I recently read an article which stated that the incandescent light bulb, you know, the one Thomas Edison invented in 1880, is being phased out starting next year.
By 2014, only a few specialty incandescents will be available like three-way bulbs and lights for plants and appliances.
No more simple incandescent bulbs that cast that warm, cozy glow over the pages of your book as you curl up reading each evening in your favorite chair!
The incandescent bulb is being slowly but surely rooted out by the cold, impersonal light of the compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).    There is another option, called the LED bulbs, but as of this writing are virtually unknown in American stores.
So, at least for now, this leaves us with the CFLs.
My main beef with the CFLs is not the Antarctic light they cast.  While I don’t like CFL light nearly as much as the warm glow of incandescents, I could probably get used to it after a while.   I’ve also noticed some of the newer CFL bulbs cast a much warmer glow than a few years ago.
My issue is with the small amount of mercury present in each CFL bulb not to mention the amount of dirty electricity your family is exposed to when you use fluorescent bulbs around your home.
Supporters of CFLs say that the small amount of mercury in the bulbs is less than the mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants and CFLs use a lot less electricity than incandescents thereby significantly reducing those emissions.
My take is that mercury is a neurotoxin and is not safe in any amount, certainly not in your home.   What if that adventurous toddler knocks over a lamp and breaks one on your living room carpet?
The result is not just a pile of broken glass like what would happen with an incandescent bulb. The result is exposure to a potent neurotoxin.
I don’t personally derive any level of comfort from claims that the small amount of mercury from a broken CFL would not contaminate a home or require an environmental crew to clean up the mess.  The FDA makes similar claims about dental amalgams too, but the fact is that people are experiencing toxic effects from them just the same.
CFLs Not Recycled by Most People
Another worrisome problem is that most people throw CFLs in the trash rather than recycle them despite laws against this in many areas of the country.    Not only does this potentially expose sanitation workers to high levels of mercury from multiple broken bulbs but it has the likelihood of turning our landfills into toxic waste dumps.  What’s more, CFLs that break near homes can contaminate the soil.
Adding to the problem is the lack of participation by big retailers such as Wal-Mart in assisting with the recycling effort.
Even General Electric, which has manufactured CFLs for about 20 years, says the small amount of mercury in each CFL bulb could add up to big contamination problems once incandescents are no longer available and sales of the toxic bulbs rapidly increase.
Incandescents still represent about 80% of the market for bulbs in America with CFL bulbs accounting for only 17% of sales.
It seems to me that the switch from incandescent bulbs to CFLs represents a classic case of robbing Peter to pay Paul.   I, for one, will not be embracing the CFL trend.   I’ve got quite a stash of incandescents that should last me a good long while and when those run-out, hopefully, this new LED bulb technology will offer a decent non-toxic solution for my home.
Source
National Public Radio, CFL Bulbs Have One Hitch:Â Toxic Mercury
OK – for all you know it alls…..
The Mercola bulb is a fluorescent bulb…ALL FLUORESCENT BULBS CONTAIN SMALL AMOUNTS OF MECURY….it’s the only way to get them to light…Duh !
People – the mercury does not come out whenthe light is on, it’s only exposed if the bulb breaks. The amount of mercury in 500 CFL bulbs is less than the mercury in one old thermometer.
Finally, the COLOR of the light in soft white CFLS is IDENTICAL to the color of light in an incandescent.
I agree that the government should not be telling us what light bulbs to use, but they already tell the car companies how many MPG we have to get, and they tell you how much you are going to pay in taxes, they tell you a lot of things you don’t like. At least you can save 75% on your lighting costs.
Comparing mercury content between cfls and thermometers is a bad comparison. First off thermometers containing mercury are no longer made because they are too toxic. Secondly it’s the dose and the route of exposure that determine dose and toxicity. If you were to break a thermometer (and not spread it around) the resulting bead of liquid mercury would evapourate (at room temperature) at 56 ug per hour per c2. So you would have to sit there for hours huffing directly over the drop to get poisoned. If you played with the mercury there is very low absorbtion through undamaged skin. If you ate the mercury only 1/1000 would be absorbed. The difference between a broken thermometer and a cfl is the fact that the cfl spews its mercury into millions of tiny droplets drastically increasing the surface area and evaporating quickly. This results in air concentrations of between 20 and 100 ug/m3 right away. Not 50 ish ug per hour. Making these far more dangerous for an acute exposure than a thermometer or even a larger quantity like a thermostat 3000 mg. As you should see they are deceiving you (either through ignorance or purposely) by comparing the size (would fit on a pin head) or total amount of mercury in a bulb. This is not my opinion. This is fact.
