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)
Eh, don’t worry. With Obamacare, you won’t actually get cured (too expensive) but you will get a nice pain pill.
Well, maybe a baby aspirin.
Or, they’ll show you a nice digital picture of the pain pill you would take if you could afford it (real pill NOT covered by Obamacare), give you a 10-page full-color brochure on contraceptives (which ARE covered by Obamacare), provide a $150 government-issued and taxpayer-funded HazMat Cleanup Kit (aka: a pair of disposable gloves and a trash bag), and direct you to the Obama Campaign website where you can conveniently pay your bill online.
Here’s what I think is truly going to sink them–I’ve noticed they highlight gray hair better.
it’s a microcosm of government.
” 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.”
government kills. Always has, always will. It takes a village to start a war.
I’ve been using the Edison bulbs the whole time. They’re still available.
I’ve been saying, since the start, that the whole CFL hoopla was a scam. I firmly believe that the companies that make the light bulbs decided that this was a wonderful way to sell more expensive light bulbs to the public. They got the environmentalists on board (how easy was it to fool them, do you think) and then we had all those public service announcments about how if we changed all or our light bulbs to these things, it’d be like taking 10 million cars off the road or something. None of it was believable, and the supposedly objective studies about how long they last have been (in my personal experience) been pretty thoroughly debunked. They cost 4-8 times as much as an incandescent bulb, and last twice as long (if you’re lucky) as them, so the profit margin to the light bulb manufacturer is substantially greater.
Now we’ve all switched over, and the older bulbs are illegal. We’re stuck with the newer, more expensive ones, and if they do cause cancer, in 10-15 years *maybe* the Federal Government will allow a switch back…but I doubt it. We’ll probably be switching to LED bulbs by then (hopefully the price will come down) but switching back would involve something the government will never say: that they made a mistake with something important.
Will Congress critters reconsider the ban on incandescents? They are probably all in the pocket of GE and other manufacturers.
For those who use these CFLs. Please, please keep in mind to not use them where there is any nearby flammable materials, or fabrics. Places such as table lamps and such areas where there there may be table cloths, papers, etc.
I have had multiple CFLs fail in a most violent fashion. They may start to stink like burning plastic or wiring. They may visibly smoke or smolder. They may get hot and spark enough to leave burn marks on their outer plastic bases. They may get hot enough to fracture or melt the glass tube, releasing the mercury. They may damage the light socket during these failures from heat and arcing.
This has happened to me personally multiple times. I removed the last one in my house just a week or so ago, when everyone started complaining of an intermittent horrible plastic-burning stink. I had momentary panic thinking of a furnace fire, or wires burning inside my wall, until the sickly smell jarred my memory; “CFL BULB MELTING DUMMY!” I had missed when clearing them out…
Into the trash with it (sorry EPA I don’t do hazmat crews). I have a good stash of Edison’s finest, and you can still buy as many as your wallet can afford – as long as you don’t want 100 Watts – they are already gone, though somewhere I managed to find 90 watt ones.
I would recommend getting CFLs out of your house. This articles just adds one more nail in the CFL coffin. Better it than us….they can kill.
This is just as bad – if not worse – than about any other “green” idea to come down the gubmint pike.
Best to go ahead and invest in companies that clean up hazardous waste sites now, before their stock value skyrockets in a few years as these bulbs leak mercury into groundwater around landfills.