How green are energy-saving bulbs?

Well, I admit, the picture to the left is somehow chilling, but how elase can I attract your attention in the cyber hum? :)

I have a good reason, though, so forgive me, my reader, and carry on to find out what I have 'dug out' for you today.

Mercury can be closer than you think. Not some 77 million kilometers away, but a few meters or even less. All thanks to the global movement to save the planet (sic!) by forceful introduction of compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL bulbs), commonly known as energy-saving bulbs. Many enviro-zealots (including myself) embraced this lovely bulb with a sigh of relief. The bad news was that this new friend of us has a very nasty side kept somehow secret from us, consumers.

What are CFL bulbs?

A CFL bulb is a type of fluorescent bulb. A fluorescent lamp is a gas-discharge lamp that uses electricity to excite mercury vapour to produce light. Compared to the 'old-fashioned' incandescent lamps, CFLs use less power and have a supposedly longer rated life.

So what is wrong with CFLs?

The M-word. MERCURY.  Most CFLs contain 3–5 mg per bulb, with the eco-friendly bulbs containing as little as 1 mg. Because mercury is poisonous, even these small amounts are a concern for landfills and waste incinerators where the mercury from lamps may be released and contribute to air and water pollution. In response to that concern, the amount of mercury used in CFLs is regulated by the RoHS law in the EU. Supporters of CFL bulbs argue that in areas with coal-fired power stations, the use of CFLs saves on mercury emissions when compared to the use of incandescent bulbs. This is due to the reduced electrical power demand, reducing in turn the amount of mercury released by coal as it is burned.

But that is only part of the story...

While no mercury is emitted when the CFL is intact or in use, according to the National Poisons Information Centre for Ireland, 'a small amount is vapourised when they break'. 'Although CFLs only contain a small amount of mercury, cleaning up breakages properly will prevent chronic (long-term) exposure to mercury.'

Health Effects from Mercury Vapour Exposure

The factors that determine how severe the health effects are from mercury vapour exposure include: the dose, the age of the person exposed (!!!), how long the exposure lasts.

 Short-term inhalation: cough, breathlessness, and chest tightness, within a few hours of exposure, flu-like symptoms with muscle pains and fever. 

Long-term inhalation of mercury vapour may cause damage to the central nervous system, kidney damage and stomach upsets.

Irish Guidelines on Cleaning Up a Broken CFL bulb

• DO NOT use a vacuum cleaner to clean up the breakage.
• Keep people and pets away from the breakage area until the cleanup is complete.
• Ventilate the area by opening windows, and leave the area for 15-30 minutes before returning to begin the cleanup. Mercury vapour levels will be lower by then.
• Wear rubber gloves to protect your hands from the sharp glass.
• Carefully remove the larger pieces of bulb and place them in a secure closed container e.g. a glass or plastic jar with a screw top or a plastic container with a tight-fitting lid. If you don’t have a suitable container use a plastic bag.
• Use two stiff pieces of card such as index cards or playing cards to scoop up the smaller pieces and dust.
• Pat the area with the sticky side of masking tape or sticky tape, then wipe the area with a wet wipe or damp paper towel, to pick up fine particles.
• Put all waste and materials into the glass/plastic container, including all material used in the cleanup.
• Place the container holding the breakage and cleanup materials outdoors, out of reach of children, until you can bring it to your local authority WEEE re-cycling facility. Click here to find your nearest WEEE facility.
• Continue ventilating the room for several hours.
• Wash your hands and face.

Breakages on Carpet

If the break happens on carpeting, follow the instructions above.

• Open the window to the room during the next several times you vacuum the carpet to provide good ventilation. Keep the window open for at least 15 minutes after vacuuming.
• When finished, remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister), and put the bag or vacuum debris in a sealed plastic bag. Place the bag in your outdoor waste disposal bin.

What is wrong with these guidelines?

The guidelines are a copy and paste duplication of revised guidelines by The Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Except for two important details: the use of plastic bags for safe disposal of mercury and the breakage of CFL bulb on the carpet. Read on to find out how easy it is to manipulate public awareness with deleting a few 'inconvenient' lines.  

A report by The Maine DEP in 2008 found out that, despite following best-practice cleanup guidelines on broken CFLs, researchers were unable to remove mercury from carpet. This  has particular significance for children rolling around on a floor, babies crawling, or non mobile infants placed on the floor. In addition, the study warned that the recommendation of plastic bags was the worst choice, as vapors well above safe levels continued to leach from the bags. The report recommends homeowners to consider removing throw rugs or the area of the carpet where the breakage occured as a precaution, praticularly if the rug is in the area frequented by infants, small children or pregnant women. If it is not possible to remove the carpet, hoovering it while ventilating the room is advised.

Why am I concerned as a consumer?

