What government makes it illegal for people to buy a decent light bulb that is not harmful to people

Originally posted by soleprobe

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
Um...mercury is a metal. A fairly heavy one at that. "lingering in the air" is not what is happening here.

"The specialist found mercury levels in the bedroom in excess of six times the state's "safe" level for mercury contamination of 300 billionths of a gram per cubic meter."

"per cubic meter" means "per cubic meter" of air. Since DEP arrived some time after the bulb broke... the mercury was in excess of six times the state's "safe" level "per cubic meter" of air. If traces of mercury were not "lingering in the air" six times above the safe limit per cubic meter of air then what was the mercury doing in the air? Floating? Hovering?

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
And you are worried about that little bit from cleaning up one bulb?

If the breaking of one bulb will release enough mercury to exceed a state's safe limits by six times hours after it breaks then I do worry about "that little bit from cleaning up one bulb" even if the EPA says it's OK to do so.

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
THE EPA. ...they are the idiots who decided what a "safe" level of mercury actually is. If they see it as being ok to clean up....

You source the EPA who you call "idiots" and yet you trust them when they say it's ok to clean up.

Do you know how the measurement works? How did they ascertain that number? Did they take a series of measurements around the room and create a mean number? Or did they just bend over and pull that number out of another contaminated area?

One thing i can tell you is that figure don't lie....but liars can figure. The piece is written on a slant. That, alone, should cause you concern when looking at the numbers thrown around.

I source the idiots because if they are the ones you want to use as your guide, you should consider the totality of their message. Not just that part that convinces you the sky is falling.

I just want to encourage you to put a little of your own logic into this. We have what seem to be two conflicting reports, along with a complete absence of people dying from mercury exposure due to these bulbs. 1+1 must equal 2, unless you just want to ignore simple logic.

Originally posted by calstorm
Holy crap, I didn't know this. I broke 2 the other day trying to replace the bulbs in my kitchen. My cover doesn't fit over them and I learned the hard way. I had to go searching for regular bulbs, they were hard to find.
I remember back when I was a kid, my grandfather had a bottle of mercury, hey would pour it in mine and my friends hands we thought it was so cool watching it ball up. Maybe thats whats wrong with me lol.

I remember our science teacher in elementary school, passing around a lump of mercury - bare hands - to the students. Very hard to pick up if dropped.

I have them everywhere (compact flourescents), and I'm certainly not going to call in a hazmat team to clean up if one breaks. There wouldn't be anyone available, even if I wanted to. Like I mentioned in a previous post, we don't even have anywhere to recycle them, so yeah, landfills are taking them in along with the other poisons that decompose, and batteries, electronics, thermometers, etc.

The government does everything just for a show. If they were really concerned about the environment, they wouldn't still have things like car races, private jets, etc. They would have set up recycling depots that you didn't have to drive 4 hours to get to. They wouldn't be poisoning the water through a lack of environmental controls.

At least here, we have the option for a while still to buy whatever type of bulb we need. I don't think they're phasing incandescent bulbs out in Canada yet.

reply to post by dreamseeker


Here's some help for you: www.google.com...:en-us:IE-SearchBox&prmd=ivns&source=univ&tbs=shop:1&tbo=u&ei=SdIgTdfmAoH48 AaE2vzHBA&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CEYQrQQwAA

They cost more, but you probaly won't need to replace for 10 plus years. How many incandescents would you use in that time frame?

reply to post by starless and bible black


Use LED bulbs, no poison, no headaches, and better for the environment (regardless if you beleive in global warming or are in denial, being good to the environment only makes sense).

reply to post by Chakotay


Here here, I second that emotion.

CFL were just a placeholder for LED.

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
...a complete absence of people dying from mercury exposure due to these bulbs. 1+1 must equal 2, unless you just want to ignore simple logic.

"Simple logic"? Since when is it logical to assume that people die immediately every time they are exposed to mercury when this is not the case? But mercury does damage the brain and it's the brain that enables logic.... Cleaning up too many broken mercury filled CFL bulbs will not result in immediate death but it will certainly damage your brain thus impairing your logic.

