Compact fluorescent lamps – the latest environmental hazard?

Update on this story at the bottom of the post – the information given out about Ms. Bridges situation was perhaps a bit overdone.
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For those considering a switch from incandescent lamps, over to compact fluorescent lams (CFLs), read Brandy Bridges story before you do and then consider the actual risks of global climate changes against the risks of turning your home into what the EPA would consider an environmental hazard.

Brandy Bridges heard the claims of government officials, environmentalists and retailers like Wal-Mart all pushing the idea of replacing incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving and money-saving compact fluorescent lamps.

So, last month, the Prospect, Maine, resident went out and bought two dozen CFLs and began installing them in her home. One broke. A month later, her daughter’s bedroom remains sealed off with plastic like the site of a hazardous materials accident, while Bridges works on a way to pay off a $2,000 estimate by a company specializing in environmentally sound cleanups of the mercury inside the bulb.

With everyone from Al Gore to Wal-Mart to the Environmental Protection Agency promoting CFLs as the greatest thing since, well, the light bulb, consumers have been left in the dark about a problem they will all face eventually – how to get rid of the darn things when they burn out or, worse yet, break.

If you think that you can avoid ever breaking a CFL in your home, you might want to take a chance that they can save you a few dollars in electricity over their lives. However, I will not be buying any more of these bulbs until they address this mercury issue.
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It appears that the information regarding the levels of mercury in these bulbs is a bit overdone.

While there is mercury in the bulbs and the mercury can escape if the bulbs are broken and you do need to be careful dealing with that mercury, according to Snopes, there actually isn’t enough mercury in the bulb to cause any serious health issues. So if you break a CFL bulb in your home, you shouldn’t have to don protective coverings and seal off portions of your house for months on end.

I think that this story was another example of our collective desire to be scared to death about any little thing. We look at mercury and only see “a potent nerve toxin,” not the fact that the amount of mercury in the bulbs is likely not all that much more than one would normally encounter in natural background levels.

I thought that seeing the story on WND, and Fox (apparently it was also printed in the Financial Post) was enough. However, I should have looked more closely at Milloy’s description of the levels of mercury that were actually present.

The DEP sent a specialist to Bridges’ house to test for mercury contamination. 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.

This appears to be another example of some bureaucrat, sitting in an office, with nothing better to do, coming up with a number that they determine to be a “safe” level. Whenever that “safe” level gets passed, everyone needs to run around in a circle, screaming their heads off and worrying that we’re going to grow a second head.

Thanks to Ron Sam for emailing me the link to the Snopes article and for pointing out that I was having issues with my comment submission process.