Protect Your Family’s Health, Safety
and Finances.
Scrap Those ‘Green’ Light Bulbs Now!
By Tony Butler
email. tonyb@nottinghamshiretimes.co.uk
At the end of this article there is a
terrifying report of what actually happened to one housewife, when she
accidentally dropped and smashed a energy saving compact fluorescent light bulb(CFL) on the carpeted floor of her child’s bedroom.
When Angela Merkel, the President of
the EU, declared traditional light bulbs a threat to the environment, and
ordered a change to CFL ‘green’, light bulbs, she was publicly demonstrating her solidarity with the zealots of the phoney global warming scam.
Quote: "No matter if the science is all
phony, there are collateral environmental benefits...climate change provides the
greatest chance to bring about justice and equality in the world.”
Christine
Stewart, former Canadian Environment Minister.
Devious David Miliband, the British Minister for the Environment, immediately ordered a compulsory transition from traditional
to new CFL bulbs. Unfortunately for him, Ms. Merkel was unintentionally displaying her complete ignorance to the fact that her ‘green’ CFL bulbs are anything but environmentally friendly. As well as requiring special light fittings, the green bulbs cost three times as much to make and contain five milligrams of mercury. They only last a lot longer than normal bulbs if you never switch them off.
They are in fact probably the most toxic and serious threat to health in the modern home. Throw one of these mercury filled monstrosities in your dustbin and you could be fined £5,000. Accidentally break one and according to America, you are in an environmental minefield, and stringent safety measures have to be enforced. Measures that include wearing goggles, gloves, overalls and an abundance of sticky tape but more of that later.
The question is: Why is it that the Health and Safety zealots in the UK have done nothing to warn you or I of the possible hazards, after all mecury is almost public enemy No.1? Could it be that they do not want to upset their EU masters, even though we pay their wages?
So how do you dispose of energy saving bulbs? ER…er…
In October 2007 when I began writing this article I sent an email to my
local council (Erewash- Derbyshire) asking two questions. a. How do I dispose of old CFL bulbs? b. What
should I do if I break one? I was still waiting for a reply 14 days later when I published, and to date 6th Jan 2008 am still waiting.
But what if was my wife or daughter who had really broken one of the CFL bulbs and were in need of urgent advice? - They would still be waiting.
But the truth is simple: no formal policy for disposing of these bulbs has been formulated or adopted.
In today's Sunday Mail, 6th January 2008 an article similar to this one has been published, but on which also links these bulbs to skin irritation, and migraines.
Here is the advice given in America regarding these 'green' CFL bulbs.
are being advised
IF YOU BREAK A BULB ...
If you break a compact fluorescent
light bulb — or any fluorescent light bulb — the federal Environmental
Protection Agency has this advice:
n Don't vacuum it up.
n Take a stiff piece of paper or cardboard and scoop it up. Use duct
tape or a wet paper towel to pick up the rest.
n Put everything in a plastic bag and seal it. Dispose of that as
household hazardous waste.
SOURCE: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Why is it that I never trust UK Government assurances on product safety? CJE, MMR, GM Crops, Global Warming, because its all junk science and big bucks, which is proving to be a lethal combination as far as consumers are concerned. But to continue:
This is an extract from, Washington
State Mercury Chemical Action Plan.
DON’T MESS
WITH MERCURY
It is a heavy metal and a
“persistent, bioaccumulative toxin,” or PBT.
Persistant
= Lasts for a long time.
Bioaccumulative = Builds up in organs and affects
reproduction.
Toxic
= Poison
Yes, mercury exists naturally. But
health and environmental problems arise
Because humans have concentrated
mercury in ways that Mother Nature never would.
When handling products with mercury:
Don’t break or crush the items.
Store the items out of the way in
bubble wrap or boxes until you can recycle them. Save the boxes that they come
in for this purpose.
If a product is accidentally broken,
do not touch it and do not vacuum it up. Call the Poison Control Centre for
instructions at
1-800-222-1222. (Washington State
Residents Only.)
AN ACTUAL CASE: Report and comments by: www.JunkScience.com
How much money does it take to screw in a compact fluorescent
lightbulb? About $4.28 for the bulb and labor — unless you break the bulb. Then
you, like Brandy Bridges of Ellsworth, Maine, could be looking at a cost of
about $2,004.28, which doesn’t include the costs of frayed nerves and risks to
health.
Sound crazy? Perhaps no more than the stampede to ban the incandescent
light bulb in favor of compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) — a move already
either adopted or being considered in California, Canada, the European Union and
Australia.
According to an April 12 article in The Ellsworth American, Bridges had
the misfortune of breaking a CFL during installation in her daughter’s bedroom:
It dropped and shattered on the carpeted floor.
Aware that CFLs contain potentially hazardous substances, Bridges called
her local Home Depot for advice. The store told her that the CFL contained
mercury and that she should call the Poison Control hotline, which in turn
directed her to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
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.
The DEP specialist recommended that Bridges call an environmental cleanup
firm, which reportedly gave her a “low-ball” estimate of $2,000 to clean up the
room. The room then was sealed off with plastic and Bridges began “gathering
finances” to pay for the $2,000 cleaning. Reportedly, her insurance company
wouldn’t cover the cleanup costs because mercury is a pollutant.
