Broken Compact Fluorescent Causes Mercury Poisoning (Vapor problem overlooked by RATS)

Rush Limbaugh .com ^ | 6/13/08 | The Maha

[jonrick46]

I sensed that Rush was milking the broken fluorescent “victim” for all its worth. Rush's target is the socialist in Congress that would dictate what products we can and cannot use. Rush was doing this as an exhibit of the ways of unintended consequences and how humans, for selfish reasons, can make up consequences or make them look worse than they are for personal gain. This also goes for those who will capitalize on a perceived problem for political gain. I cite the mercury consequence as a means for govenment to further invade our lives:

Suppose the government decides that this mercury problem from compact fluorescents was a major problem. Suppose a home owner had to get government clearance of mercury levels in ones household before one could sell a house. Imagine that such home inspections would cost the home owner big hefty fees for someone to come out and wave their high tech detectors around. If mercury were found, imagine the cost to decontaminate the house. Imagine if this inspection was required for renters before they could leave a rental and the inspection fee and possible decontamination fee was included in the rental deposit. This is a case of how the government is setting up the public for huge costs much like people in years past painted their homes with lead based paints, only to find out later they had a toxic material to clean up.

[Libloather]

Read the link I posted farther down in the thread that tells how to clean up after a broken bulb.

It says - The study recommended that if a compact fluorescent breaks, get children and pets out of the room. Ventilate the room.

Is that the end of mercury VAPORS? And since when should anyone trust the Boston Globe? RATS will kill.

[MarkL]

I remember playing with mercury (which Rush called "elemental mercury" on his show) with my bare hands when I was little. Granted, I didn't eat it, but I remember trying to pick it up, and then rolling some of it around in the palm of my hand...

Should I call the hazmat team? Granted, it's been about 40 years... Hey, maybe "elemental mercury" is more dangerous now than it was then! Sort of like how a guy at work keeps telling me that the ethanol made from sugar cane is better for your car than the ethanol made from corn or other sources. I tried to convince him that "ethanol is ethanol," but no go.

Mark

[ExtremeUnction]

I remember playing with mercury,,

Me too. In high school chemistry and college geology. We rolled those little balls of Mercury all over the place!

[ExtremeUnction]

I remember playing with mercury,,

Me too. In high school chemistry and college geology. We rolled those little balls of Mercury all over the place!

[JoanneSD]

Yes, but do you dispose of them properly? According to the EPA it should be placed in a double plastic bags and brought to your outside garbage can. now what am I to do.. cities are banning plastic grocery bags..

[barkeep]

A point to be made; POSSIBLY, if a compact or even old tube flourescent is broken while burning, MAYBE you have a problem with vapors, in operation, the mercury is vaporized.

Otra vez, I’m one of those brats grown old who used to collect mercury because it was fun to play with. We used to make “silver” pennies, bit of a trick, because at room temp, mercury has a hellacious surface tension. One had to press the bead of mercury onto the penny without having it squirt out one side, best I recall, we made a dent in the thumb with a pencil eraser, something like that.

Of course, the mercury poisoning I suffered then probably accounts for why I can’t remember something I knew at age six. Seriously, all the boys in my class played with the stuff. One guy had found his Dad’s stash, stole some out of the jar. Fairly valuable commodity, 76 lb. flask was trading today at about $550.00.

Like all heavy metals, mercury is toxic, especially hard on the nervous system, if ingested. Ye ol’ “mad hatter” was a common term for an age when mercury was used, with heat, in hat making.

BTW, I went to CF bulbs for about 3/4 of the house years ago, saves money and I seldom replace bulbs. Not worth a hoot for reading light, and they don’t respond to rheostat dimmers, but I haven’t changed the front porch light in ten years.

[singfreedom]

I'd be in favor of taking them into the Capitol and dumping them on Pelosi and Reid's desk. Maybe all the enviro halfwits will die of Mercury poisoning—more ominously, maybe all the rest of us will die of mercury poisoning. That would make all the tree huggers happy wouldn't it? Perhaps the real reason for these “dem bulbs” is the population reduction enviro nuts so covet?

In the meantime I'm buying a huge supply of incandescent bulbs. I'm NOT bringing those things into MY house!

[marsh2]

Remember the “Mad Hatter” in Alice and Wonderland? Hatters often suffered from mdaness because they used mercury in the top hat making process.

[Swordmaker]

This is an interesting account. My experience has been different. I’ve been around quite a few broken fluorescent tubes (the four foot kind) - back when I was working at a hardware store to pay for college, and never encountered symptoms remotely like the ones described.

It's called hysteria. Really dangerous.... spreads like wildfire in ignorant boobs... like this guy and the one who sealed the baggie.

[shibumi]

"It's called hysteria. Really dangerous.... spreads like wildfire in ignorant boobs... like this guy and the one who sealed the baggie."


Correct!!!

When I was a kid we used to break thermometers so we could play with the "quicksilver" inside. Then our parents would take us out and throw us through a windshield, so we could get used to riding without seatbelts.

Pardon me, I going to go make a Roma tomato salad. (Maybe I sprinkle them with some MSG first.)