Special handling instructions for breakage are currently not printed on the packaging of household CFL bulbs in many countries. Most people I have spoken with since were not aware of any danger associated with using CFL bulbs. Finally, it is unclear what the exact health risks are from exposure to low levels of elemental mercury, especially for sensitive populations. I would also like to find out from the author of the Irish Guidelines on CFL Clean-up Procedure, P Casey, what makes her or him to misinform Irish society by arbitrary omission of vital information. (Postriptum. I have contacted Ms Casey and she assured me that she will look into updating the guidelines. A small step in the right direction!)

Teaching through fun is a very efficient method. Mindful of that, I would like to brighten up your day by this hillarious video which shows how easy it is to follow the guidelines for cleaning up a broken CFL bulb. I hope it will make you laugh histerically :)

Is there a better alternative?

The good news is that there IS.

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) present many advantages including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved robustness, smaller size, faster switching, and greater durability and reliability. LEDs are powerful enough for room lighting. The main disadvantage is their relatively higher cost. Unsurprisingly, their availability on the Irish market is limited, but there are excellent retailers in UK who ship the bulbs at much lower cost.

This is the supplier that I used to buy my LED bulbs. I was very happy with their efficient serivce:
The UK Supplier of LED bulbs

Other useful links:

Guidelines by EWG

Guidelines by The Maine Department of Environmental Protection

Toxic Beauty

Your cosmetics are covering up a dirty little secret...
         
According to research carried out a few years ago by Bionsen, a cosmetics manufacturer, an average woman applies up to 515 synthetic chemicals to her body every single day. Sounds impossible? Let's have a look then... An average shampoo contains around 15 chemicals, hairspray -  11, deodorant - 15, body lotion - 32, foundation - 24, blusher 16, eyeshadow - 26, lipstick - 33, nail varnish - 31, perfume -250.

As I mentioned in my previous posts, there are laws designed to protect consumers from dangerous chemicals in cosmetics. However, few people realize that there are a number of impurities found in the raw materials or used in the manufacturing process which occasionally might end up in the finished product, especially in bad-quality ones.  Obviously, the toiletries industry insists that cosmetics are safe (surprise, surprise!), and that the number of ingredients in a product, or whether it is natural or man-made, has no bearing on how safe it is. They also claim that chemicals in cosmetics are used in safe doses that can't harm us. What constitutes a safe dose for an average person, might not be so safe for a sensitive adult or child. Not to mention the cumulative effect of so many chemicals being used all over the body every day, for many years.

How you can protect yourself from chemical overload

• Reduce overall cosmetics use
• Switch to natural or organic products (A word of precaution - NATURAL on the label does not necessarily mean that the product is natural.)
• Read the labels on your beauty products with care  

Here is a list of Dirty Dozen Cosmetic Chemicals to Avoid.
A handy shopper's guide that can be easily folded and carried in the wallet.

Easier said than done, I know, but it's do-able and quite enjoyable. Using beauty products consciously and mindfully can be a source of great joy. My personal journey of 'detoxifying' my body started over two years ago and since then I have been enjoying natural beauty products. I don't remember the exact day I decided to stop using commercial synthetic cosmetics, but what I do remember is that I didn't wait until my cosmetics finish. I gave them away or threw them in the bin,  and decided to make a fresh start! 

The most comprehensive source of information on cosmetics potential (un)safety is, in my opinion, Cosmetics Database by the Environmental Working Group*. It's a very useful tool, and most importantly, easy to use.

Reducing overall cosmetics use is not easy. It requires change of the whole mindset from trusting and unsuspecting to discerning and critical. Whether we realize it or not, a lot of effort is being invested to make us, customers, consumers, citizens, trust and believe what we hear and see in public media. Mass media, in turn, create the norm, the usual, the average, the standard and tries to silence any inner voice of doubt.

'If everybody is using it, it must be safe.' 'If it was unsafe, the government would do something about it.' These are most common comments I hear in response to my publicly expressed concerns about cosmetics safety. It makes me wonder where this trusting, innocent, unsuspicious, callow, gullible, childlike attitude comes from in this rather violent world...

* The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is an American environmental organisation that specializes in environmental research and advocacy in the area of toxic chemicals. EWG is a non-profit organisation whose mission is "to use the power of public information to protect public health and the environment." EWG was founded in 1993 by Ken Cook and Richard Wiles and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States.

Cosmetics Database

The Women's Environmental Network

David Suzuki Foundation

Toxic Air

Shutting the front door behind you after a long day on earth may not necessarily give you the comfort you need. Where does your mind take you when I say 'air pollution'? ..........factories? busy mothrways? centres of bustling cities?

What about your sitting room? Your bedroom?

According to a recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report on selected indoor pollutants public awareness of air pollution in houses and offices is far behind that of outdoor pollutants. The report looks at the levels of chemicals in indoor air and what harm they can do. Understanding these chemicals is the first step in avoiding harm.

“We should look more carefully at what is going on in the indoor environment,” says James McLaughlin, a physicist at University College Dublin. Some products within buildings can be a source of pollutants, he says, and can cause long-term harm.

