How are light bulbs that are filled with mercury environmentally friendly? How are they safe?
But according to Health Canada, they’re safe, if we’re to believe such oxymorons as this taken from the Natrual Resources Canada Office of Energy Efficiency website:
A broken CFL does not pose an immediate health risk because of the small amount of mercury inside, but it should be cleaned up properly.
Huh? If it does not pose a health risk, why does it have to be disposed of in the same way as all other hazardous material?
We know now that paints, batteries, cleaning products, and many commonly used building products are toxic, and we stay away from them whenever we can. It’s not always possible to avoid them altogether, but more and more better options are being offered to us. Yet we’re being pushed mercury filled light bulbs.
I don’t get it.
Didn’t we just have some news stories about all the fish we’re to avoid now that they’re so mercury laden? Have we not banned the use of lead paint because of mercury content? Haven’t we replaced mercury thermometers with other safer alloys due to safety concerns? And who is most susceptible to mercury poisoning? Pregnant and nursing mothers and children. Beautiful.
Oh, but a compact fluorescent bulb has such a small amount of mercury, it won’t hurt you. Just like a raindrop isn’t wet.
Mercury is mercury, and mercury is toxic. Surely we can come up with a better solution than that.
There is no perfect light bulb, true. Halogen is only less toxic, and while Solid State Lighting (SSL), which is glorified LED lighting, looks very promising, it’s not quite there yet. But no matter how you look at it, mercury can never be environmentally friendly.
For more on mercury in products, see Environment Canada’s National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI).
Now if I can just get the mercury out of my teeth…
