| Subject: Yet libs would entrust the same Gubmint with our health care. Go figure. |
Author:
Curmudgeon
|
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Date Posted: 09:17:10 01/06/08 Sun
In reply to:
larry
's message, "Vacate room when CFL bulb breaks" on 08:42:39 01/06/08 Sun
>run hide the new enviro danger just poped up. send in
>your cash we need to fund a new way to recycle the
>bulbs in a safe maner. send cash now. visa and master
>card welcome.
>
>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 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.
>
>"Because these light bulbs contain small amounts of
>mercury, they could cause a problem if disposed of in
>a normal bin," environmental scientist Dr David
>Spurgeon told the London Daily Mail.
>
>"It is possible that the mercury could be released
>into the air or from land-fill when they are released
>into the wider environment. That is a concern, because
>mercury is a well-known toxic substance."
>
>The Environmental Agency noted that neither warnings
>about the bulbs' toxicity nor directions for proper
>disposal is printed on any packaging.
>
>Such warnings aren't necessary, said one toxicologist
>who said a number of bulbs would have to be smashed
>simultaneously before there was a danger.
>
>"Mercury accumulates in the body – especially the
>brain," Dr. David Ray, from the University of
>Nottingham, told the BBC. "The biggest danger is
>repeated exposure – a one off exposure is not as
>potentially dangerous compared to working in a light
>bulb factory.
>
>"If you smash one bulb then that is not too much of a
>hazard. However, if you broke five bulbs in a small
>unventilated room then you might be in short term
>danger."
>
>The most-immediate hazard from the CFL bulbs may be to
>Brits' pocketbooks. It costs about $1,300 to properly
>dispose of one municipal recycling bin full of bulbs –
>a figure that is sure to increase residents' tax bills
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