This is quite apart from the mercury inside the bulbs, which (presumably) only becomes a problem — in your home — if you happen to break one.◼ Energy saving light bulbs 'contain cancer causing chemicals' - Fears have been reignited about the safety of energy saving light bulbs after a group of scientists warned that they contain cancer causing chemicals. - Telegraph.co.uk
Their report advises that the bulbs should not be left on for extended periods, particularly near someone’s head, as they emit poisonous materials when switched on.
Peter Braun, who carried out the tests at the Berlin's Alab Laboratory, said: “For such carcinogenic substances it is important they are kept as far away as possible from the human environment....”
In my old house in Mack Town I replaced all the old bulbs with CFLs. Then we had a brown out. For some reason, that killed almost all the CFLs. So they all went into the trash. While I think it's a great idea to save energy, I'm not convinced that my little experiment helped the environment.
ReplyDeleteWe had three brown outs last summer, the first one took out almost all the CFLs, the second one took out the remaining and the replacements. No more.
ReplyDeleteNot only do they turn dull within a short period of time, whatever it is that fries them in a brownout, coupled with the mercury AND the nannystate crap that goes along with them - I'm done.
LED's are the future of lighting. They contain no mercury, last for years and use less electricity than CFL's.
ReplyDeleteExcelent post Rose.
ReplyDelete