mercury

Hi crickethear. I'm not sure if the flourescent lightbulbs does have mercury content. Mercury is getting a lot of media attention lately because of its toxicity and dangerous effect on our health and body. For instance, Most dental clinic is not using dental amalgam as teeth filling anymore. The amalgam itself is pure mercury.

Wow, are you serious? Cos we have them in the basement and one of them came out of the fixture and broke open. Damn, so they put the mercury gas in there?! Is that for real? Is there any website I can read about that? Cos I definitely was touching all on it and I didn't have a clue :(. They put a small amount of mercury in the batteries as well we use (most have gone to 0%, but some still put a small amount in them). If you notice if you buy electronics, the cords will say "California Law requires us to notify you that the cord contains lead". A lot of the cords with electronic stuff contains lead, so even if it doesn't say it's best to wash your hands after handling them. That is something new I learnt, please do give me a website that I can read cos now I am very concerned :(. Pablo

I presume that if these are the same as the energy effiecient light globes then yes, they have mercury in them..If they should ever smash in the house they recommend to sweep the area not vacuume and wipe down thoroughly with a damp cloth..There is only one place here in Australia which recycle those globes which is a bit scarey..They should have thought about this before they told everyone to go out and get them..

To my knowledge, fluoro tubes contain the gas neon. They pop when they shatter but I've not seen any mercury. I used to play with mercury as a child with no ill effects (I know it's poisonous if swallowed).

Normally they pose no danger, if you break them and shatter them on the floor you shouldn't inhale it and clean it up with a wet rag or something as fast as possible into a closed plastic bag. But how often does one really shatter them? Most survive a fall and only really get shattered if they're smashed into.