Compact fluorescent lamps and mercury
Consumers are buying compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) in record numbers. This has raised some fears about the mercury levels in CFLs. Do CFLs contain mercury and is it harmful?
CFLs contain less than 5 milligrams of mercury, a typical mercury thermometer contains approximately 1 gram of mercury, (1 gram equals 1000 milligrams). Therefore, the mercury from one liquid thermometer equals the mercury level of 200 CFLs.
Consumers are uneasy about liquid mercury escaping from a thermometer and endangering their children. There is also a similar fear about CFLs. However, the mercury in a CFL is in a vapor, not a liquid form. Therefore, it would be released as vapor when the CFL is broken. This mercury vapor cannot be handled by someone like the liquid mercury from a thermometer.
Additionally, the miniscule amount of mercury inside a CFL slowly bonds with the phosphor coating on the bulb interior as it ages, making it generally unavailable to the atmosphere or human consumption. In fact, the lack of available gaseous mercury is one reason the bulb eventually fails.
No individual health problems associated with this vapor have ever been documented; however, one should take reasonable care and not inhale the vapor. Keep children away from broken CFLs. No definitive documentation exists, but the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) believes that vapor released from millions of these CFLs could accumulate in the environment and eventually create some health risk. |
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Household waste of this type is exempt from EPA and state regulations. But, you should consider recycling all household items when possible. Know about any waste transfer recycling station near you, and join your local recycling program.
Commercial users should follow EPA's disposal regulations, which can be found at www.epa.gov.
The bottomline:
The conservation benefits of installing a CFL far outweigh any individual or environmental hazard associated with this product.
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