Given that the replacement of incandescent bulbs with CFLs in the average
U.S. household is touted as saving as much as $180 annually in energy costs —
and assuming that Bridges doesn’t break any more CFLs — it will take her more
than 11 years to recoup the cleanup costs in the form of energy savings.
Even if you don’t go for the full-scale panic of the $2,000 cleanup, the
do-it-yourself approach is still somewhat intense, if not downright alarming.
Consider the procedure offered by the Maine DEP’s Web page entitled, “What
if I accidentally break a fluorescent bulb in my home?”
Don’t vacuum bulb debris because a standard vacuum will spread
mercury-containing dust throughout the area and contaminate the vacuum.
Ventilate the area and reduce the temperature. Wear protective equipment like
goggles, coveralls and a dust mask.
Collect the waste material into an airtight container. Pat the area with
the sticky side of tape. Wipe with a damp cloth. Finally, check with local
authorities to see where hazardous waste may be properly disposed.
The only step the Maine DEP left off was the final one: Hope that you did
a good enough cleanup so that you, your family and pets aren’t poisoned by any
mercury inadvertently dispersed or missed.
This, of course, assumes that people are even aware that breaking CFLs
entails special cleanup procedures.
The potentially hazardous CFL is being pushed by companies such as
Wal-Mart, which wants to sell 100 million CFLs at five times the cost of
incandescent bulbs during 2007, and, surprisingly, environmentalists.
It’s quite odd that environmentalists have embraced the CFL, which cannot
now and will not in the foreseeable future be made without mercury. Given that
there are about 4 billion lightbulb sockets in American households, we’re
looking at the possibility of creating billions of hazardous waste sites such as
the Bridges’ bedroom.
Usually, environmentalists want hazardous materials out of, not in, our
homes.
These are the same people who go berserk at the thought of mercury being
emitted from power plants and the presence of mercury in seafood.
Environmentalists have whipped up so much fear of mercury among the public that
many local governments have even launched mercury thermometer exchange programs.
As the activist group Environmental Defense urges us to buy CFLs, it
defines mercury on a separate part of its Web site as a “highly toxic heavy
metal that can cause brain damage and learning disabilities in fetuses and
children” and as “one of the most poisonous forms of pollution.”
Greenpeace also recommends CFLs while simultaneously bemoaning
contamination caused by a mercury thermometer factory in India. But where are
mercury-containing CFLs made? Not in the U.S., under strict environmental
regulation. CFLs are made in India and China, where environmental standards are
virtually non-existent.
And let’s not forget about the regulatory nightmare known as the Superfund
law, the EPA regulatory program best known for requiring expensive but often
needless cleanup of toxic waste sites, along with endless litigation over such
cleanups.
We’ll eventually be disposing billions and billions of CFL mercury bombs.
Much of the mercury from discarded and/or broken CFLs is bound to make its way
into the environment and give rise to Superfund liability, which in the past has
needlessly disrupted many lives, cost tens of billions of dollars and sent many
businesses into bankruptcy.
As each CFL contains 5 milligrams of mercury, at the Maine “safety”
standard of 300 nanograms per cubic meter, it would take 16,667 cubic meters of
soil to “safely” contain all the mercury in a single CFL. While CFL vendors and
environmentalists tout the energy cost savings of CFLs, they conveniently omit
the personal and societal costs of CFL disposal.
Not only are CFLs much more expensive than incandescent bulbs and emit
light that many regard as inferior to incandescent bulbs, they pose a nightmare
if they break and require special disposal procedures. Should government (egged
on by environmentalists and the Wal-Marts of the world) impose on us such higher
costs, denial of lighting choice, disposal hassles and breakage risks in the
name of saving a few dollars every year on the electric bill?
Steven Milloy publishes JunkScience.com and CSRWatch.com. He is a junk
science expert, and advocate of free enterprise and an adjunct scholar at the
Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Summary:by Tonyb (Editor of The Nottinghamshire Times.)
These CFL bulbs are being sold
not in boxes or bubble-wrap but, attached to a thin cardboard sleeve, which
leaves the glass filaments unprotected. How many shop or supermarket workers
have been exposed to broken CFL bulbs, and simply swept or vacuumed up
the debris, and thus distributing the toxin around the store?
Is your supermarket or DIY store contaminated? How can we possibly know?
Asda (Wallmart) will sell them by the
million, and it strains credibility to believe that none will be broken.
Mike, a friend of mine lives in Nottingham, and when his ever so green light bulb gave up the ghost last October after about a year; he decided to put my statements over its disposal to the test and rang Nottingham Council.
He was advised to take it to Dunkirk for disposal, but when he pointed out that he hadn't got a car and his walking ability was limited they came up with this compromise.
'Wrap the bulb up in an old blanket and place it carefully in the dustbin.'
No whether that would protect it from being broken when compacted is open to question, but I wouldn't like to bet money on it remaining intact - would you?
Will you still allow them to turn your home into a toxic dump, on the basis of the lie that CO2 emissions cause rises in temperature? Or the lie that there is a consensus of scientific opinion that global warming is a scientific fact?
In January 2008, 400 internationally renowned scientist put their names to The Senate Report protesting about the so called 'consensus' and described climate change as a normal phenomenon and plans to attempt to control global temperature as absurd.
There has been a grave case of
complacency verging on criminal neglect, by the public bodies who are supposed
to protect us. As one, and with a craven subservience to an unelected
EU, they chose to betray us all.
