I got this story from a friend of mine. It has an apocryphal ring to it. Can folks on the list offer any comments about the likelihood this is real? This is the sort of stuff that can serve as barriers to widespread adoption of CFLs.
Hi Mel, Did you hear the story, supposedly true as reported by several sources, about the lady in Ellsworth, ME who decided to use the new bulbs to save her some money in the long run. She was replacing a bulb and dropped one of the new ones onto the floor, and it broke. She said it smelled funny, so she called the local offices to check it out. They didn't know what to do, so they called the State environmental agency, and they didn't know what to do, so they called in the feds, who called in someone to do the clean-up, costing the lady $2,000.00 to have the house cleaned. Great bulbs!
George
Urban Myth About CFLs?
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Hello!
I agree that this person was the victim of someone wanting to make some cash. Unfortunately, it's been reported as fact in several media sources. Here in Canada one of our national newspapers wrote an article about it. It's important that people have the facts: the amount of mercury in a CFL bulb is minute, and does not pose a problem if the bulb breaks. Hopefully as CFL bulbs become more common (and municipalities start having less-pathetic options for people to dispose of them) the public's understanding of mercury will improve.
http://projectporchlight.com/hey-didja-hear-the-one-about-the-national-daily -that-printed-up-an-urban-legend-as-fact/
Happy 2-4 weekend,
Suzy Fraser
Project Porchlight
Suzanne Fraser Director of communications,
One Change
613 260-7362 or 613 552-7277 (cel)
www onechange org
Florida is developing a paper on the amount of mercury released in a room from a broken bulb and how fast it can be dispersed through using a fan and an open window after doing a gross cleanup (so far this looks like it will be about 15 minutes). Maine is starting testing of cleanup methods from different types of flooring. Although the article about breaking a CFL in the home is sensational and has made many people decide they will never use CFLs, it has also woken state agencies and EPA up to the fact that consumers are scared about having one break in their home, something most of us hadn't considered an issue. Regardless of our surety that this is not a health hazard, what is driving consumers is perception. And in hazardous waste we often talk about that - consumers see hazardous waste in black and white - it's either there or not there. Milligrams, parts per trillion, or 55 gallon drums of a hazard all mean the same thing to them. It's up to us to make sure we have the right information to allay the fears of anyone who contacts us. I'll be sure to post Florida and Maine's results when they are available.
Have a great weekend!
Laurie J. Tenace
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
PH: (850) 245-8759
[email protected]
Regarding this "urban myth" about it costing $2000 to clean up the mercury from a broken compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) - if you call a contractor in to your home to clean up a mercury spill and test for residual mercury, this is a pretty standard base charge, regardless of the amount of mercury spilled. In my opinion, this was an unnecessary charge by an unscrupulous contractor!
Laurie J. Tenace
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
PH: (850) 245-8759
[email protected]
Dear Mel and Colleagues--
This was an EXTREME over reaction on the part of all involved. Chemophobia is rabid these days and doesn't do anyone any good! My $.02.
Tom
Tom Shelley
118 E. Court St.
Ithaca, NY 14850
607 342-0864
[email protected]
http://www.myspace.com/99319958
This is false. Check out Snopes at http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/cfl.asp.
Cheers,
Wendy
We've been using CFLs in our home for over 10 years and have never broken one, so the problem of clean-up simply hasn't arisen. One reason for this is that, having a life of 8000 or more hours, they rarely need replacing, so the're handled less often and hence have a lower risk of being broken when compared with a normal incandescent bulb which has a much shorter life.
Bernie Masters