I've been doing my weekly writing gig at Eco-Child's Play and I just wrote two articles that may be of interest to you, dear readers.
Last week's was a post about a new guide and information from the Environmental Working Group about buying CFL bulbs with less mercury. I wrote about the concern of mercury in those energy saving bulbs here months ago, and this is welcome information about how to buy the bulbs containing less mercury, and how to encourage the EPA to make the standards more strict.
And just today I posted an article about third hand smoke, which is the smoke that lingers in furniture, clothing and carpets. Several media reports have come out in recent days about a new study of the toxicity (lead and arsenic, to name a few) of areas where a smoker has been.
4 comments:
I applied to be a writer there and was denied just today. i feel sad. i wanted to be a contributer. :(
Hi Katy, I've been using CFL's for a number of years now,and have never had one break. No breaks,no danger!But should one break then I'm confident that by following the correct clean up procedure,that we would be safe. Of course correct disposal of spent bulbs is critical to keep mercury out of the environment and we can only trust that the recycling contractors take their role seriously, especially now that the lucrative market in recycled materials is under pressure from the dare I say the "D" word? Hmm ok I'll conform and call it a recession.
I'm more worried about the mercury that I've had in my mouth for years in the form of dental amalgam and the merury that I was exposed to when I worked for a dentist and spent a good part of the day mixing the damned stuff up.
Technology has already moved on from CFL's anyway. As soon as the price comes down a little we will switch over our house to LED lighting. Even lower consumption than CFL's,much longer lasting and mercury free:)
The article about third hand smoke was interesting. I wish there was some way to keep our children completely safe from it.
We have used a CFL product called WellnessLight Kids for about a year for this very reason - VOCs! We started using air cleaning CFLs after living in Japan for a couple years. There seems to be several brands. We purchased a couple Wellness Light Kids CFLs online and are very pleased with the results. Although it sounds like a crazy idea to clean the air using a light bulb, the technology is much more advanced than standard air cleaning products normally used in the West - plus in the long run it is soooooo much cheaper than replacing filters. I first learned about this while at our annual doctors visit in Tokyo. Haven't used anything else in our home since. Would be great t see more families outside of Asia and Europe using these types of CFLs.
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