Mercury poisening from light bulbs or death by global cooling, Al?
Rush linked to this article today.
For the Maine study, researchers shattered 65 compact fluorescents to test air quality and cleanup methods. They found that, in many cases, immediately after the bulb was broken - and sometimes even after a cleanup was attempted - levels of mercury vapor exceeded federal guidelines for chronic exposure by as much as 100 times.
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The study recommended that if a compact fluorescent breaks, get children and pets out of the room. Ventilate the room. Never use a vacuum, even on a rug, to clean up a broken compact fluorescent lamps. Instead, use stiff paper such as index cards and tape to pick up pieces, and then wipe the area with a wet wipe or damp paper towel. If there are young children or pregnant woman in the house, consider cutting out the piece of carpet where the lamp broke as a precaution. Place the shards and cleanup debris in a glass jar with a screw top and remove the jar from the house.
But hey, mercury poisoning is a small price to pay when we are in danger of being wiped out in 10 years because of global warming, right? I mean, it’s not like the Arctic Sea ice is back and we’ve seen the largest amount of snow cover in the northern hemisphere since 1966. Because otherwise, this whole hazardous waste-producing light bulb thing would be pretty ridiculous, don’t you think?