Boy, am I glad to see so many people are aware of this INSANE legislation!! I HATE CFLs! The nice warm glow of the incandescents is tantamount and necessary to making my home (and obviously a lot of posters here,) comfortable and livable.
And why on earth are LIGHT BULBS being singled out?? There are hundreds of other polluting and energy wasting items and topics that could be addressed without importing billions of light bulbs from China. (For example: Meat production, fertilizer use in lawn care, importing petroleum products, etc.) Just the amount of energy it takes to get them over here negates the “savings” at energy plants here in the U.S. And if I have to DRIVE to a recycling center, where is the conservation in that?
I’m with Rebekkah who posted that we need to REPEAL this ridiculous law. Nothing has infuriated me more than this governmental intrusion… I got used to “low-flow” shower heads that keep you running water for three times longer in order to rinse properly, and low-flow toilets that often take two flushes– but legislating a TOXIC item that must be manufactured overseas is the government run amok. (It has also put people out of work here in the U.S.; see this Washington Post article:
http://tinyurl.com/3ah8dvs
If the government was THAT worried about energy use and consumption, they’d limit the number of SUVs produced every year or even the number of cars allowed per household and then develop some usable public transport in every city… OR, how about saying only 2 kids per house?
But leave my damn light bulbs alone.
Great comments from so many caring people. Keep spreading the word …
Our great country is based on democracy, freedom of choice ! Let’s strive to keep it
that way… We all make choices everyday, some good, some bad, but it’s certainly
not the governments right to make them for us. the insidious nature of all this
regulation is undermining our freedoms. Please care
Just because a law is scheduled to go into effect doesn’t mean it will. Nancy Polosi who was the pusher of this bill is no longer in a powerful position, and who says you all can lobby your government to repeal this? You can bet the lighting industry would be if they weren’t going to just switch over to making the different types of bulbs. We had one burst at my parents house on thanksgiving and the smell was awful. I have only 2 in the whole house, i use one in my lighting rig for photography and the other is in some random high hat. What is worse? wasting energy or environmental toxins…I think the toxins are way worse! Life the metric system coming to America, I hope the same thing happens to these light bulbs. Not to mention users have much higher levels of SAD!!! So the CFL spectrum is not good for you!
I just read the bill passed in ’07. All bulbs under 40 watts will still be “legal”, but higher wattage bulbs will not be available.
Usually a 40 watt bulb will do. But it;’s not the government’s place to tell me that’s what I should have. How about instead educating people on the wasted energy by using higher wattage bulbs, leaving the lights on unnecessarily, using too many bulbs in 1 fixture (who really needs 6 bulbs over the bathroom sink?), etc.?
It’s just easier to ban it. And the public just swallows it, hook, line, and sinker.
Good points, Chris. My bathroom fixtures have room for 5 bulbs and I use only one. Plenty of light.
We had one break a few summers ago when a lamp got bumped off a table by a breeze through an open window one night. I was not about to evacuate my home during the night. We stocked up in incandescent bulbs .. enough to last my lifetime perhaps. I don’t like the thought of them all in the landfill .. cuz you know people don’t take the time to recycle.
Mercury is a deadly toxin. Why is it used in anything?
On top of that, these china made bulbs break easily, burn out quickly, and can easily turn part of your home into a toxic waste dump. Why would any sane person want to use them?
And the only allowed alternatives, the LED, are VERY expensive. What a coincidence.
Our government protects profit, not people.
As Melinda pointed out, the unnatural light given off by these toxic bulbs give people migraines. It also makes people tired and less productive, and interferes with the thinking process. Not to mention the freedom we have lost.
Sarah,
Thanks for posting about this…not enough people are aware of mecury issue. This is an example of yet another freedom crushing law.
Personally, I’ll be gradually converting over to candles. I have some friends who make beeswax ones–the light is beautiful and there’s certainly no concern about toxins!