Fluorescent Lights Less Toxic Than Rumored

The widely circulated story of the woman who had to pay $2000 to clean up a broken compact fluorescent light in her home is almost complete BS.

Snopes reports the true story - a light was broken, a $2000 cleanup estimate was provided, and then it was cleaned up at no cost to the family by a guy with some carpet shears (and that was only needed because the mercury sat soaking into the carpet for a month or two).

Based on the similarities in the stories allegedly written by different newspapers, it is pretty clear they were all republishing the press release of an anti-CFL group.

Makes me feel better about the increasing number of the things in my house...

If you do break a CFL, safe cleanup involves opening some windows, waiting 15 minutes, and then sweeping and picking up pieces with gloves rather than vacuuming. Small bits can be picked up with tape.