An energy saving bulb has gone - evacuate the room now!

[Guest guest]

An energy saving bulb has gone - evacuate the room now!By MARTIN DELGADO

 

WARNING

 

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has issued the

following advice on what to do if a low-energy light bulb breaks.

 

Evacuate the room, taking care not to step on the shards of glass

littering the floor.

 

Do not use a vacuum cleaner to clear up the mess as the machine's

sucking action could spread toxic mercury droplets around the house.

 

Put on rubber gloves and sweep the debris into a dustpan.

 

Place the remains in a plastic bag and seal it.

 

Do not put the bag in a normal household dustbin.

 

Instead, place it in a municipal recycling bin for batteries which also

contain mercury or take it to a council dump where it can be disposed of

safely.

 

Try not to inhale dust from the broken bulb.

 

Danger: The new eco-friendly bulbs contain toxic mercury

 

Energy-saving light bulbs are so dangerous that everyone must leave the

room for at least 15 minutes if one falls to the floor and breaks, a

Government department warned yesterday.

 

The startling alert came as health experts also warned that toxic

mercury inside the bulbs can aggravate a range of problems including

migraines and dizziness.

 

And a leading dermatologist said tens of thousands of people with skin

complaints will find it hard to tolerate being near the bulbs as they

cause conditions such as eczema to flare up.

 

The Department for Environment warned shards of glass from broken bulbs

should not be vacuumed up but instead swept away by someone wearing

rubber gloves to protect them from the bulb's mercury content.

 

In addition, it said care should be taken not to inhale any dust and the

broken pieces should be put in a sealed plastic bag for disposal at a

council dump ? not a normal household bin.

 

None of this advice, however, is printed on the packaging the new-style

bulbs are sold in. There are also worries over how the bulbs will be

disposed of.

 

Under new regulations for hazardous waste, councils are obliged to

recycle them.

 

At present, they should be placed in special bins also used for

batteries at a council dump. But in future, councils will have to

provide a collection service or install special recycling banks for the

bulbs.

 

There are fears that without a proper disposal system, the mercury

content could contaminate water supplies. Disposing of one municipal

recycling bin full of bulbs costs about £650 each time and adding to

fears of higher council tax bills. The warnings cast a shadow over

Government plans to begin phasing out traditional tungsten lights this

month. Ministers hope that using the more environmentally friendly

bulbs will save at least five million tons of carbon dioxide emissions

every year.

 

The bulbs are due to become compulsory in homes in four years.

Campaigners are calling for an opt-out so that people with health

problems can still use old-style bulbs.

 

Others are thinking of hoarding the familiar pear-shaped bulbs so that

they can keep on using them even after they have disappeared from the

shops.

 

Independent environmental scientist Dr David Spurgeon warned yesterday:

" Because these light bulbs contain small amounts of mercury, they could

cause a problem if disposed of in a normal bin. " It is possible that

the mercury could be released into the air or from land-fill when they

are released into the wider environment. That is a concern, because

mercury is a well-known toxic substance. " And dermatologist Dr John

Hawk told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that some people already find it

difficult to tolerate the fluorescent-strip lighting that is widely used

in schools and offices, which works in the same way as the eco-friendly

bulbs. He said: " Fluorescent lights seem to have some sort of ionising

characteristic where they affect the air around them. " This does affect

a certain number of people, probably tens of thousands, in Britain,

whose ailments flare up just by being close to them. " Certain forms of

eczema, some of which are very common, do flare up badly anywhere near

fluorescent lights, so these people have to just be around incandescent

(old-style) lighting. "