Some three weeks ago it was announced that the last GE plant making incandescent lights was closing, eliminating more than 200 jobs, and ending the production of incandescent lights in the U.S. Thomas Edison must surely be turning over in his grave, for after more than 100 years "his" lights are being replaced with CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs).
When I heard this I immediately went to Wikipedia, the trusty free encyclopedia on the Internet, to confirm that the facts that I had learned when CFLs were first introduced several years ago were still true. A short time later Michael Reagan addressed the issue in the Times-Union, saying that "New Light Bulbs May Mean Lights Out." Reagan described the "law of unintended consequences, passed in 2007, that will have incandescent lights phased out and completely regulated by 2014."
CFLs are very expensive, and their longevity has not been fully tested. They are also very dangerous. They contain large amounts of mercury and, if broken, "they scatter mercury like shrapnel when a shell explodes." They must be carefully disposed of, and anyone in the room or area where the bulb has shattered must leave the area immediately, vacate the room! The shattered bulb must be enclosed in a glass container, not plastic or paper, as the mercury can leak through plastic or paper. According to Wikipedia: "In the past decade, hundreds of Chinese factory workers who manufacture CFLs for export to first-world countries were being poisoned and hospitalized because of mercury exposure." The fluorescent lights that have been around for a long time and, unfortunately, are in most of our schools, are also dangerous, but not nearly as dangerous as the CFLs.
I have a very personal objection to fluorescent lighting of any kind. I am a retired speech and language pathologist, and during my years of working in the public schools, I observed the effect that fluorescent lights have on students, particularly students with autism, ADHD and other behavioral maladies. Children on the autism spectrum can sense the humming or buzzing sound that these lights emit long before the sound can be detected by others. And as the light is burning down and needing to be replaced, the blinking is extremely disturbing to them.Michael Reagan also wrote that three members of Congress, two from Texas and one from Tennessee, have introduced the "Better Use of Light Bulbs (BULB) Act" in an effort to repeal Subtitle B of Title III of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Reagan quoted Rep. Blackburn of Tennessee: "Washington banned a perfectly good product and fired hard-working Americans based on little more than their own whim and the silly notion that they know better than the American consumer. Now hundreds more Americans are looking for work while assembly lines in China are churning out fluorescent bulbs for the U.S. market."
My husband and I are stocking up on incandescent bulbs, when we can find them. After announcing the GE plant closing on his evening broadcast, Brian Williams of NBC News said he was doing that as well.
