What's in a Lamp?
A fluorescent lamp consists of a glass shell, a high vacuum, a small amount of liquid mercury and evaporated mercury, some phosphor powder, and the metal end caps and heated filaments.
Fluorescent light is produced by passing an electric current through mercury vapor, which generates ultraviolet energy. A phosphor coating on the inside of the bulb transforms the ultraviolet energy into visible light. A single four-foot fluorescent tube contains from 5 to 50 milligrams of mercury.
When lamps are sent to landfills, or especially when incineration is used as an alternative disposal method, mercury vapors are released that can travel over 200 miles! It is highly toxic to the human nervous system and particularly poisonous to the kidneys. Once absorbed by the body, mercury is distributed by the blood to all tissues of the human body, and it easily crosses the placental barrier; prenatal exposure can lead to a variety of health problems including a severe form of cerebral palsy.
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Each year, an estimated 600 million fluorescent lamps are disposed of in the US landfills amounting to 30,000 pounds of mercury waste.
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The Environmental Protection Agency reports that 187 incinerators nationwide emit approximately 70,000 total pounds of mercury into the environment each year.
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In 1992, mercury-containing lamps were added to the United States' Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) list of hazardous substances. (The EPA's regulatory threshold of 0.2 mg./liter is usually exceeded by mercury-containing lamps).
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Mercury was number three on the 1997 list of hazardous substances as outlined by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the EPA.
Due to the new Federal Environmental Protection Agency's regulations on lamps, which went into effect on January 6th, 2000, most non-residential facilities are now required by law to properly dispose of their lamps. Landfills are increasingly intolerant of lamps from non-residential sources due to the amount of mercury found in each lamp. Lamps later found in landfills are subject to retroactive clean-up costs under CERCLA. Recycling of the lamp components is the recommended method of disposal by the Environmental Protection Agency and helps to minimize facility liability.
Proper packaging of the lamps coupled with the recycling of the lamps will greatly reduce the mercury dilemma and create a much safer environment.
Why is Mercury Bad?
Mercury is a persistent, bio-accumulative toxin that has increased at least three fold in the atmosphere and ocean over the past century, posing a risk to human health, wildlife and the ecological balance. The Food and Drug Administration and 41 states warn consumers to limit or not eat certain fish due to mercury levels and ten states advise pregnant women and children to limit consumption of canned tuna, the most consumed fish in the US. A potent neurotoxin, mercury exposures can affect the brain, kidneys and liver, and cause developmental problems. Data from the Centers for Disease Control indicates that 1-in-12 women of childbearing age have unsafe mercury levels, translating into over 300,000 children born each year in the US at risk of exposure to mercury.
It has been noted in China that autism was virtually non-existent before 1999. In that year the major pharmaceutical companies began shipping immunization drugs to this country. In 2005 there are now nearly 10,000,000 autism cases reported. It has been found that immunizations contain a mercury compound that may be a cause of autism.
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