I have several of these funny looking energy saving light bulbs in my house and I thought I was doing something good by using them but it seems there is a “Darkside” to these light bulbs…
The Washington Times has an interesting report on what happens if you break one of these things in your house.
“How much money does it take to screw in a compact fluorescent lightbulb? About $4.28 for the bulb and labor -- unless you break the bulb. Then you -- like Brandy Bridges of Ellsworth, Maine -- could be looking at a cost of about $2,004.28, which doesn't include the costs of frayed nerves and risks to health.”
This lady broke a CFL bulb in her children’s room and knew that these bulbs contain Mercury so she called the Poison Control hotline for advice…
“The DEP sent a specialist to Mrs. Bridges' house to test for mercury contamination. The specialist found mercury levels in the bedroom in excess of 6 times the state's "safe" level for mercury contamination of 300 billionths of a gram per cubic meter.”
Some things that those environmental groups forgot to tell you …
“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 4 billion lightbulb sockets in American households, we're looking at the possibility of creating billions of hazardous wastes sites like the Bridges' bedroom. Usually, environmentalists want hazardous materials out of, not in, our homes.”
“Greenpeace also recommends CFLs, while simultaneously bemoaning contamination caused by a mercury thermometer factory in India. But where are mercury-containing CFLs made? Not in the U.S., under strict environmental regulation but in India and China, where environmental standards are virtually nonexistent.”
