Pacific Spirit Marine Institute

Compact Florescent Lights Part III: Casting a Shadow

Thursday, June 21, 2007

By now we’ve all heard the story about the woman in Ellsworth, Maine that dropped a Compact Florescent Light bulb (CFL) on her daughters’ bedroom floor.

Brandy Bridges realized the bulb contained mercury and called the store where it was purchased. They recommended she call poison control who referred her to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection which directed her to call an environmental clean up crew that gave her a $2,000.00+ estimate to clean up the mercury mess.

So how much mercury does one of these bulbs contain? So much that the broken CFL left 6 times the safe level of mercury in the Bridges’ bedroom.

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.

Given the fact that we already know that mercury is dangerous and highly toxic, that it can cause brain damage and leaning disabilities, what is creating this Herculean push to install literally 10’s of billions of these bulbs across the globe?

The move to ban incandescent lights in favor of CFL’s is being considered in California as well as Canada, Australia parts of the EU, and many other states in the US. The Capitol Hill complex in the US is currently in the process of replacing 20,000 incandescent bulbs with these CFL’s. These account for only the ‘desk lamps’.

What is going on? These CFL’s have been on the market for nearly 30 years. It is unrealistic to imagine consumers will dispose of these bulbs at hazardous waste collection sites. How will all the consumers be educated on the safe use and disposal of these bulbs? How many of these CFL’s will be purchased after the consumer realizes the hazards involved?

If our incandescent bulbs are banned we won’t have a choice. What really is behind this push to create more mercury hazards after so many years of trying to eliminate the mercury hazards?

Only two possibilities jump to my mind. Either global warming is moving far more rapidly than we are being told, or the monetary profits associated with these CFL’s is beyond imagination.

The skeptic in me says it’s both.

Labels: Compact Florescent Light, Ewaste, Global Warming, Mercury, Toxic Ewaste, Wal-Mart