Posted By andy.c.

Great article John

"if a compact fluorescent light bulb is broken in the home, the room should be cleared for 15 minutes because of the danger of inhaling mercury vapour".

Out of curiosity I have just checked all the literature that has arrived with the bulbs I have been sent by 3 different energy companies not one has included the above advice. Nor does it appear on the box of the bulb itself or the leaflet/ questionnaire inside asking how they can improve their quality and service.

Andy

Andy

Posted By Ron Hunter
And from an environmental perspective, very disappointing to read in the Times article that China are re-opening mines to extract Hg, with further pressure on water courses,energy used in extraction, etc.
China's record on environment issues is arguably far worse than their health and safety record, and will ultimately seriously affect the health of many.
I find it particularly galling that in our "global village" agreement could not be made and effective controls exercised to make use of the huge reserves of extracted Mercury currently held in stock by US and EU Governments. The U.S. alone holds more than 4500 tonnes!
A degree of corporate social responsibility could ensure that proper safeguards are in place. Apparently, as Europe and US run-down processes within their borders which use Mercury, these surplus reservoirs are intended to be kept in perpetuity. There is an obvious duplicity at work here.
Of course, a society with true social responsibilities would invest heavily in researching alternatives to the use of Mercury, not only for lightbulbs, but in (e.g.) gold extraction.