[Greenbuilding] studies on CFLs and health issues

[Bob Waldrop]

Doesn’t it help though if you batter them and deep fry them?  Doesn’t that leach out the mercury?

On a more serious note, we’ve used CFLs exclusively indoors since 2004 or so, and our anecdotal report is “no negative health effects”.  Also, “no broken CFLs, and no CFLs burned out, including the CFLs in the bathrooms and closets.”

Bob Waldrop, OKC


From: Steven Tjiang 
Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2012 5:08 PM
To: Green Building 
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] studies on CFLs and health issues

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 
  241 Eldridge Street #3R, New York, NY 10002
  t 212 475 3106    f 212 677 7291 


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