Light Bulbs Of Death: Toxic Danger In Your Living Room
Dr. Isaac Eliaz | Aug 24, 2012 | Comments 17 |
If you’re not careful, a simple light bulb can seriously endanger your health. But with a few easy precautions, you can keep energy-efficient bulbs from becoming toxic nightmares.
Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) are a type of energy-efficient light bulb designed to replace traditional incandescent bulbs. Government regulations are already in place to phase out traditional, less-efficient bulbs; however, consumer watch groups and countless concerned individuals assert that this mandated switch may not be such a bright idea — at least where CFLs are concerned.
While CFL bulbs are supposed to be more environmentally friendly by using up to 75 percent less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs, there are real issues regarding CFL bulbs and their impact on health and the environment. The main concern? CFLs contain mercury, a heavy metal that poses serious health risks when the bulbs are broken during manufacturing, shipping, regular use or disposal.
In addition, CFLs emit a small amount of UV radiation, which may be an issue for some people, such as those with certain types of Lupus. The United Kingdom Health Protection Agency reports that at 12 inches or closer, low levels of UV radiation can be detected from a single envelope CFL bulb. The agency advises that susceptible individuals limit close-range exposure to these bulbs.
Mercury Vapors
When broken, CFL bulbs pose significant health risks, exposing you to mercury. Strong precautions must be taken when dealing with a broken CFL bulb. Mercury is a dangerous toxin capable of damaging DNA, disrupting critical biological functions, impairing the nervous system and producing other serious and degenerative effects.
A 2011 report from Jackson State University presented a detailed analysis of mercury vapor release from CFLs. Eight different brands and four different wattages of CFL bulbs were tested.
Results showed that the mercury content varied significantly between brands. However, mercury vapor emission analysis revealed that all of the CFLs continuously released mercury vapors once they were broken, with mercury being released even up to 10 weeks after breakage. Total amount of mercury vapor released from a broken CFL can exceed 1 mg, which can cause mercury levels in a regular room to exceed the safe human-exposure limit. Additionally, the mercury leaching out from CFLs into the environment can be transformed into methylmercury, a highly toxic chemical that becomes concentrated at high levels as it travels up the food chain. Some States require that CFL bulbs be recycled to prevent additional mercury release into the environment.
Safe Handling Of CFL Bulbs
The breakage of unused CFLs during transportation, handling, sales and installation
causes even more release of mercury vapor than broken used bulbs. Since mercury vapor can be easily inhaled by people, rapid removal of broken CFLs and sufficient ventilation are critical safeguards to protect people from potential harm. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends precautions that include the wearing of rubber gloves, ventilating the area and restricting access for five to 10 minutes before cleanup begins. For detailed instructions on proper cleanup of broken CFL bulbs, click here.
The use of CFL bulbs is not mandatory. There are other energy-efficient choices, such as LED lights, which are safer, more efficient and longer lasting. However, LED bulbs are much more costly. The bottom line: Purchasing the right light bulbs requires a bit more consumer awareness, but for good reason. It’s up to us to choose energy solutions that benefit the environment and are safe for our health.
Total Body Detoxification
Mercury and other heavy metals wreak health havoc when they accumulate in our bodies. If you have concerns about your heavy metal body burden or if you have tested positively for high levels of mercury, lead or other environmental pollutants, there is a proven solution for safely removing these toxins from your body.
A comprehensive detoxification formula containing modified citrus pectin and sodium alginate is clinically proven to bind and remove up to 74 percent of heavy metals including mercury, lead and others over a period of three to six months. Made from a tailored blend of modified citrus pectin and seaweed-derived alginate, a gentle yet highly effective formula has been shown in published clinical trials to reduce heavy metal body burden without affecting levels of essential minerals (a common pitfall of other natural chelation methods). When used in conjunction with a phase two detox formula and a healthy diet and lifestyle, total heavy metal body burden can be significantly reduced. By supporting your body’s natural cleansing systems with a gentle, systemic detoxification program, you can help maintain your overall health and vitality, safely and effectively.
For more comprehensive health and detoxification information, visit www.dreliaz.org.
Filed Under: Alternative Medicine • Easy Health Digest™ • General Health • News and Views
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Is there anything that’s safe to use anymore? If these bulbs are unsafe why we being required to use them?
Jennie, the Obama administration along with the EPA made it a requirement to use these bulbs since they do save energy which is made by electric companies who still burn coal to run the generators that generates our everyday electricity. What makes me laugh is that Obama is calling Romney the “Outsourcer” when all of these CFL bulbs are manufactured in China since we can’t manufacture them as cheaply as the Chinese, and even in China, it is now the law for the people to change over to the CFL bulbs.
