When Solutions Create Worse Problems
These days when you go into a “government” building (schools, hospitals, WINZ offices etc) you are likely to find that all the electric bulbs are now CFL (compact fluorescent lightbulbs) because it is the politically correct thing to do. The government has announced that it is going to ban incandescent bulbs by October next year; the CFL bulbs are supposed to use less energy and every New Zealand household will be forced to use these light bulbs. It will help save the planet, whatever that means.
It now turns out that these bulbs contain inhalable mercury vapour. Mercury is one of the most toxic poisons known to man; it attacks the neural nervous system. There are no “safe” levels of mercury. It is accumulative in the body. The bulbs don't work without the mercury.
When these bulbs break, the mercury spills out in vapour form. It gets into carpets, clothes, footware, curtains, and other surfaces. Every time a vacuum cleaner is used it picks up the mercury particles, which are very small, and sends them out into the air again. The vacuum cleaner acts as a mercury recycling spraying device. Eventually, it gets into humans, and commences its insidious work.
In those work places, where the bulbs are now in wide use, the occasional breaking of a bulb due to accident or malfunction is inevitable. In fact, some users have complained that they appear to be very fragile and break easily. Consequently, people working in those buildings are at risk of exposure. The mercury does not go away.
Below are the current US Environmental Protection Agency recommended “clean-up” procedures in a house if a CFL bulb breaks.
Before Clean-up: Air Out the Room
Have people and pets leave the room, and don't let anyone walk through the breakage area on their way out.
Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.
Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system, if you have one.
Clean-Up Steps for Hard Surfaces
Carefully scoop up glass pieces and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes. Place towels in the glass jar or plastic bag.
Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.
Clean-up Steps for Carpeting or Rug
Carefully pick up glass fragments and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken.
Remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister), and put the bag or vacuum debris in a sealed plastic bag.
Clean-up Steps for Clothing, Bedding and Other Soft Materials
If clothing or bedding materials come in direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from inside the bulb that may stick to the fabric, the clothing or bedding should be thrown away. Do not wash such clothing or bedding because mercury fragments in the clothing may contaminate the machine and/or pollute sewage.
You can, however, wash clothing or other materials that have been exposed to the mercury vapor from a broken CFL, such as the clothing you are wearing when you cleaned up the broken CFL, as long as that clothing has not come into direct contact with the materials from the broken bulb.
If shoes come into direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from the bulb, wipe them off with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes. Place the towels or wipes in a glass jar or plastic bag for disposal.
Disposal of Clean-up Materials
Immediately place all clean-up materials outdoors in a trash container or protected area for the next normal trash pickup.
Wash your hands after disposing of the jars or plastic bags containing clean-up materials.
Check with your local or state government about disposal requirements in your specific area. Some states do not allow such trash disposal. Instead, they require that broken and unbroken mercury-containing bulbs be taken to a local recycling center.
Future Cleaning of Carpeting or Rug: Air Out the Room During and After Vacuuming
The next several times you vacuum, shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system and open a window before vacuuming.
Keep the central heating/air conditioning system shut off and the window open for at least 15 minutes after vacuuming is completed.
Our advice:
1. If you are working in a building which uses CFL bulbs, insist that they be removed immediately, and replaced with incandescent bulbs. Make it a “health and safety” issue. At the very least, make sure that any accident with a CFL bulb goes into the incident register. Then ensure that the surrounding area is tested for mercury contamination. If there is contamination, insist upon full industrial cleanup of the entire work environment, including, if necessary, a refit of all carpets, curtains, and other furnishings and fit-out; then re-test for mercury levels, once complete. Sue the company for exposing their staff to hazardous substances—in this case, one of the deadliest poisons known to man.
2. If you have CFL bulbs at home, remove them immediately and replace them with traditional incandescent bulbs. Store the CFL bulbs in a safe place where they will not be broken. Do NOT put them in the trash. That will mean that the mercury just goes into landfills. Call the local council and ask them to remove the bulbs safely and dispose of them according to the protocols for toxic waste.
3. If you are thinking of buying a house and find that it has CFL bulbs, turn around and walk out.
What is not yet clear is whether the bulbs leak mercury vapours in other ways. It is possible that they do. In other words, mercury contamination might occur not only when the bulbs break. We know of no indication that this has actually been tested. The official government position is an acknowledgment that the bulbs do indeed contain mercury, but that the bulbs are safe. To our knowledge, no independent scientific testing has been undertaken on that claim. The government appears to have relied upon the assurances of companies manufacturing the bulbs.
Our recommendation is to have nothing to do with these bulbs until they are tested and scientifically scrutinised by independent verified peer-reviewed analyses that encompasses a bulb “life-cycle”, and certified as safe--or at least all the dangers properly disclosed. The analysis must be conducted by bodies independent of those government and political organs promoting their use as part of their campaign against global warming.
