Those curly-cue lightbulbs the government essentially forced you to put in your home are a double menace: They contain mercury, and now a study says they can cause cancer too.
Money saving, compact fluorescent light bulbs emit high levels of ultra violet radiation, according to a new study. Research at Long Island’s Stony Brook found that the bulbs emit rays so strong that they can actually burn skin and skin cells.
“The results were that you could actually initiate cell death,” said Marcia Simon, a Professor of Dermatology.
Exposure to the bulbs could lead to premature aging and skin cancer, according to doctors.
“It can also cause skin cancer in the deadliest for, and that’s melanoma,” said Dr. Rebecca Tung.
Isn’t that nice.
I’ve never trusted CFL bulbs myself because of the mercury in them, so I’ve started to use LED bulbs in spots where the bulb tends to blow out frequently or where they’re hard to replace. But LED bulbs are expensive and the energy savings you get by using them won’t really pay off for years because of their up-front cost. CFLs were supposed to be the replacement for Edison’s less efficient bulbs. Like most government mandates, it turns out that the problem they “solve” really didn’t need solving, and the benefits are outweighed by the loss of liberty and in in this case, the fact that they can kill you.
(h/t Katie Pavlich)
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