Posted on 06/13/2008 6:24:37 PM PDT by Libloather
Broken Compact Fluorescent Causes Mercury Poisoning
June 13, 2008
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: To Royse City, Texas. Jonathan, glad you called. Nice to have you here.
CALLER: Yes, thank you. I admire you a lot, and I really love your program.
RUSH: Thank you, sir, very, very, very, very much.
CALLER: I just wanted to tell you about a little incident I had at work with these lightbulbs that all the Democrats and liberals are promoting saying they're better for everybody and --
RUSH: You're talking about the compact fluorescent lightbulbs.
CALLER: That is correct.
RUSH: What happened, were you mandated at work to replace your incandescents with these compact fluorescents?
CALLER: No, sir, not exactly. What happened was, I was straightening stuff on the aisle, and I noticed that one of the boxes had fallen, and I picked it up to look at it, and one of the bulbs was broken on the inside. And there's a little cut-out in the cardboard box, and I realized I inhaled some of the fumes, and I immediately went and placed it in a plastic bag and went --
RUSH: How did you know to do that?
CALLER: Oh, I heard it on your program, of course.
RUSH: You knew that there was mercury in there --
CALLER: I heard it on --
RUSH: -- that is potentially dangerous and if you broke it in your house you call the hazmat people.
CALLER: I heard it on your program, of course.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: And so, anyway, my eyes started burning immediately, the back of my throat started getting dry and burning.
RUSH: Really? That bulb had already fallen from the shelf, you just happened to walk by and see it?
CALLER: That's correct, and I picked up the box.
RUSH: That had the bulb in it?
CALLER: That's correct. And basically I went to my boss and I said, "Hey, I think something happened. I think we need to make an accident report. And so we had to call a registered nurse through a hotline that we have at our work, and describe my symptoms to the nurse, and she said put your boss back on the phone, and she told my boss to call the paramedics right away and have them come treat me right away at the scene. The ambulance showed up with their truck, and they put me in the ambulance, hooked me up, wires and everything --
RUSH: All this for a broken lightbulb?
CALLER: That's correct. And then they said, "We can't tell you what to do, but you should probably go to the emergency room. They said we can take you or we'll tell your boss to let you go or have somebody take you, however you want to do it, we'll get you there." And they told me that on the way to en route to where I worked they had to call poison control and find out exactly what they were supposed to do because even the paramedics didn't know what they were supposed to do. And what they described to me, they described the wrong kind of lightbulb, they described the really long, like the eight foot long lightbulbs that you would see in a warehouse or --
RUSH: Yeah, the standard fluorescents.
CALLER: Yeah, so anyway I told them I just wanted to go to the emergency room and I'll go by myself. Finally got to the emergency room, and the doctor walked in, he was like, "What makes you think you inhaled mercury vapor?" I was like, "Well, you know," told him about the lightbulb, he basically looked at me and said, "I've never ever seen anybody that's inhaled mercury vapor before. Honestly, I don't know what to tell you. I'm going to have to go look this up in a book. I'll be right back."
RUSH: Now, wait a second.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: The EMS guys didn't know what to do with mercury poisoning and the doctor didn't?
CALLER: That's correct, the doctor in the emergency room.
RUSH: Where is Royse City, Texas?
CALLER: It's near Rockwall.
RUSH: Oh, well, hell, yes. Okay. Rockwall, Texas. We all know where that is.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: All right.
CALLER: Okay, by Dallas. So, anyway, he listened to my breathing and everything, make sure I wasn't going to die, and he just said, "There's really nothing I can do for you. There's nothing I can give you or prescribe for you," he said. "I don't even think we have the necessary equipment to run tests if you were dangerously exposed to this stuff here at the hospital. We would have to take blood and mail it somewhere and get the results back in the next day," if I wanted to do that, and I was like, "Okay, that's great."
RUSH: Now, now, Jonathan, I gotta tell you, some people here are listening to this and not believing it.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: Now, we've heard stories that if you do have a compact fluorescent in your house and if it breaks that you are to call hazmat people, but mercury vapors?
CALLER: Yes, sir.
RUSH: Mercury vapors. How come it only affected you? Were you the only one in the room?
CALLER: I was the only one on the aisle but as soon as I placed it in the plastic bag, I gave it to the individual who is supposed to defect the item out and seal it up and, you know, keep it protected and it was a short time after that where that individual started hyperventilating and couldn't breathe, and they almost had to call the paramedics back again for her.
RUSH: Well, how long did it take you to recover since nobody could do anything for you?
CALLER: Just a few hours and a pounding headache and some Tylenol.
