Run the numbers. Let's say CFLs have 1/20th the mercury of an old fever thermometer (that was true for older ones; modern ones have less and they're working at reducing it further). I'm not sure sure how many CFL lamps we have in this house, but rounding up it's probably in the vicinity of 40. I replaced one this year. The last one to die was about 5 years ago, and I think that was the second to die in the 10 years we've been here. But let's say 5 CFLs died in that 10 years (after all, our usage has increased.)
The amount of mercury from the assumed 5 dead lamps in 10 years is 5 20ths of one fever thermometer, or 1/4th. Which means that the old fever thermometers (one per household) would have to last over than 40 years in order to release less mercury than my CFLs.
I don't know about you, but in my household with a few siblings, a mercury fever thermometer would be lucky to last 5 years and generally didn't. 40 years? Forget it.
It's not A Good Thing to be putting mercury into landfills... but then again landfills themselves are not A Good Thing.
You have to put things in perspective and judge from there. Absolutism is a favorite tool of totalitarians.
And note too that CFLs are a transitional technology; we aren't far from the point where LEDs will make light production from UV-stimulated rare-earth phosphors look as antiqued as electrically-heated metal filaments and carbon-based combustion.
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.