From Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News
Mercury vapor released from broken compact fluorescent light bulbs can exceed safe exposure levels
New Rochelle, NY, July, 6, 2011—Once broken, a compact fluorescent light bulb continuously releases mercury vapor into the air for weeks to months, and the total amount can exceed safe human exposure levels in a poorly ventilated room, according to study results reported in Environmental Engineering Science, a peer-reviewed online only journal published monthly by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com). The article is available free online at www.liebertpub.com/ees
The amount of liquid mercury (Hg) that leaches from a broken compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) is lower than the level allowed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), so CFLs are not considered hazardous waste. However, Yadong Li and Li Jin, Jackson State University (Jackson, MS) report that the total amount of Hg vapor released from a broken CFL over time can be higher than the amount considered safe for human exposure.
They document their findings in the article “Environmental Release of Mercury from Broken Compact Fluorescent Lamps.”
As people can readily inhale vapor-phase mercury, the authors suggest rapid removal of broken CFLs and adequate ventilation, as well as suitable packaging to minimize the risk of breakage of CFLs and to retain Hg vapor if they do break, thereby limiting human exposure.
Tests of eight different brands of CFLs and four different wattages revealed that Hg content varies significantly from brand to brand. To determine the amount of Hg released by a broken CFL, Li and Jin used standard procedures developed by the EPA to measure leaching of mercury in liquids and used an emission monitoring system to detect Hg vapor.
“This paper is a very nice holistic analysis of potential risks associated with mercury release from broken CFLs and points to potential human health threats that have not always been considered,” according to Domenico Grasso, PhD, Editor-in-Chief and Vice President for Research, Dean of the Graduate College, University of Vermont (Burlington).
Environmental Engineering Science is an authoritative interdisciplinary journal publishing state-of-the-art studies of innovative solutions to problems in air, water, and land contamination and waste disposal. It features applications of environmental engineering and scientific discoveries, policy issues, environmental economics, and sustainable development. Complete tables of content and a free sample issue may be viewed online at www.liebertpub.com/ees
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Sustainability: The Journal of Record, Environmental Justice, and Industrial Biotechnology. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 60 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available at www.liebertpub.com
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Bug:
http://fiel-inimigo.blogspot.com/2011/07/e-bug.html
Well, if you are one of those ecoloons that wish to depopulate Gaia to post ice-age levels, CFLs make a sort of sense. No pressure, mind you.
Sad, I failed to use my best digression and jumped into the CFL pool. My wife and I have not done a lot, but we have done enough to cut down our summer time electricity bill from well over $400/month, to sub $300. Not terrible for a ~2500 sq-ft house in N. Texas.
But part of savings came from CFL’s. My children’s rooms no longer have them, as any lamps that could get readily knocked over. This started after I knocked over box containing an extra CFL and it broke. Even worse, in the closed that is now my daughter’s. Needless to say, before she moved in, the carpet has been replaced. And the windows at that corner of the house where open for a day with fans running.
Anyway, so now I’ve jumped into LED lighting, finding the Phillips 40W and 60W lights at HomeDepot my solution of choice (for dimming and color).
Hey, its only $$$$$$$
Now, I am trying to figure out what I am going to do with the working CFL’s I am taking out of service. I am thinking about just putting the box on the break room table at work……..
Geeez, gotta love google ads. There’s an ad for CFL’s on my page, right under the article saying that they might be dangerous if handled poorly. That’s irony.
I love being a South Carolina resident. We refused that stupid federal ID thing. We don’t do vehicle emission testing. We’re right to work. And… we’re working on a law that will allow us to continue to manufacture and use incandescent lightbulbs after Federal law bans them everywhere else. So, while the rest of you are going blind from poorly lighted rooms and breathing dangerous mercury vapors, I’ll be basking in the glory of my 100 watt-ers. I should send one to Obama every year for christmas or something. Then he can have at least one room of the whitehouse that’s well-lit.
“GE, ya think?” FIFY
This whole “what’s caused by global warming” is getting out of hand. What we need is a “What is not caused by AWG” list. Undoubtedly be a much shorter list and easier to manage.
If accurate, this information should recieve the widest possible dissemination, but will it?
Will the folks who ranted incessantly over the evils of incandescent lights while extolling the virtues of CFLs now recant?
Will they realize that the “consensus” in this regrard wasn’t exactly correct?
Will a light go off in their dimly lit brains?
This is insane! They’re trying to kill us all!!!
It’s funny that no one seems to have bothered about mercury leaking from broken fluorescent tubes (the conventional sort) all these years…
I “recycled” a CFL at the local Home Depot store.
I think other large US home improvement stores like Menards will also take them.
If they want to sell them, they need to take them when they burn out.
I double bagged it in a zip-lock bag, and put it in a cardboard box to avoid breakage.
Dave,
It’s funny that no one seems to have bothered about mercury leaking from broken fluorescent tubes (the conventional sort) all these years…
Personally, I see it as risk exposure. I have 6 fixtures in the house that use fluorescent tubes. Very hard to accidentally break the tubes in the fixtures, and changing the tubes is a controlled exercise done by me.
The CFLs on the other hand are in simple light fixtures on desks, tables, floor lamps and the like.
