation vs osomisis -- makes a big difference in the "safe" exposure level. (since mercury andother heavy metals are persistant and accumulate over repeated exposures, there really isn't ny "safe" exposure level for a single incident.)

All I can say is that anyone who would expose a cat to toxins like that has no conscience.

 

[Weird Harold]

However, I have NEVER come close to the advertised life span of a CFL which is supposedly a primary factor in the "cost effectiveness" of CFLs.

Speaking of lack of reliability, my main kitchen CFL flickered and died earlier this evening after approximate one of the five years advertised on the packaging. No smoke or flames, just blinked twice and went dark.

I think the one in my reading lamp is going on three years, maybe four, butit's going to have to hang in there for another six or seven years to bring the average lifespan of CFLs in my house up to the advertising claims (assuming I don't have to replce any more CFLs in the meantime.)

 

[Katyusha]

All I can say is that anyone who would expose a cat to toxins like that has no conscience.

Huh? Was that directed at me?

 

[R. Richard]

Speaking of lack of reliability, my main kitchen CFL flickered and died earlier this evening after approximate one of the five years advertised on the packaging. No smoke or flames, just blinked twice and went dark.

I think the one in my reading lamp is going on three years, maybe four, butit's going to have to hang in there for another six or seven years to bring the average lifespan of CFLs in my house up to the advertising claims (assuming I don't have to replce any more CFLs in the meantime.)

In high usage environments, I get about a year out of a CFB.

 

[R. Richard]

Huh? Was that directed at me?

Ask your cat!