Posted on 12/15/2008 12:06:52 PM PST by Sammy67
</sarc>
I am correct to write that the mercury was in the ground before being put in the light bulbs?
mercury encyclopedia topics | Reference.com
Natural Occurrence and Uses:
Mercury occurs uncombined in nature to a limited extent. The metal is obtained commercially from cinnabar, a mercuric sulfide ore; it is easily separated by roasting the ore in air. The metal is usually purified by repeated vacuum distillation.
It’s a very, very small amount of mercury. The ones I use are about 1/50th that of what an average old thermometer used. It also reduces the amount of mercury as a net net from coal plants. It also greatly reduces your electric bill and the bulbs last way longer than regular bulbs. The light takes 15-30 seconds usually to get to full strength is the only real ‘issue’ for them. Of course-mandating their use is stupid.
My concerns over the mercury in CFLs ranks right up there with my concerns for global warming.
That's the least of the worries. Have you read this thread?
PEOPLE ARE PUTTING THEM OVER THEIR STOVES AND FOOD PREP AREAS!!!!!!!!!
ARE THEY INSANE?
After deliberately putting their families at risk (see posts #3 and #61), don't give a moments thought about just tossing them in the trash with everything else.
The perception came with Balding, unfortuately.
I guess we belong in mercury prison. While we’re at it we may as well pay for all the years our fathers abd grandfathers used the old style tubes in the garage and other places.
My grandfather is almost as bad as Adolph Hitler. He was an electrician and installed the mercury vapor lights all over town. Oh the HORROR.
In a general sense, I agree with that.
Food prep isn't general, it's very specific. To deliberately expose yourself and your family to mercury when so many alternatives exist is irresponsible.
Mine too. They say it’s a sign of high testosterone. But it’s a matter of great product with lousy marketing skills on the part of the humorous creator.
The "green" argument- that CFLs save the burning of coal and the net effect is less mercury floating around - has some merit. Where I live, we don't have coal fired plants and don't buy from the grid, so they do more harm winding up in landfills.
Some people throw away batteries and other electronics that contain all sorts of nasties (arsenic, heavy metals). I try to recycle whatever I can. Why not, it can only help.
And yes, those substances come from the ground, but they're not supposed to be in contact with our drinking water. As we become more aware of what is harmful, we should adjust accordingly.
My body has been drug down from over exposure to mercury and lead (primarily through my own ignorance), so I'm happy to be ridiculed by a few sarcastic know-it-alls (not meaning you rb22 - just starting to see the "tin foil hat commentators" starting to rise up without any science, just sarcasm), if someone else becomes informed and prevents them from making my mistakes. Like I said, I use CFLs, but wisely and safely, and I'll do my best to keep them out of our landfills. We've got enough chemicals to deal with - from our food - to cheap-ass Chinese products we're inundated with.
“Some people throw away batteries and other electronics that contain all sorts of nasties (arsenic, heavy metals). I try to recycle whatever I can. Why not, it can only help.”
Where I live, if I throw something nasty into the garbage it goes about 20 miles and ends up in a state-of-the-art lined landfill where nothing decomposes, nothing leaks out, etc. (At least for a few hundred years I suppose with the liners, clay, etc.)
If I send a nasty something to the recyling box at the office supply store it gets on a truck and/or train to the nearest port. Goes on a container ship to China. Gets on a truck/train where it ends up in some village where the kids wearing flip flops and maybe a rag over their nose burn the plastics and casings off to get to the useful parts. Discarding the bits and pieces behind their shack and the into the contaminated ditch.
So yes - it could hurt.
My Dr tested me for heavy metals and the test came back with elevated mercury and lead. I had no idea how it happened.
Then, I was driving in my SUV listening to Rush and caught the tail end of someone telling how they, and their co-worker got very sick trying to clean up a broken fluorescent bulb(s). That was my "ah-ha" moment.
I didn't know about the mercury content of the long fluorescent tubes and they didn't fit into my city trash can that had to be closed for pickup (drivers took notes). So, I'd pop them. It was a pretty cool sound too. I wouldn't hang around to sniff the fumes, but I'm sure this little bit of occasional exposure is what put my mercury levels over the top.
Trust me, the manifold health issues are not fun. I'm told they can be reversed over time, but not always for kids.
"If I send a nasty something to the recyling box at the office supply store it gets on a truck and/or train to the nearest port. Goes on a container ship to China. Gets on a truck/train where it ends up in some village where the kids wearing flip flops and maybe a rag over their nose burn the plastics and casings off to get to the useful parts. Discarding the bits and pieces behind their shack and the into the contaminated ditch."
I saw Charlton Heston in Soilent Green about a month ago. I saw Wally last week. We're just about there... God help us.
this is where you protest... just don't do it. when they start "inspecting" just dump it wherever you feel like it. I've been to Seattle and there is plenty of green areas to just dump your garbage... dump it in the yards or places that support garbage recycling .. they love it so much.. give them as much as you can collect.
screw 'em. File lawsuits, make petitions, vote the idiots out that voted for this cr#p. The big thing is getting the information out that "recycling is a scam". The money isn't there for the "profits" and all the garbage ends up in the landfill. It's a joke. I had photos and maybe some news reporters might actually go along... if not. Drag them along . The internet is full of stuff that exposes the graft and corruption of the "Inner Party" when it affects us "proles".
It's all about control.... you can't flush your toilet without the government in the bathroom, we have to live in dark houses with crappy light bulbs cause the government knows how much light you should have and not one bit more...you can't read a clock cause the government knows what time the sun should come up and go down....the government will let you kill yourself ( and hopes that you do) so they can decide when you should die in the future. ... the government already publicly indoctrinates the children to think of the government as a "job creator".. when in fact it only creates bureaucrats. ...and on and on.
make sure that all the libs and democrats around you know that you believe that.....
War is Peace
Ignorance is Strength
Freedom is Slavery
It's all about controlling you... so if you play their game, you've lost. We've got the same cr#p where I live... guess what. The coke cans go in the garbage, the newspaper goes in the garbage, the light bulbs go in the garbage... and I put a load of dog cr#p on top of my garbage that is just about as wet and ripe as I can find.
If anybody wants to look in my garbage, have at it. You better have a mask and odor eaters, cause my German Shepherd lays some mighty big brown trout.
The sad part is if they would let us drill, mine, build garbage dumps here in the USA, Mother Earth would be a whole lot better off. I’ve been to a few of those places overseas and it is unreal on how the people and the environment gets screwed. If we could relax some of our controls over business (rather than keep pushing new and more outrageous controls on them) - we could become a major producer of things once again. Rather than just a bunch of service providers or guys that push file folders and money around.
Why bother, use what you like best.
Our electric bill is averages $40/mo and we have one TV on moat of 24 hours, 2 computers and the printer on 24/7, cook with electric, and have lights on an average of 10 hours a day.
The stinking flourescents wouldn’t pay for themselves before they would have to be replaced.
Put a resistor in the line and drop the voltage to 100v and they will last forever.
I had a 25 watt long style incandescent in my gun case that wouldn't last more than 24-26 days and I put a resistor in the line and it's lasted 39 years and is still going being on 24/7.
We don’t have garbage inspectors yet, but King County has them, so, they can’t be that far down the road. In Seattle, people have to even sort their garbage from the other disposables. The county plans to compost the garbage and sell it back to the people. This is the first year, so they are not yet enforcing it, but you have to have the separate container, whether you use it or not. Next year, the inspections start.
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