In my opinion, they should be outlawed world-wide. Period. Suddenly,
just as the government here in the UK looks set to ban sales of
incandescents, a movement is rearing up to bring to the attention of
the great unwashed (and the dumb politicians) the potential hazards
of using, accidentally breaking, and safely disposing of CFLs. I sincerely
hope that it gains sufficient momentum to cast enough doubt over this
dreadful knee-jerk technology, to knock its viability as a direct
replacement
for incandescents, firmly on the head...

The amount of mercury in any single bulb is small. And it's elemental
mercury, not an organic mercury compound, which is not as toxic as the
latter.

We've been using fluroescent lamps for almost 70 years. Their presence
didn't seem to cause much in the way of environmental problems. Or scratched
hands.

I've replaced several incandescents with CFLs, and I'm very, very pleased.
Part of it is that they're in glass fixtures that have a slightly warm cast.
You'd never know they're CFLs.