Mercury-Packed CFL Bulbs Now Found to Fry Your Skin
Individuals are drawn into compact fluorescent bulbs due to their environmentally-friendly label, but anyone who has really looked into these incandescent alternatives knows of the numerous health and environmental dangers of CFL bulbs. A recent study sheds light on just one such concern associated with the ‘green’ CFL bulbs, showing how they are capable of actually frying your skin with UVA radiation.
CFL Bulbs Can Fry Your Skin
Following a study in Europe examining the effects of CFL bulbs on the skin, researchers from Stony Brook University in New York conducted a similar study to examine the bulbs’ impact on human skin cells. For the study, the researchers purchased CFL bulb from various locations, and then measured the amount of UV radiation emissions. What they found was “significant levels of UVC and UVA” which was a result of cracks that were present in the coating on the bulbs. Every single one of the bulbs studied.
After studying the effects of these emission on human skin cells, they discovered that healthy skin cells experienced the same damage you would find with ultraviolet radiation. Similar tests were also conducted using incandescent light bulbs of the same intensity along with the implementation of UV-absorbing Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, which are found within many personal care products. While the incandescent light bulbs had no negative effect on healthy skin cells, the researchers couldn’t say the same for CFL bulbs.
“Our study revealed that the response of healthy skin cells to UV emitted from CFL bulbs is consistent with damage from ultraviolet radiation…Skin cell damage was further enhanced when low dosages of TiO2 nanoparticles were introduced to the skin cells prior to exposure,” ,” said Professor Rafailovich. “Despite their large energy savings, consumers should be careful when using compact fluorescent light bulbs…Our research shows that it is best to avoid using them at close distances and that they are safest when placed behind an additional glass cover.”
This, of course, isn’t the only issue with compact fluorescent bulbs. In addition to having a potential negative impact on your skin, these bulbs emit toxic chemicals. In fact, only months after it was found that energy saving fluorescent bulbs release carcinogenic chemicals into the air, a new study has found that these harmful chemicals are continually released from the bulbs over a period of weeks to months. In addition to releasing these cancer-causing chemicals, which are far beyond the “safe” level set by the EPA, these bulbs also release levels of mercury which also exceed the “safe” levels for humans.
Additional Sources:
A lot more about the Stony Brook study here, including the previous similar EU, UK and Canada studies, spectral diagrams of CFL, LED and incandescents and UV information, and associated skin disorders
– and why light bulb regulations don't make sense, even to save energy, referenced
http://tonn.ie/2012/07/new-study-on-cfl-uv-radiat…
How about your eyes ?…. I suffered from occular migrain headackes due to the harsh lighting
Those spiral CFL bulbs make my skin feel sore after about 15-20 minutes, and they also strain my eyes. It feels like "snow blindness", and my eyes continue to ache for many hours afterwards.
There are people claiming these bulbs give off less UV than the sun, but I do not really have any big problem being outside in sunlight, so this is obviously not true.
I am more sensitive than most, but I would imagine all this added UV exposure is not going to be good for everyone else either. Dermatologists tells us not to stay out in the sun for too long every day, yet many people spend a large part of their day under artificial lighting, well into the dark evenings. Will skin cancer rates go up? Will the current generation become more prone to developing cataracts in their eyes when they get older? No one has the answer.
This is absolutely horribe! Politicians care more about their environmental agenda than about our health!
LED light bulbs are so much more safer for your health and environment. CFLs must go!
What about the fluorescent tubes that have been widely used for decades? How are CFL's different from these?
the only ones now allowed in Europe
I read somewhere a few years ago, well, actually, it was a video, but i've read this too~~if one breaks, you're supposed to vacate the room, open windows…clean up with wet paper towels, don't vacuum as the toxic crap will go in there & then spew out thru the vents….i had these for a while & got rid of all of them. I don't see how they can be an improvement when years ago the fluorescent tubes were considered bad also. This is the same thing, maybe worse, with the mercury in them. And i think these can also increase the chances of cataracts in your eyes.