Yes, the mercury content is worrisome, as it is with any fluorescent light that must be eventually trashed.

However I take *strong* exception to your presentation of "Dirty Electricity".

I am an amateur radio operator of repute and long standing, and I have much experience of electrical and radio fields.

Putting a cell phone next to your head for long periods is potentially dangerous. Living in Montreal, we are exposed daily to strong and large electro-magnetic fields, not to speak of the CBC television and radio antennas on Mount Royal...

But the idea of "Dirty Electricity" verges on the idiotic. It approaches the "Aliens Ate My Brain", "UFO Illuminati Run the Government" tabloid train of broadcasting.

Ms.Nadkarni, please meet with some of the CBC personnel responsible for your transmitters, and learn a bit more about the nature of radio frequencies.

With much respect and thanks,

Keith Daniel

Geeta says: I am always open to constructive critcism, Keith. But I'm not sure I fully understand what your criticism is in this case...Perhaps you could elaborate a little on what it is you find preposterous (given that I've backed up what I've written with proven scientific research). Are you saying that Dr. Havas's (and she is by no means alone in this) research falls in the realm of "Aliens Ate my Brain"? Because I can't agree with that.
I understand your scepticism. (And by the way, to balance the picture, I've posted what Health Canada thinks of CFLs-- check out the "update" above).
There is one thing I always think about when I read about science the way we humans practise it: what we "know" is only as good as the tests we devise to measure it. Only too often, our methods are faulty and lead us to faulty conclusions. I'll give you an example to tell you what I mean: When it comes to food, everyone talks about calories or protein or fat or carbs. No one talks about "living foods". If you talk about life force in foods, people look at you like you're talking about little green men. Even fewer people will be willing to acknowledge that your emotional state when you eat may affect whether your food gets efficiently burned or goes straight to your hips. But now more and more experts agree that eating "real" or "whole" foods while they're fresh give the body vital nutrients that we don't yet know how to measure or even identify. Call this crazy, but thousands of obese people who've changed the way they eat will tell you otherwise. Just because we can't measure it or can't explain how or why it works doesn't mean it doesn't affect us. Just something I always think about. Because there are too many people who are dealing with electrical sensitivity for this to be a total hoax.

There's more.

You forgot to mention exposure to higher UV radiation emitted by those CFLs.

Really, there's nothing environmentally good or healthy good about those.

And I happen to have work for Hydro for 38 years, 28 of which at IREQ.

A colleague made a test of those for energy consumption and what is advertised or said is completely wrong.

Once again, consumers are beind misled.

What a shame.

Geeta says: Hi Catwolf, thanks for writing in. I know how you feel--- the more I read and research, the more I seem to find that's wrong with CFLs. And yet, when you ask people if they'd use them, most say yes! Scary times.

“Dirty electricity” may be a recently coined term, but it isn’t anything new. It is caused by high frequency transients and harmonics that ride along the low frequency electrical signal, and electric utility companies, like Hydro Quebec, simply call it low power quality.

Studies show that exposure to high levels of high frequency electromagnetic radiation can have serious health effects, and just as Keith mentions, it’s not advisable to talk on a cell phone for extended periods of time for this very reason. However, we are finding an increasing number of people who are sensitive to longer term exposures at lower levels as well.

In our everyday lives, many of us are exposed to electromagnetic fields which originating either directly or indirectly from the power grid. Many of us work, rest, and even sleep within such an electromagnetic field and when the power is “dirty”, the resulting exposure is in the radio frequency range. Sure the level is much less than when we talk on a cell phone, but we only talk on the phone for a few minutes at a time. However, we sit and sleep in these lower level radio frequencies for hours on end, and researchers like Magad Havas are finding that such exposure also has a negative effect on our health.

Dirty electricity comes from a wide range of sources, one of which is from all the electronic devices which we have been adding onto our power grid over the past decade. Replacing all incandescent lights to electrical polluting CFLs will significantly increase current levels. So, we really need to slow down and make sure we better understand the health consequences of our actions, before we mandate such a significant change.

Dear Geeta:
I too am concerned about CFBs, but for none of the reasons you've mentioned.
It's often said that CFBs are great for the environment because unlike incandescent bulbs there is less 'waste' heat. In cold climates - like Quebec's for much of the year - heat from incandescents is NOT wasted. If you heat your home with oil or gas, the heat not supplied by the bulb must be provided by that fuel, which adds CO2 to the atmosphere. Since our electricity is hydroelectric, the bulb's energy adds no atmospheric contaminants.
You mentioned mercury contamination in bulb disposal, but there are other considerations both in the manufacture of CFBs and their disposal. If you take apart the CFBs ballast (the white cylinder below the bulb itself) you will find something like 50 separate soldered components - resistances, capacitances, transformers and diodes. Most CFBs I have seen come from China - hardly a poster child for green manufacturing technology. Disposing of all of this is very wasteful. I am also very skeptical of the claims for extended CFB lifetime; none of mine have lasted longer than 6 months, and I believe that the ballast components are responsible for the failures. In one case I have heard of, the ballast overheated and burned.
I believe that most of the claims for the 'greenness' of CFBs is a marketing ploy, and I am very concerned about proposals to phase out incandescents. It's far too soon to consider that step. Although LEDs may eventually provide a better solution that time has not yet come.

Regards,
John Crawford

Geeta says: Thanks so much for writing in with all this information. I had read peripherally about many of the things you mention, and I must admit they worry me too. One problem I encountered with putting this info up on the blog was that much of the writing seemed to be on other independent blogs. There was almost no mention in the mainstream media. Interesting. It's hard to judge if that means the claims are unfounded or that they're legitimate but being quashed by larger interests. Kudos to my TV and radio producers for not shying away from this subject though-- we all discussed how controversial it is and after much background checking and study-reading, we decided to run with it. Keep that feedback coming!

Keith really needs to do a little more research before he shoots off his mouth.

Let me enlighten out ignorant freind:

In the United States and Canada we use electric current that alternates at a rate (AC) 60 times per second, or at 60 hertz (Hz). This falls into the extremely low frequency (ELF) below 3,000 hertz (3 kHz), range on the electromagnetic spectrum.
All modern electronic devices including computers, TVs, stereos equipment and CFL and low-voltage lighting, etc. use transformers and power supplies to convert our "relatively clean" 60 Hz AC current to the low voltage power used to power all of our modern electronic devices. To save energy these devices use power supplies that "chop-up" our conventional AC voltages, using it in short bursts as opposed to a smooth continuous flow of current. This constant stopping and starting of the electrical current causes a combination of what electronic engineers call "electrical transients and harmonics".

These sudden voltage fluctuations are predominantly a result of the operation of switching power supplies in computers, energy-efficient (low voltage) lighting and other electronic devices. In layman's term's it's referred to as "electrical feedback" or "electrical noise".

If the current flowing through a conductor (wire) is made to oscillate at a very rapid rate (3 KHz or greater) the floating electromagnetic field will break free and be launched into space and is now considered to be a radio frequency - this phenomennia is know as electromagnetic radiation.

A typical CFL bulb operates at a frequency of 50 to 100 kHz, so this falls into the radio frequency range of the electromagnetic spectrum. In essence these lights chop-up the 60 Hz voltage 50-100 thousand times a second producing radio waves. These radio frequency pulses go down the wire and this high frequency energy "radiates" from wires and any electrical and electronic devices plugged into dirty circuits.

James Hanns