![]() Marginalized and low-income communities are at greater risk of mercury exposure due to environmental and location-based factors. Mercury was also found in workers’ vehicles, indicating the risk of take-home exposure. There was reported inadequate use of personal protective equipment and mercury levels in indoor air exceeded safe thresholds. An investigation of environmental contamination at a fluorescent lamp recycling facility in Madison, Wisconsin found elevated mercury levels among five of seven workers (two declined to be tested), and clinical signs of mercury toxicity, like tremors, in two of those five workers. Workers are exposed to mercury during manufacturing, recycling, and disposal of fluorescent lamps. ![]() Exposure to mercury early in life not only results in a higher relative dose than in adults but also increases the risk of developmental disabilities. Infants and toddlers are likely to be most exposed when a lamp breaks, especially in an unventilated space, because the vapors concentrate closer to the ground where babies crawl and play. The impacts of mercury toxicity are not equitableĮxposure to the mercury from a broken lamp is especially dangerous for children and pregnant people. The chemical can be washed from the soil into surface waters and accumulates up through the food chain into the fish people eat. When emitted to the air, mercury can be transported globally in the atmosphere for up to a year, ultimately settling on land or in water. Breakage can occur at any point in the lamp’s lifecycle: during manufacturing or installation when spent lamps are mixed in with general household waste during collection, transport, processing, or recycling of discarded lamps or when lamps are landfilled, incinerated, or illegally dumped. Mercury released from fluorescents contaminates the atmosphere, land, and water. From production to recycling, mercury-containing fluorescents put Californians and others at unnecessary risk. In California, where fluorescents are still readily available, citizens and the environment are at risk of mercury exposure and the higher costs associated with using an inefficient, outdated technology. ![]() When a lamp breaks in your home or office, the clean-up recommendations detailed by the EPA are above and beyond what most people are aware of and prepared to do, including immediate evacuation, ventilating the room for several hours, shutting off central heating and cooling to avoid mercury dispersion, collecting all contaminated materials (clothing, protective gloves, rugs) in a sealed plastic container – following the state law for disposal of fluorescents. There is no “safe” level of exposure to mercury. Do you know what to do if a fluorescent lamp breaks in your home? When fragile fluorescent glass bulbs break, the mercury inside disperses in the air allowing it to enter the lungs and blood quickly, potentially resulting in long-term health impacts for any living thing exposed to it. ![]() All fluorescent light bulbs contain mercury, a neurotoxin listed by the World Health Organization as a top 10 chemical of major public health concern. ![]()
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