When I worked as a chief engineer in the hotel business, I did not know about the mercury content in these bulbs and I did a study on their use and found that I could save the hotel $80,000 in electricity if we switched over to these types of bulbs that were fairly new 12 years ago and now I am sorry that I did that study since who knows how many housekeepers cleaned up these broken bulbs in a normal manner and inhaled mercury.
Now that we do know the dangers of these bulbs, we would think that Obama and the EPA would rescind this law, but it is not going to happen as long as this man is president. Led bulbs are safer but they are extremely hot and if touched while installing them, the oils on our hands cause them to burn out very prematurely and with the extra heat, during the summer our air conditioners will run a little more often but I personally will use the leds rather then to risk mercury poisoning to possibly affect my grand children.
Obama responsible? Don’t get overly political here. The switch to these bulbs and ban on incandescent began well before Obama and has always had the backing of the EPA from as far back as the 1st Bush I believe. It’s election time and information linking Obama to failed policies inherited from previous regimes should be left out of your information or is this just another ploy of the 1%’s to undermine Obama? Remember, it is and was the 1%’s who profited the most from importing these cheap Chinese bulbs and we face a future of costly increases due to the death of the petro dollar and the undermining of the dollar by the Chinese. We are all losers in this battle and there is only the option of WW3 to reset the clock at this time to bring back the 1%’s dominance of American politics. So go clean up your broken bulbs but don’t insult us by blaming Obama.
LED bulbs are not extremely hot, they are quite cool! It’s the halogen bulbs that are very hot and can shatter if oil or some other substance sticks to them.
Do LED Lights Get Hot
Anyone who has ever grabbed hold of a light bulb while it was still hot will probably ask, “Do LED lights get hot?” Actually, LED Lights do not get hot in the sense of creating heat that will burn a person or melt a surface. In fact, an LED bulb that has been on for days can be unscrewed with bare hands! A very small immeasurable amount of heat is generated during the process of the current flowing to the semiconductor, but this heat is so miniscule it can barely be detected. This is one of the greatest advantages of LED lighting for a number of reasons
Halogen bulbs require the user to wear gloves as the oil on the skin will cause the bulb to fail, and they can als burn due to their extremely high high operating temps.
Get you facts straight before you speak and start posting blame. Like Paul Ryan blaming the GM plant closure on Obama, when in fact it closed 3 months before he was elected !
There are also other toxic effects from these bulbs. They create dirty electricity and are a source of electromagnetic and electric field radiation which is not good for health. Check with your local Bau-Biologist!
Give me a break (pun intended!). An appropriate quote from the past shows exactly how much credence everyone should give this post: “The sky is falling, the sky is falling….” For one thing, you are exposed ONLY if the bulb breaks. Even then, potential exposure is miniscule. This drops to near zero if you take proper precautions when cleaning it up.
This author could have done a lot more good by focusing on what EVERYONE is exposed to: 100+ metric tons of mercury vapor released to the atmosphere every year by coal-fired power plants. The EPA has calculated that if ALL CFL bulbs manufactured in one year were broken, the release of mercury vapor would total 0.12 metric tons.
Even at 100+ tons annually, the average life expectancy still goes up every year. So, is even this amount worth getting people upset? If it were ALL eliminated, what would the average life expectancy increase? 2 days? 2 weeks?
In future posts, please deal in facts, not the sensationalism witnessed in the very first sentence of this extremely misleading post.
Although the amount of mercury contained in an individual bulb might seem to be inconsequential in comparison to the amount released into the environment by industry, the fact that this mercury is in your personal living space is the reason for concern. These bulbs present many potential health problems. For instance, I live in a small rural town in Alabama and I have no safe way to dispose of CFL bulbs that stop working. You’re not supposed to just put them in the ordinary trash pickup because of their mercury content but there is no other disposal option available near my house that I can find. So I have put these bulbs into storage until I can figure out what I can safely do with them.
The incandescent-coal-mercury-is -worse argument is old hat anyway
EPA mandate end 2011 of 90 % emission reduction by 2016 using new technology
EPA admin under Lisa Jackson no longer supports the coal-is-worse argument, whatever about old diagrams floating around.
It never was true anyway: http://ceolas.net/#li198x
Also – as Carl says – the issue is of people’s living rooms.
Finally “2 wrongs don’t make a right”:
It is somehow ironic that many diehard environmentalists happily use chimney mercury release as a justification for banning bulbs.
