[Greenbuilding] studies on CFLs and health issues

Steven Tjiang steve at tjiang.org
Sun Jan 1 17:08:00 CST 2012


I think it's pretty conclusive that eating CFLs are bad for you because
they have mercury.  I think the jury is still out for LEDs. :-)

---- Steve (KZ6LSD)


On Sun, Jan 1, 2012 at 8:10 AM, David Bergman <bergman at cyberg.com> wrote:

>  Has anyone seen any studies regarding side effects of or problems due to
> CFLs or LEDs? There seem to be anecdotal stories aplenty of CFL's causing
> migraines or skin rashes or cataracts, or being dangerous for diabetics,
> and then there are stories to the opposite that say there is no evidence of
> any of these types of problems.
>
> So I'm trying to find out if there have indeed been any studies that prove
> the case one way or another.
>
> The case of there not being proven evidence (is there another type of
> evidence?) is not necessarily damning to the anti-CFL argument. I often
> promote the Precautionary Principle, which in essence says that safety has
> to be proven, not the opposite (i.e. the existence of risk). But I think
> that occasional unsubstantiated anecdotes -- if that's what's at play here
> -- may not cross the threshold for invoking the Precautionary Principle.
>
> (I'm not talking about the mercury issue here; that's been pretty well
> dealt with.)
>
> It's probably apparent that I would love to be able to say the risks
> either don't exist or are too small to matter relative to the environmental
> and health risks arising from greater energy consumption for non-efficient
> lights. But, really, I'd just like to have solid information to draw
> conclusions from.
>
>
> **
>
> ** David Bergman  RA   LEED AP
> *DAVID BERGMAN* ARCHITECT / *FIRE & WATER* LIGHTING + FURNITURE
> architecture . interiors . ecodesign . lighting . furniture
> bergman at cyberg.com    *www.cyberg.com* <http://www.cyberg.com/>
> 241 Eldridge Street #3R, New York, NY 10002
> t 212 475 3106    f 212 677 7291
>
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