Originally posted by snowspirit

Originally posted by calstorm
Holy crap, I didn't know this. I broke 2 the other day trying to replace the bulbs in my kitchen. My cover doesn't fit over them and I learned the hard way. I had to go searching for regular bulbs, they were hard to find.
I remember back when I was a kid, my grandfather had a bottle of mercury, hey would pour it in mine and my friends hands we thought it was so cool watching it ball up. Maybe thats whats wrong with me lol.

I remember our science teacher in elementary school, passing around a lump of mercury - bare hands - to the students. Very hard to pick up if dropped.

The 'elemental' form of mercury you're talking about and which is in bulbs can't be absorbed through the skin in liquid form, and even when ingested its absorption is less than 0.01%. It's only the vapor that is of concern, and if it is a small amount, an isolated momentary exposure is non-significant. Other than that, it's the organic mercury compounds and some mercury salts that are dangerous to come in contact with. The people who wrote the article don't seem to understand this; and that's why it's BS.

The poisonings resulting from the elemental form have mainly been the result of people working with large amounts of it on a daily basis in an occupational setting without adequate controls; breathing in enough vapor throughout the day on a continual basis for it to start accumulating. It takes up to two months to eliminate 60% of it.

Originally posted by soleprobe

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
...a complete absence of people dying from mercury exposure due to these bulbs. 1+1 must equal 2, unless you just want to ignore simple logic.

"Simple logic"? Since when is it logical to assume that people die immediately every time they are exposed to mercury when this is not the case? But mercury does damage the brain and it's the brain that enables logic.... Cleaning up too many broken mercury filled CFL bulbs will not result in immediate death but it will certainly damage your brain thus impairing your logic.

Sir Isaac Newton went mad from Mercury poisoning on more than one occasion, due to his closet penchant for alchemy. He was not rendered a mumbling fool.

You are exposed to all sorts of things every day. Some of them damage your brain a little. Some damage your endocrine system a little. The Sun even damages your skin a little. Small, miniscule bits of damage happen. They are so negligible as to not be noticed. Certainly, at the age of 200 you could die from some thing caused by mercury contamination 180 years earlier. But you will be LOOOONG gone from something else before that.

Risk assessment. The alarm is not in ratio with the risk being taken on.

It isn't anthrax. It isn't plutonium. It is a relatively common element that when accumulated in the body to any serious degree can cause harm. when the EPA says it is "6 times higher", they mean that the level is 6 times higher than recommended for prolonged exposure. The uptake of mercury is pretty slow, and a quick clean up of a bulb does not constitute prolonged exposure.

Chicken little or not, the sky is not falling. Clean up your bulb. Or be a sucker and pay out 2400 bucks for someone to come in and put on a show for you. It isn't my money. But if you don't stop being so scared about the world around you, when will you ever enjoy it? Do you really think they are selling WMD's for you to screw into your lamp?

I bet you would literally crap on yourself if you knew how radioactive your computer monitor was. LOL

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
Clean up your bulb.

Oh I'll clean up my bulbs.. my incandescent or LED bulbs. I won't use CFLs

Originally posted by soleprobe

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
Clean up your bulb.

Oh I'll clean up my bulbs.. my incandescent or LED bulbs. I won't use CFLs

I sweat constantly. Doing away with incandescent bulbs were a godsend for me.

I will use LED's when they can get a soft, diffuse light. i am very photosensitive. i like to live in a metaphorical dungeon.

Instructions for Cleaning Up One Broken CFL (From EPA Website)

What to Do if a Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) Bulb or Fluorescent Tube Light Bulb Breaks in Your Home: www.epa.gov...


1. Before cleanup
* Have people and pets leave the room.
* Air out the room for 5-10 minutes by opening a window or door to the outdoor environment.
* Shut off the central forced air heating/air-conditioning (H&AC) system, if you have one.
* Collect materials needed to clean up broken bulb.

2. During cleanup
* Be thorough in collecting broken glass and visible powder.
* Place cleanup materials in a sealable container.

3. After cleanup
* Promptly place all bulb debris and cleanup materials outdoors in a trash container or protected area until materials can be disposed of properly. Avoid leaving any bulb fragments or cleanup materials indoors.
* For several hours, continue to air out the room where the bulb was broken and leave the H&AC system shut off.

Seems the EPA is in agreement with the article... quite the elaborate cleanup procedure for something that is "non-significant."