Finally, do we not live in a very strange world when governments get alarmed and take urgent action against lead paint in children's toys, yet are forcing by law the use of CFL's in homes, including nursery and baby rooms, risking exposing children to progressive mercury poisoning. Mercury, like lead, once in the body never leaves.
4 comments:
Yes, CFLs do contain small amounts of mercury – Aaaaarrgggghhh! But let’s keep this in proportion. The mercury is usually in amalgam form (not pure mercury) and is a tiny pellet smaller than the tip of a biro. This is less than the amount of mercury contained in normal dental fillings (silver- mercury amalgam). Compared with the vast amounts of hazardous asbestos laying around, routine exposure to particulates from diesel engines and bacterial risks in from suspect drinking water supplies, it’s a very minor hazard indeed. Talk of clearing rooms, opening windows and wearing rubber gloves just to clear up broken CFL debris is as big an over-reaction as advocating the wearing of chemical warfare isolation suits to clean the bathroom!
I say let’s keep a practical grip on reality in dealing with the CFL mercury issue, and stop talking up the risks!
Incidentally, mercury has been used in flourescent strip lighting for years and years, meaning that almost any office, school, public building, airport, station,factory or other place of work could now be regarded as hazardous…..
Hi, Bograt. Well, yes, it's possible the US authorities are being alarmist and overreacting.
However, some cautionary notes. Mercury is a particularly deadly poison, and once in the system, it stays there forever.
Secondly, its effects may not show up for years. Of particular concern here is children in living areas, playing and crawling on floors, where CFL bulbs have been in use, and have been broken.
Thirdly, two wrongs never made a right. The existence of other poisons in the environment due to anthropogenic activity does not make additional contamination justified.
Fourthly, what is acceptable today may turn out to be tomorrow's horror. The widespread utilisation of asbestos in building construction and heating is apropos. Moreover, the fact that strip lighting has been widely deployed now for years does not make it right or safe per se, any more than the former widespread use of asbestos was proof of its safeness.
CFL lightbulbs contain dangers for which there do not appear to be any compelling trade-offs--or at least trade-offs we do not find compelling.
JT
Hi John. I’m all for caution and where appropriate, healthy mistrust of new developments. But as an engineer I’m also for practicality, realism and careful analysis. I quite agree that unlike incandescent lamps, CFLs contain toxic chemicals. Some contain about 4mg of mercury, - although the latest models, like those recently launched by Megaman, contain under 2mg. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that coal also contains mercury, which is released into the atmosphere in massive quantities when the coal is burned. This is a major source of global mercury pollution. If we assume that most of the world’s electricity comes from coal fired power plants, then the amount of mercury pollution saved by switching to CFLs is about double that in the lamps themselves. So looking at the global picture, their use could reduce the net mercury burden on the environment.
Like fluorescent strip-lights, CFLs are about five times more efficient than tungsten incandescent lamps at turning electrical power into light. Incandescents produce about 12 lumen per watt, while CFLs produce about 40 lumens per watt. CFLs also last many times longer and the saving in energy over their lifetime more than offsets their extra cost. That is why governments all over the world are either encouraging or coercing us to replace our tungsten lamps with CFLs to save energy and reduce our carbon footprint.
Of course if we ever get to the stage of providing most of the world’s energy requirements through solar, wind, wave or other non-polluting renewable energy sources, then we might be able to indulge in the use of non-polluting but inefficient light and heat sources. But until then we have to live as best we can with non-ideal solutions. Trying to be pragmatic about this, “Tomorrow’s Horror” for me is more likely to be an ecologically dying planet in which our insatiable demand for energy has choked and poisoned our environments.
No, it’s a personal view, but for me the use of CFLs – used and disposed of with caution and common sense – is a far better option than blindly pursuing the largely discredited energy guzzling solutions of the past.
Hi, bograt
I understand that CFL's are more efficient in the use of energy. What I cannot accept is the tyranny of government forcing all people to use them. If people want to use them, fine. It is their choice. I for one would not buy a house where the bulbs had been in use, but that also is my responsible choice.
I also accept that there are other sources of energy such as coal which put mercury into the atmosphere--but two wrongs do not make a right. The poisonous by-products from burning coal do not make an argument for CFL bulbs.
Finally, a factor I believe being overlooked is that mercury spills from domestic use of CFL's inevitably occur in concentrated spaces where people live, breathe, eat, crawl, lounge and play. This makes the comparison with coal misleading.
How many bio-fuel-type disasters do we need to suffer before we learn to be exceedingly cautious about governments forcing solutions? How many times do we have to suffer from the law of unintended consequences before we learn?
JT
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