Wait until you see this! We ARE going nuts in this country!
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(10 posts) (7 voices)-
I have long understood that using these made sense. They use less energy to produce the same amount of light and I think they last longer. I was not aware that Congress was mandating their use and I was not aware of all the risks involved in having them in my house! I am not sure I want them now!! :(
Posted 16 years ago # -
copmom
MemberHoss.. that's my problem. I thought they were supposed to be more energy efficient, and last longer, so we bought quite a few. I admit they don't throw off heat. Have one in my desk lamp right beside me at the computer and that's always on and I can touch it without burning my fingers!
Read somewhere they are NOT supposed to be used in covered ceiling fixtures and those are the ones that blow out the most often, of course .. but never knew about all the hazards they have. That's just plain scarey! Now I don't know what to do!Posted 16 years ago # -
Messenger
MemberThe mercury used in these light bulbs is small compared what is used in a thermometer, but it doesn’t mean they’re any safer. A town nearby me had to evacuate a whole school building one day last year due to a student bringing in some mercury, the amount of a pinhead in a vial. He released it on a counter top to show other students and it rolled off onto the floor. When a teacher walked into the room and finding out what had happened, they had to evacuate the school and called in Hazmat team to clean the area. Hazmat team being all in their suits and mask just for this small amount, it’s enough to make you wonder of all the things you have around the house that contain mercury.
Some irons with safety shut off, watch and hearing aid batteries, switches in some fire alarms, car engine and trunk hoods with auto lights when they open. I have an old thermostat with a tube inside it filled with enough to make 50 thermometers.
I never have purchased these new light bulbs yet but have been told that there is a number to call in case you break one to get info on cleaning it up. They tell you a multiple
step cleaning procedure or you could call a hazmat team in to the tune of a few thousand dollars. I t cost the taxpayers in the town of the school over 3 thousand dollars.
Makes me wonder of the few times being a kid and playing with broken thermometers and trying to pick up the mercury thinking how cool it was.
Here's a link about some of its dangers (PDF FILE)
http://www.teleosis.org/pdf/MercuryBrochure.pdfPosted 16 years ago # -
goodgotd
Memberhully gee. Last I looked I had a couple or 7 pounds o' metallic mercury floating about. (placer gold, Y'see) And UV is (was?) the way to remove it from humans.
but then I've used white lead to lube a recast babbit bearing. [shrug] quite the varied career.
national geographic did an article on mercury mining, rather cool.
Posted 16 years ago # -
Whiterabbit-uk
Games GuruI was quite a keen 'chemist' when I was a youngster, doing the usual gunpowder and incendiary stuff. I had access to a lot of dangerous chemicals when I was aroud 7 to 8 years of age and one of my favorites was mercury. I used to play with it quite often, and once took about 50grams into school (about a tablespoonful) We had those sloping desks that you see in those old school films, so you can guess what happened, lol.
I reckon I am a little deranged, but not because of the Mercury.
For those who don't know the connection, 'Mad as a Hatter' referred to the fact that most people who made those felt hats that were worn a few hundred years ago, were colored using mercuric chloride. Most hatters became mad, hence the term mad as a hatter. It was later discovered that Mercury was the culprit; though there are much nastier side effects. There was a major incident in Japan about 50 years ago where many people began to be taken ill, babies were born deformed, women were having many miscarriages, bone disease became rife and people became very ill. It transpires that a local chemical company were dumping vast quantities of Mercuric compunds into the local bay. This was taken up by the fish and filter feeders (shrimps, mussles and cockles etc), which were then eaten by the local population whose main diet consisted of fish and other sea foods. Most of the population were either fishermen or worked for the chemical company. Definitely nasy stuff. They called it the 'ouch ouch' disease because it caused extremely painful joints. The problem with mercury is that it's relatively volatile, which means that it evapourats and creates an atmosphere laden with Hg (latin abbreviation for mercury) particles, which when breathed in are taken up into the body and remain there for the rest of your life due to the metal binding with nerve and muscle tissue (Chelating). Which remain in your body till you die. It is however easy to mop up in thhe environment by sprinkling pure amorphous sulphur over the spilled mercury. Mercury reacts with Sulphur quite markedly due to the electronegative attraction between the two elements, creating Mercuric Sulphide which is relatively innocuous. (I'm surprised I remeberd all that as it's been 25 years since I read any of that stuff, lol)
p.s.
I did an M.Sc. on the Health and Environmental Effects of Mercury Lead and CadmiumMy wife ate a load of that lead stipping that you get on leaded windows. She was only a toddler at the time and she says she remebers liking the taste. She was rushed to hospital where they had to remove the strips of metal and them pump her stomach etc.
Posted 16 years ago # -
Busy Lady
MemberMy grandfather had mercury in an apothecary jar in his garage and he let my sister and I play with it, rolling it around in the palms of our hands. Even then, he was judicious with it, because he said it was dangerous. I was always disappointed when I inevitably dropped it, because I could spend all day and never was able to pick it up again!
I don't think I'm "Mad as a Hatter" yet. Do I see a recurring theme here WhiteRabbit? ;-)
Posted 16 years ago # -
Buckleysmom
MemberI too remember rolling it in our hands from a broken thermometer when we were kids, nobody seemed to think it was a problem and nobody got sick. If "sprinkling pure amorphous sulphur over the spilled mercury" is such a good way to clean it up why don't they just tell you do to that instead of the nonsense they have you going through according to that video? Hmmmmm, maybe just another way to get us to spend more money. (Let's tell them what money savers these bulbs are and after they replace all their bulbs we'll tell them they're dangerous, then the suckers will go and switch all their new florescents back to incandescents. Once they do that we'll tell them it's not true and they CAN use all flourescents. If we do it right we can keep them switching back and forth for years......and we'll have money to fill our gas tanks...Muuahhahaha)
Posted 16 years ago #
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