Mercury

The advent of Internet help people to discover a lot of things. It also became a very important tool of some people to become famous. But right now most people are now preoccupied with social networking such as Facebook, Bebo and Friendster. This maybe the reason, they failed to discover important information regarding their health and environment.

Although I have also tried using this online social networking, I never got hook to it, I still prefer reading news and blogs. One day I bump into an article about light bulbs, the author made a comparison on available light bulbs in the market and give info which one is the most practical to use. Through this article I learned that CFC bulbs contain mercury that is harmful to our health and environment. I learned that this chemical can damage the brain and nervous system, especially in children and fetuses.

But it looks like that I am one of few Filipinos knew that information even though
today we are drowning in a sea of information: 24-hour news channels, newspapers, magazines and the crashing pandemonium of the Internet provides us with a gushing abundance of real-time information about events happening throughout the world.

In the US, CFC bulbs packaging contains special handling instructions for breakage and they have a clear guidelines on how spent lamps be properly disposed or recycled. The retail price includes an amount to pay for recycling, and manufacturers and importers have an obligation to collect and recycle CFLs. Safe disposal requires storing the bulbs unbroken until they can be processed.

Here in the Philippines there is no regulation specifically designed for CFC bulbs and tube, no wonder why the CFC bulb is very cheap here in the Philippines. You can buy CFL bulb as low as 25 pesos or $0.55. You can buy it directly from Chinese traders or it can also be bought from famous hardware and store, there is price difference, but whether it is cheap or expensive or you bought it in a known store or not, the packaging still have no instruction on how to handle breakage and how to properly dispose it. Worse thing there are no information that will educate buyer that it contains hazardous chemical.

There are a lot of proofs that majority of Filipinos were not yet aware of the danger of this harmful chemical. One glaring example is when a contestant in a top reality talent show in the Philippines use breaking CFC tubes on his head as his talent. Spent bulbs can be seen in garbage can, some are already broken, it can also be seen thrown on a vacant lot or even on a busy street wherein passerby doesn't give a damn.

I hope the new government are already aware of this ongoing problem and implement a strict law that will prevent mercury contamination of our food and water.
And I hope it is not yet too late, this has been ongoing for so long now and it is possible that mercury is already part of our daily diet and drinking water.