Compact Fluorescent Lights Dumping Mercury Directly into Landfills

(NaturalNews) Compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs have become all the rage over the past several years, touted by many as the preferable "green" way to light a home, save energy, and promote environmental responsibility. While they may use less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs, CFL bulbs are filled with toxic mercury that, when disposed of, contaminates landfills and the environment.

A report released in 2008 from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection revealed that when a CFL bulb is broken, it can release dangerously high levels of mercury into the air. Mercury-vapor standards generally allow for 300 nanograms of mercury per cubic meter of air, however a broken CFL bulb can emit upwards of 50,000 nanograms per cubic meter, or more than 166 times the safe upper threshold.

In Toronto, city officials require people to dispose of CFL bulbs at special hazardous waste facilities because they don't want the city's landfills to become contaminated with mercury. While used CFL bulbs are not legally recognized as hazardous waste, they are treated as such because they pose serious environmental threats when broken and released into the environment.

Waste runoff and ground seepage from landfills can contaminate rivers, streams, lakes, reservoirs, and underground water tables. Even though landfills are generally designed to minimize this kind of contamination, the rapidly growing usage of CFL bulbs could have disastrous environmental consequences if they are not disposed of properly.

CFL bulbs also emit high levels of radiation, causing migraine headaches, sleep abnormalities, fatigue, and other health problems. Unlike traditional incandescent bulbs, CFL bulbs emit excessive "dirty energy," or electromagnetic frequencies (EMFs), a fact that has received little attention from those on the mainstream "green" bandwagon who continue to endorse CFLs as the solution to the alleged climate change crisis.

The voltage reduction technology in CFL bulbs causes high amounts of EMF pollution to be emitted. Similar to the kind released from mobile phone antennas and food irradiation machinery, EMF radiation poses serious health threats to humans who are exposed to excessive amounts of it. CFL bulbs have been found to greatly increase EMF exposure as they are often the most significant EMF polluters in homes that use them.

Light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs, on the other hand, are a much safer alternative to CFL bulbs. Those who wish to transition from traditional incandescent bulbs to something that uses less energy would do well to investigate LED alternatives. Although they are typically more expensive than the other technologies due to limited acceptance in the mainstream, they are better for the environment than CFLs and emit far less EMF pollution.

Sources for this story include: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/fix... http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/s... http://cflsafety.blogspot.com/

Many of the tallest mountains in North and South America contain PCBs

(NaturalNews) Researchers from the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research in Spain, the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Germany, and the University of Concepcion in Chile have identified the presence of high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) on mountain ranges all over North and South America. Banned worldwide since 2001, PCBs are being found at the highest levels in many of the tallest mountain ranges.

Published in the journal Environmental Chemistry Letters, the discovery coincides with a similar study conducted by Swiss scientists that found other pollutants in Alpine glacial lakes that affect drinking water supplies. The PCBs found on mountaintops may eventually make their way down the mountains and pollute fields, crops, and water supplies. Some scientists fear that such contamination is already taking place in certain areas.

Up until the 1980s, PCBs were widely used as coolants and insulating fluids for transformers and capacitors. They were also heavily used in paints, cements, coatings, and pesticides. Once it was discovered that these compounds cause liver damage, male infertility, hair loss, acne, and other serious problems, they were banned globally under the Stockholm Convention.

Many scientists fear that climate change is causing glacial melt and there is worry that high concentrations of PCBs will begin to flow more readily into places where they may cause significant harm. Since high concentrations of PCBs have already been released into the atmosphere from prior to when they were banned, their potential for wreaking havoc in the near future is of significant concern.

Comments by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

Are alarm bells going off for anyone else reading this? How did PCBs get on top of all the mountains? It appears that humankind has poisoned the entire planet, from the tallest mountains to the deepest seas.

This finding is more than a little concerning, because it indicates just how widespread chemical contamination has become across our planet. It also means that generations to come will have to deal with the runoff consequences of the chemical pollution we've dumped on this Earth.

It could even mean our future civilization will be forced to deal with a coming wave of infertility and birth defects caused by the chemical contamination our present generations have unleashed upon the world.

The corporations -- food, agriculture, medicine, consumer products, etc. -- have intoxicated not just the people in our world, but the very world itself. And the consequences for this shortsighted chemical catastrophe may threaten the very existence of our civilization.

This finding of PCBs blanketing the mountains should serve as a wake-up call to humankind. It's a rude reminder that if we continue on our present course -- polluting the planet at every turn -- we will eventually wake up to find ourselves steeped in a toxic stew from which no future human life can be sustained.

Sources for this story include:
http://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=19134