Those light-emitting diodes marketed as safe, environmentally preferable alternatives to traditional lightbulbs actually contain lead, arsenic and a dozen other potentially hazardous substances, according to newly published research...This is the kind of environmental scare mongering that drives me crazy. But I do get a perverse satisfaction when one the touted green solutions is shown to be compromised by one of the other stupid "rules". Basically, guys like this won't be happy until we're back in our cave, scrawling animal pictures on the wall by the light of bear fat tallow candles...
...He and fellow scientists at UCI and UC Davis crunched, leached and measured the tiny, multicolored lightbulbs sold in Christmas strands; red, yellow and green traffic lights; and automobile headlights and brake lights. Their findings? Low-intensity red lights contained up to eight times the amount of lead allowed under California law, but in general, high-intensity, brighter bulbs had more contaminants than lower ones. White bulbs contained the least lead, but had high levels of nickel.
“We find the low-intensity red LEDs exhibit significant cancer and noncancer potentials due to the high content of arsenic and lead,” the team wrote in the January 2011 issue of Environmental Science & Technology, referring to the holiday lights. Results from the larger lighting products will be published later, but according to Ogunseitan, “it’s more of the same.”
Doesn't this call for a cave girl picture? I think so.
Now that makes going back to the paleolithic so much more appealing, doesn't it?
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