RUSH: America is at risk here, folks. I didn't have any idea that it was this severe. Ladies and gentlemen, we are not prepared for the coming crisis. Do you feel like you made a sacrifice that nevertheless, Jonathan, was important to help save the planet?
CALLER: No, I do not. I felt endangered.
RUSH: Well, this is an incredible story. I had no idea that it could cause this kind of problem and that the medical community had no idea what to do. Jon, let me make you a suggestion since the medical community was not able to help you by their own admission. EMS guys didn't know what to do; your ER doctor didn't know what to do.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: Do not stop being monitored.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: Continue to be monitored long-term.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: We don't know yet the full effects of this.
CALLER: I hear you.
RUSH: You've been an unwitting guinea pig, but you could perform a service with ongoing, regular monitoring of whatever levels, bodily fluids and this kind of thing. Do you know a good trial lawyer?
CALLER: I don't. I could find one, though.
RUSH: Well, you might call John Edwards.
CALLER: There you go.
RUSH: Outta work.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: I'm just kidding about the trial lawyer business, but it's like we have a program here, Keep Our Own Kids Safe.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: And the Keep Our Own Kids Safe program is an awareness program to alert parents to the dangers of soccer, the dangers to damaging the head of these young kids who go out and play, it's far more dangerous than football out there. And I remember I had one guy call me. He didn't think that our program was like worth it, the Keep Our Own Kids Safe program, he thought that it was much ado about nothing, and that I just had a bias against soccer, and he told me that he had been hit repeatedly, playing soccer a lot, he'd had a lot of head shots, he's done a lot of this, and he was no worse the wear. And I said, well, the thing is that the victims are the last to know. I told him to continue to consult family members to tell him if there had been any changes in his behavior, because he admitted to me that he'd been beating himself upside the head with a soccer ball for a long time and he thought he was normal. But the victim is the last to know. You might think you're normal when you're not.
CALLER: I agree.
RUSH: I mean if something like this could happen, a compact fluorescent bulb and the medical community in Rockwall, Texas, does not know how to deal with it, this is frightening be stuff.
CALLER: It is.
RUSH: Well, I'm glad you had the courage to pick up that lightbulb. It was a great act of courage. You saved somebody else from perhaps getting real sick, you saw it, you knew, you knew because you had listened to this program, you took a risk that was sacrificial on your part, and you paid the price.
CALLER: I did.
RUSH: But you have lived to tell the story and to help others survive this kind of tragedy down the road.
CALLER: I did. I hope so.
RUSH: Well, you did. You are to be applauded.
CALLER: Thank you very much.
RUSH: All right, Jonathan. Thank you.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I just went to the Consumer Product Safety Commission website. Jonathan, I don't know how long ago this happened that you got your mercury vapor poisoning out there in Rockwall, Texas, but according to what I have just read on the Consumer Product Safety Commission website, mercury vapors are hazardous. You need to close your store and lock it down. Listen to this: "The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is alerting consumers that mercury vapors (which have no odor) are hazardous. CPSC recommends that consumers avoid breathing mercury vapors." Too late for you, Jonathan. "Most uses of mercury that expose consumers to fumes are banned," except the compact fluorescent lightbulb, which we are being forced, over time, to put in our homes. "However, some ethnic traditions encourage the sprinkling of mercury around the house for religious reasons. This is hazardous because people -- especially young children -- could breathe the mercury vapors. Mercury can cause serious and permanent nerve and kidney damage. Mercury poisoning (acrodynia) has these symptoms: rapid heartbeat, sweating, irritability or hostility, withdrawal or shyness, memory loss, peeling of hands and feet, leg pain, slight hand tremors, difficulty with fine motor control (such as handwriting), sleeplessness, and headaches. Young children and children born to women exposed during pregnancy may be especially sensitive. If you believe you have mercury poisoning, see a doctor. If mercury has been sprinkled in your home, open all windows so the mercury vapors can escape. It may take several days of ventilation to eliminate the mercury. If you have questions about how to clean up and dispose of mercury, call your local health department." They will send the hazmat team. "To avoid mercury poisoning, do not sprinkle mercury around the house or expose people in the home to mercury vapors."
They just put weapons in our hands. You let the word spread on how toxic these lightbulbs are, in the average house, how many arguments take place between husband and wife and the 2.8 kids, somebody gets mad, unscrews the lightbulb and throws it at somebody else. Again, the environmentalist wackos forcing out the incandescent bulb by 2012, you're not going to be allowed to have it, folks, whether you've got turtles on your beach or not.