And some of those fixtures will also get replaced as time goes on, in favor of new LEDs lighting of course. I still like the idea of reducing electrical use for lighting, and the reduced heat load for the A/C.
As with all things, YMMV.
Tom E. says: July 6, 2011 at 1:05 pm: Now, I am trying to figure out what I am going to do with the working CFL’s I am taking out of service. I am thinking about just putting the box on the break room table at work…
You might consider boxing them up and mailing them to your congresscritter. I’m sure that the Post Awful’s carefully handling will ensure they arrive intact.
There’s an assumption here that one or more of the following is true:
1) Elemental mercury is hazardous in small doses and we’re all going to die.
2) Mercury vapor turns into Methylmercury (like by reacting with residents’ flatulence?) which is better documented to be dangerous and we’re all going to die.
3) Mercury vapor turns into Dimethylmercury (double the flatulence?) in which case you died already. Nasty, nasty stuff.
It would seem to me that a “holistic analysis” would describe actual risks instead of potential risks.
More seriously, while elemental mercury is indeed toxic, you need prolonged exposure to small concentrations or briefer exposure to high concentrations.
Thomas Edison’s staff did have problems due to a “mercury pump” used to evacuate early lightbulbs. Near as I can figure it entailed pouring a container of mercury at the top of some plumbing, and catching it at the bottom, and doing so repeatedly until they had a decent vacuum. They must’ve had mercury splashed everywhere.
Ever tried chasing a mercury spill? Blobs break up into smaller blobs and they all roll away, squeezing through tiny holes which often create minuscule blobs. Frustrating! That was back in the 50s and 60s and yep, I’m gonna die. But not from mercury.
dave ward says:
July 6, 2011 at 1:49 pm
> It’s funny that no one seems to have bothered about mercury leaking from broken fluorescent tubes (the conventional sort) all these years…
Fluorescent bulbs tend to have a rather consistent life and when a few start to die, there’s a good chance the rest will also. So in commercial settings people tend to replace a whole building’s worth at once. At CMU I saw a workman (outside, probably a good thing), feeding bulb after bulb into a device designed to grind them into a dense bag of glass fragments and phosphor. And a little mercury….
Is it so hard to put a clear shrink wrap sleeve over a CFL bulb at the factory?
dave ward says:
July 6, 2011 at 1:49 pm
It’s funny that no one seems to have bothered about mercury leaking from broken fluorescent tubes (the conventional sort) all these years…
Funny how the government did not require you to use them…
dave ward says:
July 6, 2011 at 1:49 pm
It’s funny that no one seems to have bothered about mercury leaking from broken fluorescent tubes (the conventional sort) all these years…
_______________________________________________________________________________
Exactly! Go to any government building, any school, almost any store and look up. You’ll see fluorescent tubes glowing – each of which contains more mercury than a CFL. There’s lots of reasons to hate CFLs, but their mercury threat is way down the list. CFLs typically contain between 4 and 6 mg of elemental mercury. Upon breakage most of the mercury contained in the bulb adheres to the phosphor lining of the tube. Relatively little escapes as mercury vapor. You sweep it up and dispose of it and your threat of mercury exposure is almost nil.
The really toxic forms of mercury are organic mercury compounds (e.g. methylmercury). I actually researched this at length once. The average American consumes more methylmercury from their annual consumption of fish (especially tuna) than would be reasonably expected from a broken CFL. The EPA can’t backpeddle on their position on mercury. It would unravel decades of regulations and lawsuits they have worked on to vilify mercury so they are stuck supporting the ridiculous “hazmat” cleanup of a briken CFL. SPPI has an excellent series of articles of environmental mercury and the real hazards. I realize it’s fun to turn the eco-geeks’ own tactics on them, but I fear we come off foolish by doing so. The annoying RFI that CFLs produce and their inherent fire hazard are much better reasons to rail against them than a few mgs og Hg.
Not to worry because the EPA is going to stop mercury emissions from by regulating coal-fueled power plants out of existence, so it will all balance out.
Of course, without plentiful and affordable electricity, you won’t need to buy so many CFL bulbs, so you’re really coming out ahead.
If you live in New York, you can take them to a recycling or collection center, which is open 4 days per month. You must bring a government issued ID to dispose of the light bulbs. Not to vote, mind you, but to dispose of light bulbs.
Anybody have a guess about how many CFLs people just toss in the trash when they quit working?
I just got another 48 ea 100 watt bulbs. I have CFLs in places where it makes sense, but most of the lights are not. When LEDs get brighter and cheaper, I will probably change.
Call me crazy, but I like my light bulbs to produce actual light–at least more than the average one year old’s birthday cake.
And I loathe the fluorescents in my classroom. If one happens to break we have to get a hazmat in to clean it up, which might not be the best use of a cash-strapped school district’s resources.
Is this why warmists are so crazy? They’ve gotten high on mercury?
So far I’ve never had any quit working. The oldest one I’ve got going is on my porch, for at least 8 years.
I was at a family reunion this past weekend and delivered this shocking news to some of the relatives, but people really don’t know about this. And the sad part about it is this sector of my family is better educated than many university faculties.