Warning: Vacate room when CFL bulb breaks

ARRA Comment: Now what are we going to do with our new toxic bulbs - destroy the water quality with mercury? Maybe we need to rethink this issue!
WorldNetDaily: Less than a month after the U.S. Congress passed an energy bill banning the incandescent light bulb by 2014, the UK Environment Agency issued guidelines calling for evacuation of any room where an energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulb is broken, releasing toxic mercury.

The warning comes a month before the British government begins its phase-out of tungsten bulbs, scheduled to be completed in 2011. The switchover to CFL bulbs will save at least five million tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year, the government said. Health experts warned this week that people with certain skin ailments will suffer from the new eco-friendly bulbs which cause conditions such as eczema to flare up. Additionally, the bulbs have been linked to migraine headaches in some people.

The UK Environment Agency's latest advice focuses on the 6 to 8 milligrams of toxic mercury in each bulb. Users who break a bulb should vacate the room for at least 15 minutes, the new guidelines say. The debris should not be removed with a vacuum cleaner, which could put toxic dust into the air, but with rubber gloves. The broken glass and all residue is to be placed into a sealed plastic bag and taken to a local official recycling site for proper disposal. . . . [Read More]

---

Tags: CFL, bulbs, clean water, environment, fluorescent light, light, mercury, US Congress To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!