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As I was glancing through editorials on
www.hawaiireporter.com, there was one stating that CFL bulbs actually contain mercury and require special clean-up if you were to break one.
Clean up includes opening windows, leaving the house, gloves and double sealing the debris.
Certainly something I wasn't aware of, check it out for yourself though, I have yet to do any fact checking
!
Greg H.
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Genx, I did an environmental study last year on these. Many countries, inc. China have major concerns about the mercury waste disposal issues with all flourescent lights...inc. CFLs. The amount of mercury has been reduced in the last decades, but still account for tens of tons of mercury waste annually. This is from one page from the Environmental Impact of Lighting powerpoint I had to present:
Mercury containing lamps – Fluorescent, HPS, Mercury Vapor & Metal Halide
Environmental problems with improper disposal – mercury accumulates in tissues - can cause birth defects, respiratory & nervous disorders
Fluorescent lamps, sold in U.S., contained 13 tons mercury in 1999
15 tons of mercury were released into the environment from fluorescent lamp disposal in China in 1995
Edited by - carey on 09/17/2007 22:26:17
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CFLs and mercury cleanup has now reached urban legend proportion. Don't believe everything you see on the news. Newscasters are typically not experts on technical issues, and certainly Brandy is no expert either.
Genxor had the procedure summarized well. No $2000 cleanup necessary. Heck, how many of us have broken a fluorescent tube and not given it a second thought?
Read more here:
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/cfl.asp
ArtM
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"" Heck, how many of us have broken a fluorescent tube and not given it a second thought?""
Worse... we, as kids, would break thermometors and play with the mercury. Hmm.. and I thought I lost all those brain cells at concerts in the eighties.
Blessings,
dave
"Sometimes your the bug and sometimes your the windshield"
Blessings,
dave
"It doesn't mean that much to me.. to mean that much to you." Neil Young
