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Several
sources
have been reporting the imminent demise of the incandescent
filament light bulb throughout the EU bloc.
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband seemed
happy to add traditional light bulbs to the Government's
'banned' list, all in the name of combatting climate
change of course.
I could have started this piece in similar vein to
an article written last month for World
Net Daily (the US is also in line to ban the old
bulbs):
"Amidst all the current financial chaos, amidst
global pandemonium and the spiraling economy, amidst
the dangers from terrorism … you'll be glad to know
that the U.S. government is still hard at work protecting
us from a threat so vile, so evil and so dangerous that
it dwarfs all those other petty international and domestic
concerns we face as a nation. I refer, of course, to
the incandescent light bulb."
Maybe a tad over the top, or is it?
Natural
News reports that "according to health advocates
including the Skin Care Campaign, Spectrum and even
the British Association of Dermatologists, fluorescent
light bulbs are known to worsen skin rashes in people
with a variety of diseases and conditions including
dermatitis, eczema, lupus, photosensitivity, porphyria
and Xeroderma Pigmentosum."
"Fluorescent bulbs have also been known to cause
migraines and even seizures in epileptics."
"Approximately 100,000 people in the United Kingdom
have medical conditions that make their skin sensitive
to fluorescent light."
"The groups warned that a complete ban on incandescent
lighting for people with such conditions would violate
the Disability Discrimination Act, and that employers
should also be allowed to purchase incandescent lights
if their employees have a need for them."
Normal lightbulbs on prescription perhaps? I wonder
what the 'street' value would be.
The Maine
Department of Environmental Protection has studied
the dangers of broken compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs)
and cleanup concerns.
Some of their conclusions are worrying to say the least:
"Mercury concentration in the study room air often
exceeds the Maine Ambient Air Guideline (MAAG) of 300
nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3) for some period of
time, with short excursions over 25,000 ng/m3, sometimes
over 50,000 ng/m3, and possibly over 100,000 ng/m3 from
the breakage of a single compact fluorescent lamp."
"all types of flooring surfaces tested can retain
mercury sources even when visibly clean. Flooring surfaces,
once visibly clean, can emit mercury immediately at
the source that can be greater than 50,000 ng/m3. Flooring
surfaces that still contain mercury sources emit more
mercury when agitated than when not agitated. This mercury
source in the carpeting has particular significance
for children rolling around on a floor, babies crawling,
or non mobile infants placed on the floor."
"Cleaning up a broken CFL by vacuuming up the
smaller debris particles in an un-vented room can elevate
mercury concentrations over the MAAG in the room and
it can linger at these levels for hours. A vacuum can
become contaminated by mercury such that it cannot be
easily decontaminated. Vacuuming a carpet where a lamp
has broken and been visibly cleaned up, even weeks after
the cleanup, can elevate the mercury readings over the
MAAG in an un-vented room."
I have never bought any of the new bulbs, but I received
two free ones in the post a few months ago from my electricity
supplier, neither of which has any warning whatsoever
about potential hazards or advice on correct disposal
and both are staying in their boxes.
Did they never do their own tests or are we considered
nothing more than consumers? Perhaps they thought that
as infants we received jabs containing mercury-based
preservatives, so a bit more of the poison wouldn't
make much difference.
Many drinks and crisp-type snacks aimed at children
(and adults) contain aspartame (NutraSweet). There has
been concern for years about the health implications
of this substance. A private individual has conducted
her own experiments with aspartame
on rats with terrifying results.
Is this one reason cancers in humans have been rising
exponentially?
I just mention this as we are taking into our bodies,
one way or another, so many chemicals, ostensibly to
make modern life better, but we often seem to end up
paying for it. Consider some of the 'e-numbers' and
their effects, especially on children.
Back to lightbulbs and the comments under this Daily
Mail piece suggest that there are big issues with
fluorescent lighting and health.
Patrice Lewis continues on WND,
"As an aside, it's never been explained to me
why, if compact fluorescent light bulbs are so superior,
they warrant their own personal disposal facility to
keep from poisoning the air, groundwater, etc. Nor has
it apparently occurred to anyone that the energy required
to conduct this specialized recycling of CFLs and corral
the dangerous mercury completely offsets the potential
energy savings over incandescents. The extra time, energy,
cost and gas requirements for people to deliver their
used CFLs to recycling facilities also counterbalance
any individual savings in energy consumption. And how
about the fact that almost all CFLs are manufactured
in China under staggeringly hazardous and environmentally
dangerous conditions by non-union state slaves?"
As for the millions of new bulbs which will be disposed
of irresponsibly, what effect will they have on the
environment?
This
company sells light bulb recycling kits and warns
"Each year, an estimated 600 million fluorescent
lamps are disposed of in U.S. landfills amounting to
30,000 pounds of mercury waste."
They also state that "It is unlawful for anyone
to dispose of fluorescent bulbs as universal waste in
the states of California, Minnesota, Ohio, Illinois,
Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin," so wait for
even more gestapo tactics in waste removal/recycling
here in the UK via the EU down to local councils.
I reckon that the whole environment movement, outside
of genuine do-gooders who believe everything they read,
is about a) control and b) taxation.
I know I'll be stocking up on plenty of normal light
bulbs, but there was talk a while ago that council snoopers
will be able to enter our homes to check what bulbs
we are using.
I don't doubt the Government will try this in the ongoing
process of enslaving us. They must, of course, be stopped!
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