Of course what these researchers fail to grasp is that the mercury in CFLs is a special non-toxic isotope of mercury called HgPC.
Here’s an excerpt from the study abstract:
This article presents an original study on the releases of mercury (Hg) from broken compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) under various environmental conditions… Hg vapor emission test revealed that the CFLs continuously release Hg vapor once broken and the release can last over 10 weeks. Total amount of Hg vapor released from a broken CFL can exceeds 1.0 mg, which can cause Hg level in a regular room to exceed the safe human exposure limit under poor ventilation conditions.
somebody should learn what an isotope is…
“Of course what these researchers fail to grasp is that the mercury in CFLs is a special non-toxic isotope of mercury called HgPC”
Hasn’t this site long campaigned against CFL’s precisely because they can cause mercury contamination and pose a genuine health hazard?
“The Hg leaching out from CFLs
in dissolved forms in the environment can be transformed
into methylmercury, which biomagnifies up the food chain
and is highly toxic.”
JK: “Can be transformed” – but is it transformed?
What percentage?
How rapidly?
thanks
Jk
Within the report: “The Hg leaching out from CFLs
in dissolved forms in the environment can be transformed
into methylmercury, which biomagnifies up the food chain
and is highly toxic.”
This gives rise to a great question for the EPA — What will the typical release of mercury be when a Tornado such as the one in Joplin MO wipes out a populated area that uses CFLs in place of incandecent lamps? That release dramatically increased the Hg vapor in the entire community and its land fills and passed a large quanity into the atmosphere to distribute by the wind. Perhaps CFLs should be banned for use in tornado, earthquake and flood prone areas as an environmental protection concern!
In the same we we can see that a volcano releases massive quanities of CO2 and truly hazzardous gases. What release of Hg can be caused by a tornado in a square mile of a densly pupulated area — what is the equivilant in coal fired power plant Hg emission?