Those Mercurial CFLs

Florescent light bulbs are more efficient than traditional incandescent light bulbs. This has become a common fact at this point. Switching from incandescents to florescents means lower energy consumption, which undoubtably means lower use of fossil fuels in most cases, lower pollution, less global warming and all that is good for the planet and its human inhabitants. This is of course unless your house is powered by a "non-dirty" source like solar, wind or geothermal energy. But obviously that is not the case for most people.

Thus florescent light bulb manufacturers, governmental bodies and even some environmental groups have taken to advertising these facts. It's printed on the packaging of almost every florescent bulb pack, in government and environmental literature. Most of the push has been for compact florescent lights (CFLs), since they are meant to replace the common and iconic screw-in light bulb most of us grew up with. But what is not nearly as widely known are the dangers of CFLs (and all florescent light bulbs).

You see, all florescent lights, whether the old-style tubes or CFLs, contain mercury. This means you can't just throw out your CFL bulbs with your regular trash. These bulbs need to be recycled, or they'll just end up in landfills where they will eventually seep into and contaminate the land and water with mercury, the most toxic natural non-radioactive element known to man. So while CFLs are being touted as more "Earth-friendly", they may indeed end up posing a significant environmental threat.

If you do use CFLs, never throw them in the trash remember to recycle them. Earth911 has a vast list of recycling centers throughout the U.S. and Canada you can browse through by zip code. Many areas have recycling programs for CFLs and now even stores are accepting CFLs and old electronics for recycling.

Sometimes they Break

But if mercury contamination is an issue with CFLs, what happens when one breaks? As it happens, a broken CFL bulb is a danger to anyone who comes in contact with it. While a broken incandescent can cut you, a broken CFL can give you mercury poisoning in addition. This is a fact that so far I have never seen displayed on any packaging or announced by public health organizations.

In fact, the EPA recently updated their guidelines, with a report which "indicates the tiny amount of vaporized mercury from a single broken bulb is within the safe range for adults", but the official cleaning instructions call for airing out the room and avoiding all contact with the broken CFL, among other steps.

It certainly doesn't sound very safe, and frankly I wouldn't be taking any chances with my health or the health of those in the household. The danger from CFLs is very real, on both a personal and a global scale, and it is something to consider. Even if they don't break often, is it worth the risk?