(NaturalNews) In 2007, the U.S. Congress passed the
Energy Independence and Security Act which contains a subsection that bans
the sale of incandescent light bulbs beginning in 2012. But the new
Congress recently unveiled the Better Use of Light Bulbs Act, or H.R. 91,
which would repeal this subsection and restore Americans' freedom of
choice to buy the light bulbs of their choice.
The idea to ban
incandescent bulbs emerged from the false notion that compact fluorescent
light bulbs (CFL) are better for
the environment
because they use less
energy. But the truth of
the matter is that
CFLs
are loaded with toxic
mercury, which upon
breakage or disposal pollutes the
environment via
seepage into groundwater, rivers and lakes, and threatens human
health.
"CFLs are
so
toxic because of
the mercury in the glass tubing that the cleanup procedure spelled out by
the Environmental Protection Agency (
EPA) is downright scary,"
wrote Phyllis Schlafly, founder and president of the Eagle Forum, in an
editorial at WND. "The EPA warns that if we break a CFL, we must take the
pieces to a recycling center and not launder 'clothing or bedding because
mercury fragments in the
clothing may
contaminate the machine and/or pollute sewage'."
Such a scenario
hardly sounds "green". And at the same time,
incandescent
bulbs contain no toxic chemicals at all. But none of this stopped the
Bush Administration from signing the
ban into effect that
year.
"People don't want
Congress dictating
what light fixtures they can use," said Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), one of the
co-authors of the new bill. "Traditional incandescent bulbs are cheap and
reliable. Alternatives, including the most common replacement Compact
Fluorescent Lights or CFLs, are more expensive and health hazards -- so
why force them on the American people?"
Sources for this story
include:https://www.wnd.com/?pageId=248453
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