END TRANSCRIPT
OK, here is the link to the EPA guidelines at this time... (It was pretty easy to find after all.. :) )
http://www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/index.htm#fluorescent
Figuring $100/hour for each man in a 3 man crew plus a supervisor along with other costs probably meant the taxpayers paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000. Easy money once you've established the mindset that you have to call in the hazmat guys.
Coincidently, on the subject of mercury, did you know that the Michelson - Morley apparatus sat on a slab of marble 1.5 meters square by .3 meters thick that floated in a pool of mercury, which, I'm sure had far more than a few thermometers worth of the stuff in it.
my eyes are closing too - and my cat is starring at me - her signal that it's way past bed time...
In the meantime, I continue to stock up on safe bulbs. After 2012, the deadline it will be legal to use them, I will be the little old lady, shades drawn, burning contraband bulbs
We've had generations live with much higher exposure than this without ill effect -- and I come from a family once involved in mining operations that involved copious amounts of mercury.
Which is not to say that dumping significant amounts of mercury into the environment is a good or harmless thing -- it isn't, and we can thank the Japanese for classic examples of same.
But a little educated rationality is called for, not ignorant eco-Chicken Littleism. Fact is, the CFLs I use today will release far less mercury than the household fever thermometers I myself broke as a boy. And when a better cost-effective technology (presumably LED) comes along, I'll be on it.
Actually, that is important data in this discussion of CFL safety. The ER physicians and the EMTs are trained in the most common poisons they are likely to encounter. They are NOT trained in what to do about inhaling "Mercury Vapor" because it is extremely rare. CFLs do indeed break fairly commonly... but NOBODY is getting poisoned by mercury vapors from these broken lamps. That's why the EMT and the ER people were unfamiliar with it. It's not necessary that they be familiar with it.
There is some slight danger of getting a glass cut with mercury on the glass (from a CFL) that may get into your skin... but Mercury was used in the past as an effective antibiotic treatment on cuts (Mercurochrome? Tincture of Mercury? When my daughters were born, they received routine Mercury laced (Thimeserol - ethyl mercury thiosalicylic acid) eye drops as a prevention against eye infections. Many over-the-counter eyedrops such as Murine® countain the same Mercury containing compounds as does nose sprays, ear drops, flu vacines, etc.). I find it a reassuring fact the EMTs and ER doctors are unfamiliar with Mercury poisoning from CFLs. It proves that broken CFLs are safe to handle with normal precautions one would use on regular light bulbs.
Incidentally, the amount of Mercury in a CFL is a tiny ball about the size of the writing ball in a ball point pen.
Some bureaucrat was paid good taxpayers money to write that load of FUD? Money that could have gone to some good purpose like paying for the birth of an illegal's anchor baby? Good grief.
Mercury has an extremely high surface tension. It doesn't evaporate. Getting it into a vapor is difficult. The rare-earth phosphors on the tube's glass are probably more dangerous.
With the implied perils like those included in this list of instructions, it's no wonder people in Maine (and elsewhere) are getting paranoid...
The majority of the gas in fluorescent lamps is usually low pressure Argon. After first firing, it's a mixture of Argon and Mercury vapor. Some of the Mercury will condense after the power is shut off.
This guy reported finding the lamp, broken, still in its box. it may or may not have been powered up before.
There was some common use for mercury, but I don’t remember what.Amalgamating gold from fine concetrates? :-) I've got 12.5 pounds of it...
I agree. We often tried to get a little of the mercury that was still metallic in the tubes. They used a lot more in those big eight foot tubes than they use in CFLs... and Mercury wasn't as expensive back then as it is today. I used to have a medicine bottle filled with Mercury that I had scavenged from broken thermometers and from those tubes. Each one might have a 1/32nd to 1/16th inch bead still left in it unevaporated. My point on this thread is that incidental exposure to Mercury is not dangerous... and the amount in a CFL is really small.
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.The mercury you had was "sick", i.e. a film of oxide and dust accumulates on the surface and significantly reduces its ability to amalgamate. You can either retort it and recondense it in a closed system or, IIRC, clean it with some nitric acid somehow.
Yes, I am—the FDA has issued a "warning" about the dangers of Mercury in amalgam filings for pregnant women and young children—because of a law suit decision from a jury of NON-SCIENTISTS in a trial brought by anti-amalgam, junk science activists.
