[Bryanw92]

I work for a power company and we encourage our customers to switch to CFLs, but the fear of mercury caused some backlash from the customers. So we announced that you can bring us your old CFLs and we’ll dispose of them properly.

So, one person at each location was designated the “CFL Collector”. The one at my facility is also the office liberal because he really believes in CFLs as “world-saving technology”.

sounds fair, right?

But when he was designated at the CFL Collector and discovered that he would have to keep a box in his office for the CFLs and could dispose of the box only when it was full, he went berserk.

He was in a panic (with actual tears in his eyes!) as he begged his manager not to make him keep a “toxic waste dump” in his office because “if just one of those bulbs breaks, I’ll be poisoned.”

And the “toxic waste dump” box? It was an 18” cardboard cube, lined with double trashbags.

This guy has 6 flourescent tubes in the ceiling of his office, which contain more mercury than he’d have if he filled his box with CFLs, but he was scared of the CFLS because...the media told him to be.

[jay1949]

But when he was designated at the CFL Collector and discovered that he would have to keep a box in his office for the CFLs and could dispose of the box only when it was full, he went berserk.

LOL. Sounds like the office version of NIMBYism.

[Pearls Before Swine]

This guy has 6 flourescent tubes in the ceiling of his office, which contain more mercury than he’d have if he filled his box with CFLs, but he was scared of the CFLS because...the media told him to be.

That's because maintenance of the office flourescents is someone else's job. His assessment of danger goes down if someone in authority has arranged it to be someone else's responsibility.

[armymarinemom]

ROFLOL. Typical arrested development lib.

[mosesdapoet]

“This guy has 6’flourescent tubes in the ceiling above his desk”
There’s a common misperception about the various compounds of mercury leading to a very cavalier attitude toward the stuff.

The type of mercury contained in long tubes is not the same as contained in CFBs. The compound in those compact flourescent bulbs vaporizes instantly when broken which and can enter nasal passages causing liver and kidney damage.

It is why the EPA considers them dangerous. Its use is highly restricted and only permitted in CFB (CFLs) because of the congressional mandate.

.Its an example of our congress at work. Sooner or later there are going to be people getting seriously ill or worse from these things.

Its not media hype, these things are dangerous they should never have been made. Let alone mandated. The question is will that ever get reported by the media.
http://www.theusmat.com/