Detroit News: New fluorescent bulbs pose a slight mercury danger
Filed under: Earth 911 - May 12, 2007
Glenn Haege: The handyman
Detroit News
Saturday, May 12, 2007
The CFL (compact fluorescent light) is a squiggly-looking light bulb that can supposedly save us money long term while helping to save the planet by lowering energy use.
Drop a couple of CFLs in your shopping basket you will be doing your part to help save the environment and you might even save a little money.
But wait, according to newspapaer and broadcast reports, an Ellsworth, Maine, resident dropped just one CFL and is now on the hook for $2,004.28 in environmental remediation costs, and who knows what damage she may have already caused her family’s health.
At last report, the room in which Brandy Bridges dropped the CFL light bulb was sealed off, and Bridges was trying to come up with the money needed to bring in the boys in moon suits to clean up the mess.
The reason for all the concern is that every fluorescent light contains mercury. The average 75-watt-equivalent CFL contains between 4 and 6 milligrams of mercury. By way of comparison, one of those old, round thermostats many of us have on our walls contain 3,000 milligrams of mercury. A mercury thermometer contains 500 milligrams. So a thermometer is at least 100 times more dangerous than a CFL, and an old mercury thermostat is about 600 times more dangerous.
I burn a lot of light bulbs in my house, and I want to be environmentally responsible. At the same time, I do not want to commit suicide with a light bulb; neither does my wife.
Safety levels are confusing. According to the Northeast Waste Management Association (617) 367-8558, www.newmoa.org, the federal government’s Mercury Vapor Inhalation Exposure Standard is 100 micrograms per cubic meter. The Department of Health and Human Services’ Toxic Substances and Disease Registry minimum risk level is 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter. Their remediation action level is 1 microgram. You didn’t read wrong. According to the Federal Government, you have to worry if the mercury exposure level is somewhere between 1 and 100 micrograms per cubic meter.
I wouldn’t want my home to be any less safe than the government demands of my work place.
If you were to break a new 75-watt-equivalent CFL in your child’s 10-foot by 12-foot bedroom (8-feet high ceiling), and the mercury dust and vapor became equally dispersed in the air, you would have a potential exposure of 184 micrograms per cubic meter, almost double the OSHA standard and 184 times the federal remediation threshold.
Since using light bulbs and breaking light bulbs go hand in hand, that sounds pretty scary. Don’t panic. The Environmental Protection Agency, ( www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/) has instructions on exactly how to do the clean-up. I illustrate their step-by-step directions in this week’s You Can Do It article on Page 13H .
Even if you do not break a CFL, it will eventually burn out, and you will throw it away. In Michigan, a fluorescent lights are classified as hazardous household trash. It is perfectly legal for the homeowner to put them in the trash, but better to take them to a hazardous household waste site. To find if there is a site near you call (877) EARTH 911, or enter your ZIP code in the Earth 911 Web site, http://michigan.earth911.org/.
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Household items containing mercury
Fluorescent lighting and neon bulbs
Thermometers
Nonelectric thermostats
Clothes irons, automatic or tilt shut-offs
Paint manufactured before 1990 and some oil-base paints
Thimerosal or merbromin, in some antibacterial products
Mercury facts
According to the DNR, 1 gram of mercury deposited per year can contaminate a 20-acre lake. One fever thermometer holds ½ gram of mercury. A home thermostat contains about 3 grams of mercury.
Mercury poisoning
Long-term exposure is generally more dangerous than a one-time short exposure.
Mercury is a neurotoxin that attacks the nervous system.
Symptoms of mercury poisoning include chills, metallic taste, nausea, vomiting, headache, cough and weakness.
Sources: www.calpoison.org, www.in.gov, www.waukeshacounty.gov
One Response to “Detroit News: New fluorescent bulbs pose a slight mercury danger”
WHY IS THE MESSAGE NOT GETTING TO THE PEOPLE THAT THESE LIGHT BULBS SHOULD NOT BE THROWN INTO THE GARBAGE OR WHEN BROKEN HOW TO CLEAN UP THE MERCURY DUST. I KNOW IN THE APARTMENT BUILDING WHERE I LIVE THESE BULBS ARE BEING USED EVERYWHERE AND NOBODY KNOWS THAT THEY ARE DANGEROUS. WHAT IF A SMALL BABY OR ANIMAL WERE TO CRAWL THRU THIS MERCURY DUST ON THE FLOOR THEN WHAT? SOMEHOW EVERY TIME THAT THE GOVERNMENT GETS SOMETHING ” NEW” IT TURNS OUT TO BE DANGEROUS. YOU ARE PUTTING THOUSANDS OF GARBAGE WORKERS AT RISK. AND WHO KNOWS HOW MANY BABIES AND ANIMALS HAVE BEEN CONTAMINATED WITH MERCURY.