"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning on its website which informs about the potential safety issues of mercury-based dental fillings. Amalgam fillings are a mixture of mercury and silver, as well as several other metals in lesser quantities. The FDA was forced to display the warning as part of a settlement which stemmed from a lawsuit filed by several groups which allege that amalgam releases mercury.The FDA warning only applies to pregnant women and children. While in theory having amalgam fillings and chewing on them might release a small quantity of mercury, studies have found no evidence of health hazards. Amalgam is very stable chemically and kills bacteria. It is also much more resistant than polymer-based fillings."
The scientific panel charged with determining the safety of Amalgam had concluded in 2006 there was insufficient information to come to a conclusion about the use of the product by pregnant women and young children and ordered further studies. That fact and pending scientific evidence due in the next few months did not stop our courts from again overstepping their bounds and entering the realm of regulation and making a Politically Correct decision based junk science. Here is the "warning" the FDA was forced to include on its website:
"Pregnant women and persons who may have a health condition that makes them more sensitive to mercury exposure, including individuals with existing high levels of mercury bioburden, should not avoid seeking dental care, but should discuss options with their health practitioner."
In actual fact, aside from this judicially required "warning," the latest legitimate action taken by the FDA was hearing held by the FDA's advisory panel in September of 2006. In that hearing, which included input from such Liberal luminaries as Rep. Diane Watson (D), CA, the advisory panel concluded that perhaps labeling should be revised. The public comment period for that labeling revision ends July 28, 2008.
The FDA recommendation the use of amalgam for Pregnant women remains the same as it was BEFORE the damn courts stuck their nose into the issue: Discuss the pros and cons with your dentist and then decide whether or not to use amalgam.
I wish the Executive Branch, a co-equal branch of the government, would simply tell the Judiciary to "BUTT OUT!" when it by-passes the checks and balances of the regulatory process. If the Executive had done that years ago, we would not be in the position of being ruled to by black-robed dictators.
Amalgam has been in use in dental fillings for over 150 years—with little adverse affect. Only the homeopathic community has been complaining. They were the instigators of the "Mercury scare of 1988" that resulted in thousands of people unnecessarily having their fillings removed despite all evidence that Amalgam's risk to benefit ratio was skewed far, far to the benefit side and that numerous epidemiological studies had shown NO variation in the disease rates, of diseases the fear mongers claimed were caused by amalgam, between populations that used amalgam and those who did not.
I don't put any stock in homeopathy. As far as I am concerned the use of super-diluted minerals to treat illness is quackery. Any results observed in studies of homeopathic treatment shows no significant difference from the results of placebo and nocebo treatment.
Do you think that maybe you should post that link more than just seven times? Perhaps there are some here who haven't noticed it yet.
Have a care what you say.
"The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth under them."
Mercury can be poisonous. But you can’t contract mercury poisoning by walking by the spot where a bulb has been broken and just LOOKING at it.
We are talking about minute quantities here. As long as you are reasonably prudent and don’t regularly inhale the scrapings from the inside of broken compact flourescent bulbs like cocaine, you are perfectly safe.
Would this amount of mercury be poisonous in landfills? Probably not, unless the landfills are badly located. But it would do no harm to recycle them. The problem is that the “scientists” who work for government agencies simply cannot be trusted to give neutral scientific advice. One minute they are screaming to outlaw incandescent bulbs, and the next minute they will predictably be screaming to outlaw compact flourescents.
You can lay in a lifetime supply of incandescent bulbs if you want, although they cost four times as much to run. Maybe we should lay in a lifetime supply of compact flourescents, because who knows what these moonbats will outlaw next?
If you call in a Hazmat team, you are nuts. Just carefully brush it up, put it in a plastic bag, and dispose of it, by recycling if your area recycles the things.
If you are especially paranoid about it, hold your breath while you are sweeping it up, and walk a few yards off to breath. Or wear a painter’s protective mask.
I read about a lady who called hazmat after dropping a bulb. She was thrown out of her house by a team of highly paid unionized state workers in hazmat suits, and when they had finished she was billed $5,000 for their services. Next time I trust she has enough sense to clean it up herself.
6”Amalgamating gold from fine concetrates? :-) I’ve got 12.5 pounds of it...”
I think there was some more common use than that. Maybe something around the home or farm, or maybe pharmacies carried it and made some use of it. But I know me and other kids would obtain the stuff now and then, or parents might have it and kids would get it and play with it.
If he's serious, he's nuts.
So why didn't the RATS wait until LEDs were more common for conventional light bulb replacement?........GW Politics, which is BS.
What you say about Mercury is mostly correct. However, the dual standard is what is being pointed out. The RATS would be up-in-arms had there been reports of a consumer product (that they did not sanction) that could be broken to release the SAME AMOUNT of Mercury into a consumer home.
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