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THOSE PARTY ANIMALS .
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Posted on 04/02/2007 7:28:27 PM PDT by grundle
Mercury is poisonous, but it's also a necessary part of most compact fluorescent bulbs
some scientists and environmentalists are worried that most are ending up in garbage dumps.
Mercury can also damage the kidneys and liver, and in sufficient quantities can cause death.
some of the mercury emitted from landfills is in the form of vaporous methyl-mercury, which can get into the food chain
"Disposal of any mercury-contaminated material in landfills is absolutely alarming to me," said Lindberg, emeritus fellow of the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
"I have CFLs throughout my house," said Lindberg, who lives in California. "None of them have burned out yet. I can't tell you what I'll do with them when they've burned out, but I won't throw them in the garbage."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Whoops. A snake in Paradise.
Call the Prophet Algore to determine whether the mercury will destroy the ozone layer or the polar bears or other sentient life.
I’ve been waiting for this to hit. Wait until there are billions of them out there and then say, “Uh, there’s mercury in those.” Duh! Of course there is! But “saving the planet” is so important, it’s OK to poison it?
I wonder if compact florecents are an “algore eco-profit” scam.
IOW because there are no patent royalties to pay for light bulbs, you FORCE everyone to switch to the product that must have royalties paid.
I’ll sell you some mercury offsets if you feel guilty about using these things.
I liked the thread maybe two weeks ago where a lady dropped a bulb and the state was ready to call its Hazmat team to come and charge her $2000 for “decontamination”.
The amount of deadly deadly mercury in one of those is about a pinhead, according to the earlier thread.
Manufacturers of these bulbs will be attacked like the makers of polluting gasoline additives; a government edict, but no quarter given in court if it has hair.
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THOSE PARTY ANIMALS .
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Can’t we buy mercury offsets?
A lot of lawyers got rich off asbestos. I’m sure they’re gonna line up for this one.
No big deal to recycle them, if that is indicated. We recycle a whole lot of stuff here, and it’s just a question of putting it in bins and out to the curb.
There are also provisions for recycling in most of the local transfer stations or dumps.
Cardboard, plastic, glass, batteries, tires, and now light bulbs. No big deal.
I think disrupting the enviro-wack jobs will be more fun. I'm thinking about standing at the door with a petition to ban dihydroxide (water). Pen & Teller did that at some enviro nut rally, told them it was in rain, it was used for nuclear energy, etc. I'm going to add that if we ban it the troops will have to leave Iraq.
Wal*Mart is doing us a big favor buy pushing these things at low low cost (3 for $7.50), but they need to man-up and provide a recycling drop for the used ones and, especially, there must be education.
The manufacturers need to place greater stress (a snazzy logo and slogan) on the need to treat them as eWaste to be carefully recycled.
But the lights are great. We’re ramping up their use all over the house.
Incandescents waste 90% of their power as heat. To me, that’s not logical.
It is in the winter.
When you already are the Mad Hater you don't worry about becoming the Mad Hatter.
If they hate it, tell them to build us white LED room lights.
He lives in California. He could just throw them in the ocean if he wants to be environmentally sensitive and doesn't want them in a landfill.
Don't be so simple. Not even in winter is it logical if your heating fuel is cheaper than your electricity per unit of heat produced. And if those lamps are high in the room, or sealed in a fixture, you won't profit from the wasted heat anyway.
Scientists are working feverishly on doing just that.
I believe these bulbs also contain cadmium?
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