Compact fluorescent light bulbs have been touted as innovative energy savers and are being heavily marketed to consumers. You can pick out these bulbs right away by their distinctive squiggly shape. But are they safe? “Not when they break because they are full of toxic mercury," said Kathi Bratberg, RN, MS Holistic Nutrition at Alternatives. Other experts agree.
“As long as the mercury is contained in the bulb, CFLs are perfectly safe. But eventually, any bulbs — even CFLs — break or burn out, and most consumers simply throw them out in the trash," said Ellen Silbergeld, a professor of environmental health sciences at Johns Hopkins University and editor of the journal Environmental Research. This is an enormous amount of mercury that’s going to enter the waste stream at present with no preparation for it,” she said http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23694819/.
"The best way to dispose of these light bulbs is to take them back to the point of origin," says Bratberg. “Many retailers will take back these bulbs after they have burned out for proper disposal. Before you buy a CFL, make sure the retailer has a program for proper disposal. You don’t want to break one in your home nor do you want these bulbs going into a landfill.”
Mercury exists in three chemical forms, each of which has specific effects on human health, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency http://www.epa.gov/hg/effects.htm.
Those include:
Elemental (metallic) mercury primarily causes health effects when it is breathed as a vapor where it can be absorbed through the lungs. These exposures can occur when elemental mercury is spilled or products that contain elemental mercury break and expose mercury to the air, particularly in warm or poorly-ventilated indoor spaces. Symptoms of this type of exposure can include tremors; emotional changes (e.g., mood swings, irritability, nervousness, excessive shyness); insomnia; neuromuscular changes (such as weakness, muscle atrophy, twitching); headaches; disturbances in sensations; changes in nerve responses; performance deficits on tests of cognitive function. At higher exposures there may be kidney effects, respiratory failure and death.
“In addition to the risks of mercury poisoning, there is also concern that actual usage of these bulbs may be unsafe as well,” Bratberg noted. “These bulbs have been in implicated in migraines and epileptic seizures, and have been suspected in contributing to health problems of those who have lupus and certain light sensitivities.”
For more information, link to http://www.thereader.com/heartlandhealing.php?subaction=showfull&id=1266525364&archive=&start_from=&ucat=18& or contact Alternatives at 827-9450.
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