On April 12 the Ellsworth (Maine) American reported that an Ellsworth housewife, Brandy Bridges, dropped and shattered a fluorescent tube-bulb on the carpeted floor in her daughter’s bedroom. Aware that compact fluorescent light bulbs [CFLs) are potentially hazardous, Bridges called the local Home Depot store to ask for advise. Home Depot told her that the CFL contained mercury and advised her to call the Poison Control hotline.
The hotline had her contact the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP sent Andrew Smith, a toxicologist, to her home. He sealed the room with plastic and told Bridges it would cost about $2,000 to clean up the mess. The levels of mercury toxicity in the downstairs living area were safely under 300 ng/m3. However, the mercury levels spiked to 1,939 ng/m3 in Shayley Bridges bedroom. Bridges daughter could not sleep there because of the toxicity levels were too great. Bridges, a single mom with an overcrowded house and limited financial means, filed a claim on her home owner’s policy. The insurance company denied the claim because mercury is a pollutant that wasn’t covered in her policy.
On April 23 of this year, the Utilities and Commerce Committee voted 7 to 2 to bring to the floor of the California Assembly a measure than would ban the sale, distribution or use of incandescent light bulbs in the State.