[singfreedom]

These bulbs do contain Mercury and are made in China. I find it inconsistent that the government has conditioned us, for many decades, that mercury poisoning is very serious stuff. Now, they want EVERY HOUSEHOLD in the country to use these things in every light socket. Do they have any idea how many light bulbs get broken in this country—and you're to call a hazmat team every time?!!!

Another source of discomfort: at present there are none of the recommended disposal facilities available anywhere in the country. We are to use these things, but what do we do with them when they burn out? The last recommendation that I heard was that we are to store them until an accepted disposal site is available. What?

[LibertyRocks]

I completely understand what you are saying. As I said, I personally played with mercury from a broken thermometer, and thankfully did not get sick, and we’re talking about direct exposure - playing with the mercury shifting it from hand to hand and such...

Honestly, my biggest problem with all of this is that our wonderful leaders are making all the decisions for us in these cases. We are not allowed to choose for ourselves in these matters - even if there is a health problem someone is dealing with.

As a fellow FReeper pointed out there are those with extreme allergies to mercury. For the government to demand that people like this FReeper use an item that poses a threat to them strikes me as irresponsible, and possibly even opening them up for a lawsuit should someone have an adverse reaction.

There would be no problem if this person had an alternative, but according to the government, and with our current technology come 2014 they will NOT. And, that is the crux of the problem as I see it - unintended consequences. Something our legislators don’t tend to think about when proposing these laws - heck most of the time they don’t even read the bills they vote on, much less take the time to understand anything of a more technical or scientific nature... Take the Gorebull Warming laws they are now trying to pass - the same problem, but on a wider scale.

I’m all for developing alternative energy sources, and for protecting our environment. However, it would seem that lobbyists and re-elections play a more important role in deciding what our country pursues - just look at the corn-based ethanol push... No thought to the fact that it will raise food prices - not just in our own nation, but around the world.

It just ticks me off when legislators follow the “sounds good” and “feels good” approach to making laws.

[Swordmaker]

Anyway, it’s not just about accidental exposure to a broken bulb that I’m worried about here - what about our landfills and waterways? I don’t recall any special programs being toted out to take care of disposal of these bulbs. The general public has NO CLUE that they even contain mercury to begin with.

The amount of mercury in CFL lamps is nowhere near enough to be a problem. Are you aware that the amalgam fillings in your teeth contain mercury? How about the mercurochrome that our Mom's used to dab on our skinned knees? Tincture of Mercury? Although not sold in the US because of the 1988 Mercury panic, it is widely used in the rest of the world.

When I was in junior high school, our science class had a 2 foot wide bowl of mercury. The students, including me, used to stick their hands in it... felt weird and cool.

Unless this bulb was illuminated at the time it broke, the mercury in it was in the form of a tiny droplet. It is not a gas or vapor until you start the bulb when it aid the formation of the plasma.

I am not at all afraid of having CFLs in my house. Everyone who is worried about it is falling for the fear, uncertainty and doubt being spread by the nanny state.

Rush was pulling his leg by demonstrating absurdity by carrying it to its illogical conclusion.

[Will88]

It’s still puzzle top me with all these dire warning on the net and in the media that this is all that appears on the packaging for the bulb:

LAMP CONTAINS MERCURY
Manage in Accord with Disposal Laws
See: www.lamprecycle.org or 1-800-4356-4448

http://lamprecycle.org/

Most people will pay no attention to that and just throw their used bulbs, broken or not, in the regular trash.

Unreal that so little in the way of warning is on the packaging of these supposedly hazardous bulbs.

[LibertyRocks]

In this case however, I would assume that there are medical records to back up his story. If he truly had a reaction of this sort - as well as the worker who was processing it for return - then it’s definitely something to think about. If it is a problem, I don’t think this would be a completely isolated case, either... However, unless something becomes an epidemic we don’t usually hear about it, do we?

Hysteria never helps, but neither does denying possibilities of unintended consequences. All everyone is doing here is trying to get to the truth of the matter. Knowledge is a good thing...

[IIntense]

As a kid, I also played with the mercury from broken thermometers. Fascinating, and cheap, too!---as were most of the ways we entertained ourselves.

I may not be as "perfectly fine" as you are but I'm still here!

[LibertyRocks]

“I am not at all afraid of having CFLs in my house. Everyone who is worried about it is falling for the fear, uncertainty and doubt being spread by the nanny state.”

It strikes me as a little odd that you would complain about the “nanny state” and yet, support this law that requires everyone to use a certain product. A little ironic don’t you think?

The fear isn’t being spread by our government, it is average citizens that have been talking about this for quite a while now... It is the nanny state forcing us to do something against our will that could pose a threat to our bodies and our environment that has most people’s hackles up, IMHO.

[Swordmaker]

When did it first become obvious that you had no sense of humor?

That's one of the symptoms of severe mercury poisoning... It's really deadly, too...long term, say 90 to 100 years after exposure, everyone exposed to mercury is dead.

[fmrswabbie]

I’m pretty certain that the mercury vapors are significant contributors to global warming. Where is Al Gore when you need him!