"rbowman" wrote in message
...
On 08/22/2015 10:47 PM, Robert Green wrote:
As an additional bonus, a broken LED doesn't warrant a hazmat spill
response

When I was a kid and school desks still had a groove for pencils (to say
nothing of the hole for inkwells) I had a little bottle of mercury
collected from old mercury switches. I'd amuse myself by pouring a
little into the groove and pushing the blobs back and forth. As far as I
can tell the worst effect was the outcome of the 'keeps busy at
worthwhile activities' entry on the report card.

I had a bottle of it - weighed a few pounds. Enough to float small,
improbable objects on it. Good for shining pennies as Lowrider reports,
pushed my finger in it a lot and my kids are perfectly non-existent. (-:

I believe the real issue is that when it's vaporized and inhaled (not sure
if breathing the white phospor dust does it) it's pretty nasty. So never
stand under a CFL that's about to fail with your mouth open.

Back in the '70s the company I worked for did contract assembly for
Sylvania, both grow lights and 4' energy saving tubes. The EPA
definitely doesn't need to know how the broken bulbs and non-starters
were handled...

They know. I read a study about the spread of mercury and they concluded
that it ends up mostly in the very bottoms of waste trucks and in the sumps
of waste transfer stations. Then it gets into the water and works its way
up to the top predator. What I remember most about mercury is Minimata and
those disturbing photographs. I am quite glad that CFL's probably won't be
around much longer because LED bulbs are almost always going to be cheaper
to make - no mazes of twisty glass spiral, all alike. (Remember Adventure?)

Of course, every factory and office in the world was
disposing of all those 40w T12's safely.

No doubt whatsoever. In the trailer for "Black Mass" about Whitey Bolger he
says: "If nobody saw it, it didn't happen." I know in NY and NJ that
principle governs much of the waste industry. Even my dog lives by the same
principle.

Then suddenly every CFL became
a lethal device ready to kill your children and pets.

Well, the press has to whip up a frenzy about everything. It's clearly high
on their list of job priorities.

--
Bobby G.