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
What about the “poison cloud” emitted by CFLs? Did anyone confirm that report?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/8462626/Energy-saving-light-bulbs-contain-cancer-causing-chemicals.html
So if I have your own description correct, if you are clumsy enough to break a CFL and then lazy enough to leave it laying around in an enclosed room for weeks, mercury levels may exceed safe minimum for humans.
I have an unreasonable and unwitting response to all things and so after breaking a single CFL in my home I immediately called 911 to report it, but unwilling to trust “Big Gub’mint” to satisfactorily deal with the impending environmental crisis caused by that Evil Mercury, I then poured gasoline over the breakage area and burned the house to the ground.
After the FD put out the fire, I called on a priest to perform an exorcism; after this was complete we sacrificed a fatted calf on the ashes and sprinkled the area with salt, which was then blessed by the most Holy Al Gore Himself.
Next week the containment vessel with 3 foot thick concrete walls will entomb the area for 1000 years.
*****************************************************************
Really folks, a lot of you read like your cousins on the AGW alarmists page- all fear mongering, vindictive spew.
I don’t care for the color rendition myself in some of the early models, but I’ve had (in three years) only one fail in service, and since I live in Houston, where it’s already hot as hell, I find the living room noticeably cooler because of the reduction of 300 watts of heat output by the former incandescent bulbs.
So far, no progeny have appeared with either two heads or a moron level IQ.
In the past two decades two local building evacuations have taken place due mercury. In one case a junior high school was let out when a student brought liquid Hg. In another, the federal building was evacuated. Clearly in the case of the school the students were placed in far more precarious circumstances than they faced by a little liquid Hg.
It’s like the pool evacuations during a thunderstorm: nobody was ever killed by lightning while in a swimmming pool (one case of injury however).
And the Great Salt Lake is feared for its 90ppb methyl mercury, which the ex-governor once blamed on Chinese air pollution. If coal were the cause, we would expect similar “contamination” in Utah Lake or even Bear Lake, but none is seen. Pollution from the copper mine is a slight possibility, but the most likely cause for this Hg is natural: the lake has been concentrating minerals for thousands of years, and being shallow and muddy, it is able to convert inorganic Hg to the organic sort. Lake Eyre, in Australia, and in a rather pristine setting, has ten times the Hg concentration of the Great Salt Lake, probably entirely natural.
My experience? Between 10 and 20% of the bulbs don’t work, and the majority burn out within a year or two. But true, we don’t need extra heat in the summer. If everyone would turn off their computers in the summertime a whole lot of energy could be saved, but I never hear this advertised. Bill Gates’ Microsoft’s inefficient computers are a major source of wasted energy. And where I live, cold air returns are placed low for heating conditions, unsuitable for AC operation.
And the doctors don’t worry at all about the mercury in the vaccinations, which is probably higher than what you get from a broken bulb, which will be vacuumed, with fumes spread around the house or school, which would be evacuated because of liquid Hg of low volatility. The world really is crazy–hatters included. –AGF
It’s good to read from people on the right who want to stand up to the danger of mercury pollution, unlike corporate shills like W.Soon, who recently posed as a ‘mercury expert’ to downplay the risks of mercury pollution from coal mining in a NYT op-ed. Keep up the good work, Anthony!
So does that mercury vapor ever condense into liquid?
i don’t mind the CFL’s and don’t think i’ve ever unintentionally broken any kind of light bulb….if anyone was worried about that then recessed lighting would help except for removal/replacement…i think the real problem is disposal and i’m wondering why the recycling centers that take aluminum cans, bottles etc for CRV aren’t also made to take all kinds of batteries and old electronics and CFL’s as well and then reimbursed by local or state gov’t…that would keep a lot of toxic materials out of the landfill….
am eagerly awaiting affordable LED lighting though…
Do you have those overhead in the living room?
Don’t you find that kind of lighting a tad bit harsh … prolly works wonders for a ‘grow operation’ though … 😉
/sarc (The point being CFLs are used in residential/home/human-living-quarters areas, esp. w/kids and pets. Yes, pets too. BTW, I was a BIG user of Circline fluorescent fixturing in some lamps BEFORE the big kick for CFLs took off!!!!!!!)
From wiki:
Fluorescent lamps have much higher efficacy than filament lamps. For the same amount of light generated, they typically use around one-quarter to one-third the power of an incandescent.
Fluorescents were mostly limited to linear and a round ‘Circline’ lamp until the 1980s, with other shapes never gaining much popularity. The compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) was commercialized in the early 1980s.
.