If there’s a problem – deal with the problem, as -in fairness – EPA seem to be doing
The incandescent-coal-mercury-is -worse argument is old hat anyway
EPA mandate end 2011 of 90 % emission reduction by 2016 using new technology
EPA admin under Lisa Jackson no longer supports the coal-is-worse argument, whatever about old diagrams floating around.
It never was true anyway: http://ceolas.net/#li198x
The same site has many other reasons why light bulb regulations are wrong and unnecessary.
Also – as Carl says – the issue is of people’s living rooms.
Finally “2 wrongs don’t make a right”:
It is somehow ironic that many diehard environmentalists happily use chimney mercury release as a justification for banning bulbs.
If there’s a problem – deal with the problem, as -in fairness – EPA seem to be doing
Take an AM radio and tune it off station. Then move it close to one of these lighted bulbs. Note the whine and static. That is called dirty electrical power. That the negative side effects sadly are not even covered in this story.
We have been using various types of CLF Bulbs over the past 12+ years, both in Zimbabwe for 9+ years and since retiring to UK and have never ever had a bulb shatter or even crack! If it is alleged they will fail with Power fluctuations, well my history of use will dispute most instances. However, one thing I can’t comment on is Power Spikes. In all, they still continue to work well and safely in our Retirement Flat.
The place you work, your school, your church most likely have 95-100% fluorescent lights, with mercury. Since 1952, most of the light generated in the US has come from fluorescents.
Low levels of UV? IS that a problem? most of us don’t get enough sunlight. Hopefully some is UV-B, which creates vitamin D.
At the end of the day, we should be allowed to choose what we want to use in our own homes!
A common reply is that “LEDs are great, use them”
But they have health issues as well (http://ceolas.net/#li20ledax)
Overall, a more positive attitude is that all lighting has advantages for different uses.
Light bulbs don’t burn coal or release CO2 gas.
Power plants might, and might not.
If there’s a problem. deal with the problem.
Light bulbs are a token scapegoat by politicians happily waving them around to show
“they are doing something”
Many of us are concerned about energy,, emissions and the planet.
But banning bulbs is an unnecessary Government interference in people’s lives,
and the supposed savings, for the many reasons described, are not there.
IF you break a CFL light bulb in your home and local health authorities are notified as a recent Maine woman did, you will have a HAZMAT team at YOUR home with several thousand dollars in cleanup costs to pay for as happened to Brandy Bridges of Prospect, Maine. She didn’t have the money to pay for cleanup costs and had to seal off her daughter’s room where the bulb broke. Even Al Gore is SILENT on the dangers of mercury vapor from CFL bulbs. DEMAND Congress LEAVE OUR INCANDESCENT LIGHT BULBS ALONE!
The health risks associated with mercury vapor exposure underscore the importance of safe recycling and disposal of fluorescent lamps and compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). Mercury vapor, which can be absorbed through the skin or inhaled, can cause neurological damage in adults, children and fetuses. Efforts to protect consumers and CFL handlers are currently focused on containing the mercury vapor in specially designed mercury storage and shipping containers. Yet when these packages are opened or perforated, dangerous levels of vapor can escape from broken bulbs. To protect against the possibility of vapor exposure, a newly released, patent-pending adsorbent can be included within mercury storage and shipping containers.
This adsorbent was recently announced at the Air & Waste Management Association’s Conference & Exhibition and is placed within a storage and shipping package. Commercially-used packages should be made up of three layers—with a foil-plastic bag positioned between two cardboard box layers. The adsorbent is impregnated with powdered activated carbon and proprietary inert chemicals, and adheres to the interior flap of the box. According to a study by NUCON International, Inc., a world-wide leader in providing gas, vapor and liquid phase adsorption solutions, the adsorbent can effectively capture mercury vapor and reduce vapor levels by nearly 60 percent after only 15 minutes, more than 70 percent within an hour and over 95 percent after 12 hours, protecting consumers and handlers from mercury vapor exposure. A small consumer-size recycling bag, now available, features this technology and allows people to safely store three to four used lamps at home before taking them to a retailer or municipality that accepts CFLs for recycling.
View a short animated depiction of the adsorption process at http://www.vaporlokproducts.com/capturedemo.
Download a detailed White Paper on this technology at http://www.vaporlokproducts.com/capturewhitepaper.pdf.
Purchase consumer CFL recycling bags at http://vaporlokproducts.myshopify.com/products/consumer-cfl-recycling-bag.