Rinse your car and get cancer at the same time!!!1

Sherri Zann said:
About CFLs: it's too bad that they contain a small amount of mercury. But it is literally the equivalent amount of what would fit on the tip of a ball point pen. It isn't exposed to the atmosphere unless the bulb is broken, and then it is about 1/3 the amount of mercury guaranteed to be emitted into the atmosphere by the life operation of an incandescent, due to the lead emitted from coal-fired power plants.



Maybe LED lighting will come down in price quickly. Low energy use, no waste heat, and they'll last a long, long time.



But for now, I'll take a CFL burning 9-12 watts with no waste heat vs. an incandescent burning 40-65 watts.
Click to expand...



Hey, I've been using CFL's for a long time, I just find it ironic/sad that industrially we handle our spent fluorescent bulbs very carefully, sending them for recycling, etc. while now every store/house is going to be full of fluorescent bulbs, with an uneducated or apathetic populace and nowhere to dispose of the bulbs safely (at least where I live).



PS Nice to hear some engineering talk on here :p
 
Setec,

Thanks for not flaming me! And instead, a compliment! Okay, so it's already been a good day.



A VERY scanty google search showed best research on this, (in my opinion), from the medical side of things, where there is concern about PVC in tubing and other stuff. Here's the synopsis of a medical study published in 2001. I've edited to make it briefer:



"Background Polyvinyl chloride plastics (PVC), made flexible through the addition of di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), are used in the production of a wide array of medical devices. From the late 1960s, leaching of DEHP from PVC medical devices and ultimate tissue deposition have been documented.



Results

DEHP leaches in varying concentrations into solutions stored in PVC medical devices. Certain populations, including dialysis patients and hemophiliacs may have long-term exposures to clinically important doses of DEHP, while others, such as neonates and the developing fetus, may have exposures at critical points in development. In vivo and in vitro research links DEHP or its metabolites to a range of adverse effects in the liver, reproductive tract, kidneys, lungs, and heart. Developing animals are particularly susceptible to effects on the reproductive system. Some adverse effects in animal studies occur at levels of exposure experienced by patients in certain clinical settings.



Conclusions

The observed toxicity of DEHP and availability of alternatives to many DEHP-containing PVC medical devices presents a compelling argument for moving assertively, but carefully, to the substitution of other materials for PVC in medical devices. The substitution of other materials for PVC would have an added worker and community health benefit of reducing population exposures to DEHP, reducing the creation of dioxin from PVC production and disposal, and reducing risks from vinyl chloride monomer exposure. Am. J. Ind. Med. 39:100-111, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. "



Here's the url: Wiley InterScience :: Session Cookies



I think the translation is that PVC is bad stuff, but its worst effects are in manufacture, emissions from manufacture, and breakdown in water in landfills (or in streams, if you live in the mountains of NC and just thrown your trash into the creek. Junebug can testify that I am not kidding.) I wouldn't let my child drink water from a hose containing PVC, but I'm not going to throw out my PVC hoses already in use, either.
 
Actually I believe it is not the PVC itself that is the issue. It is the chemicals that are used along with the PVC such as the DEHP you cited that causes the problems.



PVC is used in water pipes in your home and a lot of other places. But, they do not contain the other chemicals that are used in garden hoses and medical devices that are used to modify the characteristics of the PVC, such as those used to make it more flexible and to help prevent its deterioration over time.
 
There's a country song out now about how the singers' generation drank from a garden hose, rode bikes without helmets etc. The point being how our imperial federal government is getting more and more into our lives and how we live it. Personally, I think the main thing wrong is that we don't take responsibilty for our actions, if you don't believe me - spend some quality time watching the spin doctors on TV explain why (fill in the blank) held up a bank or shot an old man for 12 bucks in change. Here's another gem - the other day some guy decided to sue his bank because they loaned him money - he claimed he was old and didn't know what he was doing, now that they foreclosed on him for not paying his debts.
 
Hey, there, June,

With the explosion of cancer striking close to home in almost every family, I'm not sure that "personal responsibility" is the answer for these tragidies. But, hey, the garden hose is probably not the prime cause of all that. So if you want to suck up to that hose, buddy, go on. I'll just cross my fingers and hope to see you at the next meet up at Brandon's.

-Sherri
 
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