These CFL bulbs(and any fluorescent bulb) contain more than 300 times the legal EPA limit for mercury. You break one of these in your house and you effectively have turned your home into a highly toxic, unlivable area until you have special cleanup companies com in. Start hoarding incandescents folks. I’m doing that right now…and hoping the upcoming wave of LED lights don’t have this mercury problem. Of course this only one of many ways being “green” is actually killing us.
But far more importantly, CFLs are loaded with deadly mercury, one of the most toxic elements on Earth. In fact, all CFL bulbs contain at least four to five milligrams of mercury, about 200 times the amount of mercury in a flu vaccine shot. There is enough mercury in each CFL bulb to contaminate 6,000 gallons of clean water. To break one of these CFL bulbs is to risk ruining the health of ones entire family, or office staff, with enough released atmospheric mercury to best require the expensive, professional services of a Haz/Mat Removal Team.
Believe not the clean-up methods for broken CFL bulbs offered by those in the mainstream media, which tell us to open a window, then leave the area of the broken bulb for 15 minutes; then return with duct tape to pick-up the broken glass.
Then what is one to do? Put the broken glass and duct tape into a glass jar and screw on a tight lid.
What is one to do with the glass jar? Take it to a special toxic dump.
Where are such dumps? Check your local listings.
All of the above, of course, is sheer nonsense. Want proof? Ask your dentist about the Haz/Mat teams that come into their offices to remove their old, used collection of mercury-laden dental amalgams, which dentists keep in little lead lined boxes.
All Americans will be well advised to practice a mercury escape plan in the case of an accidental breakage of one of these CFL bulbs: Grab your cell phone, babies, dogs, cats, and parakeets (if they arent already dead), and get well away from your house. Call a Haz/Mat company to completely clean your house before re-entering it. Such are the serious dangers of mercury.