Chemicals which were a focus of the report include: benzene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, naphthalene, nitrogen dioxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, radon, trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene.

Not everyone is equally susceptible to these gases. According to the report individuals vary widely in their response to exposure to chemicals. "Each person has a pre-existing status – defined by, for example, age, sex, pregnancy, pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease, genetic make-up and lifestyle."

Let's have a closer look at one of the pollutants.
Benzene

Indoor sources   

Benzene is a genotoxic carcinogen in humans and no safe level of exposure can be recommended. Benzene in indoor air can originate from outdoor air and also from sources indoors such as building materials and furniture, carpets, paints, attached garages, heating and cooking systems, stored solvents and various human activities. It’s also in tobacco smoke. Indoor concentrations are also affected by climatic conditions and the air exchange rate due to forced or natural ventilation.

Pathways of exposure

Inhalation accounts for more than 95–99% of the benzene exposure of the general population, whereas intake from food and water consumption is minimal. A study carried out in the United Kingdom estimated a daily dose of benzene of 70–75 μg/day for rural non-smokers and 89–5 μg/day for urban non-smokers. Most of the children’s exposures were produced in the home. The daily dose rose to 116–22 μg/day for urban passive smokers and to over 500 μg/day for urban smokers.

Another European study estimated a daily inhaled benzene dose of 102 μg/day, where 36%, 32%, 2% and 30% of the exposure was attributed to indoor home, indoor work, outdoor and in transit, respectively. Indoor concentrations measured in offices are generally higher than those measured in residential buildings, owing to the presence of sources such as photocopiers and printers. Mean concentrations in discotheques/clubs and pbus are genereally higher than in restaurants and other public spaces.

Relatively high benzene concentrations indoors have been attributed to sources such as incense burning, with benzene concentrations peaking at up to 117 μg/m3; new buildings (e.g. up to 30 μg/m3); attached garages (e.g. 16–19 μg/m3); tobacco smoke (e.g. 16–193 μg/m3); cleaning (e.g. 13 μg/m3); painting (e.g. 9–13 000 μg/m3) and using a kerosene stove (e.g. 166 μg/m3).

What you can do to minimaze the exposure

There are basic measures you can take to help yourself, your family.

• Ventilate your house very well every day. It's not a good idea to make your house airtight.
• Minimaze the amount of synthetic cleaning products. Lemon, soda and vinegar are the best and safest cleaning products.
• New materials and products can give off the chemical for months, especially when high temperatures are combined with high humidity. Be mindful of that.
• Avoid products with volatile organic compounds if possible.
• Ventilate the car before you get in.
• Don't smoke at home.
• Avoid burning incense at home.

Irish Times article on indoor pollutants

Speaking Toxic Truth

The number of existing natural and man-made chemicals and their compounds is very large, and for many of them the health risks are not known. Chemicals can be the result of anthropogenic sources or occur in nature. Hazardous chemicals can reach our body through different routes and cause a variety of health effects. The public health relevance of chemicals can be extremely difficult to assess due to the many ways in which chemicals are used and released, the many exposure routes involved, and the different mixtures of chemicals present (source: WHO). 

Fortuantely for those living in Europe, the European Union has made serious efforts in ensuring that safety of chemical substances is assessed before they enter the market. A number of new laws in the European Union require companies to demonstrate that a chemical is safe before it enters commerce -- the opposite of policies in the United States, where regulators must prove that a chemical is harmful before it can be restricted or removed from the market.


In the mid-nineties, the increased insight in the possible negative effect of chemicals led to the awareness, that the EU legislation then in force did not and could not provide sufficient information about chemicals to judge scientifically. The EU was on an unsustainable course in the chemicals sector.

Starting in the late nineties and causing considerable debate, a new horizontal chemicals legislation was developed, and in 2007, REACH entered into force. REACH is the European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use (EC 1907/2006). It deals with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances. The law entered into force on 1 June 2007.

REACH’s primary aim is “to ensure a high level of protection of human health and the environment”. In the coming decade, REACH will place the burden of proof on industry, which has to collect or generate the data necessary to ensure the safe use of chemicals. This data will be publicly available through the central database held at the European Chemicals Agency and will help to close the current information gap on chemicals. REACH also provides rules for phasing out and substitution of the most dangerous chemicals. REACH is complemented by the new Regulation for Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Substances and Mixtures (CLP Regulation, January 2009). It is based on the principle that the same hazards should be described and labelled in the same way all around the world.

One of the main reasons for developing and adopting the REACH Regulation was that a large number of substances have been manufactured and placed on the market in Europe for many years, sometimes in very high amounts, and yet there is insufficient information on the hazards that they pose to human health and the environment. There is a need to fill these information gaps to ensure that industry is able to assess hazards and risks of the substances, and to identify and implement the risk management measures to protect humans and the environment (source: European Commission).

A word of advice: precaution is the best strategy.