Posted on 09/20/2010 7:17:18 AM PDT by yorkie
UK experts have warned that CFL bulbs can trigger migraines, dizziness and loss of focus, as well as increased pain for those with lupus and can cause people with epilepsy to experience symptoms similar to the early stages of a fit.
CFL's operate at high frequency using an electronic switching ballast to chop up the 120 volts -- that's how they are able to use less energy when compared to an old-style incandescent bulb. A typical operating frequency for an electronic ballast would be in the region of 20kHz to 100kHz, a frequency range known to produce adverse effects on one's health.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagonow.com ...
I would rather have LED bulbs. Less toxic waste. They need to come down in price though.
Oops.
Unintended consequences.
The Greenies fail again.
Paper or plastic? Paper is evil. Now, plastic is “evil-er’.
“CFL bulbs can trigger migraines, dizziness...”
I don’t believe that. CFLs are just fluorescent bulbs. Ballasts, the frequencies, etc., have been all around us for the last 60 years.
I think this congreeman says it all
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv59PJ30WeM
EVERY office building has used florescent light bulbs for at leats what...50 years? If all these so called health problems involving florescent bulbs were really true, we would have had widespread problems decades ago. Decades.
Florescents have also been widely used in residential kitchens for just as long. I’d wager a significant portion of the people that complain about the CFL mandate have florescent bulbs in their kitchen fixtures. What is the difference between that U shaped florescent bulb in your kitchen light fixture and the ice cream cone looking CFL’s? Nothing. Literally not a single thing. One is just a smaller version of the other.
Yes, I agree that the govt. overstepped its bounds by mandating the use of florescent bulbs, but spreading information about so called dangers that can so easily be proved false just by applying a little common sense is not the way to stop it.
I don’t believe that. CFLs are just fluorescent bulbs.
I agree. I use them and never heard of such a thing from those who use them.
I have known for years, that there is something wrong with CFLs. When I go to a hotel or department store that uses them, my eyes turn red within ten minutes, and then the headache starts.
But, the government knows what is best for us, don’t they?
Indeed, wouldn't ALL flourescent tube lights therefore be harmful? Where are the millions of ill office workers over the past several decades??
Written by a scientific illiterate, it should be needless to say.
1. Electronic ballasts are not the reason that compact fluorescents use less energy than incandescents; even ordinary magnetic ballasted fluorescents accomplish that. Electronic ballasts make it possible to reduce the size and power consumption of CFLs compared to mag-ballast fluorescents.
2. 20KHz - 100KHz "known to produce adverse effects on one's health?" Show me a study that didn't originate with envirokooks, please.
“I don’t believe that. CFLs are just fluorescent bulbs.”
Sorry, but it’s true. Fluorescent lighting makes me light-headed and dizzy. Don’t know why.
I would rather have LED bulbs. Less toxic waste. They need to come down in price though.
The entire CFL mandate is a perfect example of why the govt. shouldn’t micro manage the economy. LEDs are superior to CFLs in every aspect. Had the free market been left to its own devices, it would have jumped right over CFLs and go into research on LEDs (which btw, is exactly what happened in China). But becase the govt. pushed CFLs, our industry geared up to produce them.
A few weeks ago I talked to a guy that involved in industrial lighting. He says China dominates the LED manufacturing now, and will soon clean our clock in the production of light bulbs, as LED light bulbs are soon to come down in price, leaving our lighting industry holding the bag because it is geared up to produce what will soon be OBSOLETE compact florescent bulbs.
A friend of mine bought dozens of the CFL bulbs then decided he didn’t like them, so he gave them to me. I can go CFL or incandescent, makes no difference to me, but my favorite light bulb is the FREE type.
I can hear most CFL’s. That causes a headache, not to mention the flicker-induced eye strain. My husband tried to sneak one into the bathroom light fixture and I had to take it out.
We’re slowly replacing our incandescent bulbs with LED’s. But as an artist, I am very sorry to see the Reveal bulbs disappear.
There’s no CFL mandate. There’s an efficiency requirement on certain common wattages that conventional incandescents can’t reach.
Only the ones with Electronic ballasts would run at the high frequencies.
Most of the older ballasts are either inductive or capacitive and these operate at the 60hz line frequency
I can’t keep these new light bulbs straight. I want my old bulbs back!
One small quibble. The frequencies used by CFLs are many times the 60 (actually 120) Hz of traditional fluorescents. These higher frequencies (the article says 20-100 KHz) have been around only about as long as CFLs have been in common use--maybe 15 years.
Further comments:
People who are affected by the 120 Hz component of ordinary fluorescents should be much less affected by the much higher firing rate of the CFL, according to neurophysiological models that I know of.
Another factor in fluorescent sensitivity is the color, which is produced by a mixture of phosphors with different emission wavelengths and persistence times. I speculate that there could be a sensitivity to fluorescent light based on the 120 Hz fluctuations not only in intensity, but in color balance. But once again, the CFL runs at such a higher firing rate that any possible neurological optic response should be minimized by a CFL. The overall color temperature issue remains, however, for both the traditional and CFL types.
For CFLs operating at the lower of the quoted frequencies, i.e., 20 KHz, some people may be acoustically affected, giving rise to a subliminal sensitivity to such lights. Then again, the traditional magnetic ballast often hums at a fundamental frequency of 120 Hz, and gives a "buzz:" An audible spectrum rich in harmonics right through the peak sensitivity of the hearing range. I believe that this causes subliminal stress and could also be a factor in sensitivity to traditional fluorescents, along with the often-uncomfortable colors.
This has always been true for some people, but not for most people. If you have an inclination toward epilepsy, or certain other conditions, then flourescent bulbs can trigger it.
I have an English cousin who can’t dine by candlelight because he might go into a fit. And I had a colleague in the office who had to turn off the flourescent lights and plug in incandescent lights instead.
But those are the exceptional cases. We have had compact flourescent lights all over our house for years, and it saves a ton on the electric bill. You just have to get the right make, since some brands are indeed horrible.
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