Posted on 03/18/2007 6:53:30 AM PDT by cp124
BANGOR - Compact fluorescent lights, those swirly bulbs displacing the old incandescent type in many homes, have become the darlings of the energy-conscious crowd, thanks to their capacity to both fight global warming and lower utility bills.
But with more than a million bulbs sold in Maine, questions are being raised about whether consumers know enough about the special disposal and handling requirements that come with these well-documented energy-savers.
In one unusual case, a Prospect woman was told recently that it could cost $2,000 to clean up the mess left by a single shattered bulb.
(Excerpt) Read more at bangordailynews.com ...
Suckers born every minute too...
Screw that. If I break one, it's going in the garbage can.
For about $2000 I will give serious consideration to the issue. We have a deal at $2007. Freepmail and I will arrange for a bank account for you to wire to. Going do better than the Nigerians on this scam!!!!
"Andrew Smith, the state toxicologist, said a person would need to sit in that spot 24 hours a day for long periods to be at risk. Step away a foot or two, or even stand up, and the amount of airborne mercury drops to "inconsequential" levels, Smith said.
Mercury thermometers, on the other hand, contain anywhere from 100 to thousands of times more mercury than a compact fluorescent light bulb. In cases of broken thermometers, mercury vapors can reach unsafe levels several feet above the spill site and anywhere else the mercury was tracked on the bottom of shoes, he said."
What a crock! I remember as a kid we used to play with mercury on our desk tops at school. 'Course, that might explain the two heads some of my friends have! :)
This foolishness is just like the panic over asbestos on furnaces and pipes and roofs and siding and linoleum. In my house four generations of the family have lived with that stuff down in the cellar. We've died from just about everything EXCEPT asbestosis and mesothelioma.
"Andrew Smith, the state toxicologist, said a person would need to sit in that spot 24 hours a day for long periods to be at risk. Step away a foot or two, or even stand up, and the amount of airborne mercury drops to "inconsequential" levels, Smith said.
Yes but..
"Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which eventually referred her to the DEP’s environmental response team. A specialist who responded found mercury readings more than six times the state’s acceptable level at the spot of the broken bulb."
How do you spell Hippocrits? What will be the carbon footprint for clean up?
$2,000 to clean up after one light bulb?
Sweep. Shovel. Shut up.
We had no idea that mercury was so dangerous. We would polish all the silver coins we could find when we broke a thermometer.
(Maybe that is what is wrong with us today. Oh woe~~~) :[
I broke one trying to get it out of the package. It went in the trash.
Whoops! The snake has now entered the Green Garden of Eden.
Mercury?? Heaven forfend! Algore didn't tell his minions about this. Did he? If it costs 2K to clean up a light bulb, would 20K handle a mercury thermometer? If so, I should have earned about a million bucks cleaning up mercury when I was a liddle biddy kid. My disposal method consisted of spreading the mercury on a dime, or a penny.
Oh, there are so many questions evoked by this nasty turn of events that the mind reels.
Love my incandescent bulbs. Plan to stay with them forever.
What is it going to cost to clean up all the arsenic and cyanide and selenium after you spill a glass of tap water?
Hey, hey. Remember to follow "careful instructions and wear gloves, safety glasses, coveralls and respiratory protection."
Following the mantra of the enviros that "any amount is too much".......
It’s definitely not in the ballpark of what we deal with when we have a broken thermometer," Smith said of the broken bulbs.
LOLOLOLOLOLOL
Sounds like Maine is just plain stupid! The amount of mercury involved is negligible, when you consider the total volume of waste genreated by a household. Sure, businesses have to deal with their waste fluorescent bulbs as Hazardous - "Universal)
waste by Federal law, but households are RIGHTLY exempt from those laws. This is a case of enviro-nazis wasting money and significantly inconveniencing private citizens for no defenisble reason. I too would just toss mine in the trash, and in the rare event that one broke, simply sweep up what I can and not worry one second longer.
To me the biggest danger of those tubes is getting crap shocked out of you while you hold both ends trying to guide the little pins in the slot.
The light given off by those bulbs is depressing. Many hotels have gone to using them and it is dim, to say the least, in their rooms. It makes the room look dingy. I have taken to traveling with my own light bulbs.
Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it. Is there a Mr. Bridges? If so has he no common sense?
Vacuum it up. Mrs. Bridges is about as sharp as a bowling ball.
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