by Chrissy the Hyphenated – March 8, 2011
… Thou shalt use only Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFLs).
Sorry. Not me. I tried them and the only place I decided we should continue to use them was in the porch light where the wire thingie inside the incandescent bulbs was always breaking whenever someone slammed the door too hard. CFLs use mercury vapor, which is unaffected by slamming doors.
While I definitely resent the government telling me what I can and cannot buy, my personal Big Issue is that I am allergic to something CFLs emit when they’re warm, which is like all the time they’re on so once the ban goes into effect, I’m going to be forced to become a scofflaw.
I’m hoping the Indian reservation near us will carry “illegal” light bulbs. Ha.
We encountered some other problems with CFLs. Like, that they interfere with radio reception when they’re on, so forget listening to music while doing the mending.
Also, they were too tall and/or wide for some of my lamps’ shades. And they’re really heavy, which made the lamps they did fit prone to tipping over. So safe with children and pets … NOT.
And you should get a load of what the feds say is the only SAFE way to CLEAN UP a broken CFL bulb!
I also understand that if you screw the bulb in by holding the glass part … which is the way everyone does screw in a light bulb, am I right? … you risk loosening the vacuum seal on the glass tube part, which can lead to the bulbs overheating and smoking. Apparently, the only safe way to screw in CFL bulbs is by holding them in the most awkward way possible, which means in the way that most everyone in the country is NOT going to hold them.
If these bulbs are a risk for well-educated parents and pet owners (who are also anal enough to hold them the awkward way), then how dangerous is MANDATING them going to be for all the rest of the country, especially all those poor little unsupervised inner city latchkey kids the Left says they care about so much?
Supporters of the incandescent bulb ban talk like incandescents are planet killers. Yeah. Suuuure. Like I’m really going to BELIEVE people who SWORE that snowy winter fun would be a distant memory by now.
They also claim that the mercury in CFLs is no biggie, because coal plants release mercury too and we’ll just burn way less coal if we all use CFLs.
Ummmmmmm … I can’t speak to part two, but I’m fairly clear that coal plants are limited in number and can be inspected and regulated. Not so the MILLIONS of mercury-filled bulbs that are going to end up, not in special containers sent to toxic recycling centers, but in ordinary trash cans along the streets of America … where they will break (and release their toxic mercury vapor) either in the trash cans or as they’re dumped into the garbage trucks or when the trucks compact the trash.
So never mind the kids, the pets and the landfills … what about all the garbage collectors who are going to be exposed to the fumes all day every day?
Call me cynical, but I’m thinking some folks stand to make BIG BUCKS from this “we all have to use CFLs” thing. Normally I wouldn’t care much if Al Gore gets rich or not. But if it is at the expense of the health of the good folks who do the Dirty Job of picking up our trash? Fuhgeddaboutit.
Can you tell I’m angry? Duh. I’ve ranted on this before, but today I’ve got something we can all DO. Reps. Joe Barton, R-Texas; Michael Burgess, R-Texas; and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, and a dozen other House members introduced a bill to overturn the light bulb law.
You can check on the text and progress of this bill @ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.91:
GRAPHICS: The three above are in my “I am Pro-Choice on LIGHT BULBS” album along with four other informative, amusing and otherwise pithy items on the same topic by yours truly @ http://community.webshots.com/album/579877468XKAlSZ. As always, you can click to embiggen the graphics for easier reading both here and at Webshots.
polination.blog 
This has nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with money. There is no way I want those bulbs in my kids rooms. Like all boys, mine love to toss balls around in their room. Can you imagine what will happen when on of the balls hits those mercury bulbs? Sorry, but if I have to illegal buy the other bulbs in Mexico to keep my kids safe, I will.
If those people cared anything about the environment they would ban the mercury bulbs. Can you imagine what will happen when everyone starts tossing their burned out mercury bulbs into the regular trash? (Did you know they burn out way faster than they are supposed to?) You and I both know that is what will happen and then the mercury laden remains of these bulbs will contaminate the land fills. You know someone will make billions cleaning up the toxic mess created by the government forcing everyone to use these bulbs.
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I will vote for any candidate who promises to bring back the incandescent light bulb. Except for Obama, because he lied about everything else during his 2008 campaign, so he’ll probably say he will, but he won’t. Ack!
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Chrissy, RMM, and Denise — I’m with you all the way. I detest (not dislike, DETEST) those horrible poison light bulbs. The only thing I hate more is the all-powerful nanny state that thinks it has the right to tell me what kind of light bulbs I can or can’t use.
If you have not yet read our friend MaryOhSoContrary’s account of her recent encounter with the poison light bulb, don’t miss it:
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Oh my….bob, that post from MaryOhSo is hilarious. I could see it all so clearly! LOL!
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ROFLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!! Oh, Bob! Thank you SO much for that link!! ::snort:: [wiping off monitor]
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Dittos Chrissy and thanks Bob…and MaryOh!!!!
I too had an almost fatal experience with a curly death bulb, in that company coming sort of frenzied way. Smashed one good whilst flinging the vac between a floor lamp and chair. Aka, a rock and a hard place. The dang bulb EXPLODED, I was covered in deathly dust particles…..quick re-vac and shower….
OK, I lived to tell about it, despite not following the HazMat/Civil Defense instructions to evacuate the neighborhood…and the feds didn’t show up either 😀
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Gosh, Denise, that’s SCARY! Yikes!
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Here we are required to get special bags to dispose of the lightbulbs – and then we have issues getting it to the proper landfill spot – no pickups available for it. I resent being subjected to the mess if one breaks too.
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I have a feeling the same people making a $$$ killing off curly bulbs are invested in the “special bags” too. And do these “special bags” decompose? If so, will the mercury still seep into my air and drinking water.
Hypocrites, everyone of them 😦
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I can’t tell you what I do when a curly light bulb breaks.
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But I also often drive over the speed limit.
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http://www.investors.com/EditorialCartoons/Cartoon.aspx?id=565372
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I hate the curly fry light bulbs. Will definitely be stocking up on incandesant bulbs!
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