Fluorescent Bulbs 300 Times Health Risk Limit

[Bubbajms]

There are CFLs that are designed for multi-level (300/100/50 Watt, for example, or specifically for dimmers) and there are CFLs that aren't..

I've got about a dozen in use in my home, including a couple outside that gets the wild temperature extremes. The only one that's burned out (after 3 years of use) is the one in the kitchen..

 

[Archaic_Entity]

You know, I think the major concern is that eventually, most of them are going to end up getting broken in some form or another. You can say that you'll recycle it properly and all, but I guarantee you that the majority of them get tossed and gone just like regular bulbs.

Either way, mercury poisoning is no bueno.

Also... anyone who eats light bulbs is stupid.

 

[Lex Concord]

There's health risks, sure. But there's far greater risks letting teens drive, right?? CFL bulbs are pretty low on my list o'worries..

My kids are far too young to drive, but they do breathe pretty regularly.

I have no problem with CFLs, I have a problem with the government mandating their use as a "cure" to the as yet unproven (and actually quite badly battered these days) thesis of human-caused global warming.

The result is another government-mandated study in the law of unintended consequences. Typical ham-handed legislation.

 

[Lex Concord]

Not yet, but in CA legislators are pushing for it.

I thought it was a done deal passed last year...time for me to do some more research

 

[Lex Concord]

It looks like the phase-out of incandescent bulbs is already law... see Congress bans incandescent bulbs

 

[StarKing]

Starking - well, sure, that's the MSDS on Tungsten. But that fillament looks pretty sharp and nasty! Stainless steel probably wouldn't poison you if you ate it, but a fishhook of the same material would..

Nope, but I was just ribbing you anyway, your point still stands.

(I wouldn't want to eat a piece of tungsten, much less a tungsten fishhook either way)

 

[Ness2k]

Health risks aside, I'm keeping my bulbs. No clue how they would break, either. I'm not particularly fresh with my lamps.

Besides, we switched all our bulbs over and noticed a big difference.

 

[StarKing]

"consumers should be forced to use them"

Another case of the .gov knowing what's best for everyone.

As I see it that is absolutely the number one problem here. Prohibitionists of all stripes have gotten completely out of hand.
You can find some excuse to ban anything under the sun "for our own good", and until we put a stop to the idea that prohibitionist attitudes are OK, this crap is never going to stop.
If there was ever a legitimate use for the concept of "politically correct", this is it: Prohibitionism should not be considered "politically correct" among free people.

 

[lacroixdp]

CFL are just a stop-gap until LEDs become more cost-effective. Once LEDs become as cheap as CFLs they'll slowly go away.

 

[hoosiertriangle]

I remember reading a study somewhere back when I was an engineer working on power plants that the amount of mercury in a CFL is less than the amount of Mercury emitted by a coal power plant to light up the non-CFL equivalent.

On the whole, the CFL is more concentrated, but using a non-CFL will emit more Mercury into the atmosphere because of the increased emission of Mercury from coal power generation.