This much is true — compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) contain mercury and mercury is toxic. Also true — the mercury is sealed in, so you won’t be exposed unless a bulb breaks AND you don’t follow a few simple clean-up steps (below). This, too, is true — many of America’s favorite food fish are contaminated [...]
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12 Most Important Foods to Buy Organic (2009)
If you can’t afford to get all your food organic (how many people can?), you will be interested in the latest edition of the “Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides” from the Environmental Working Group, which lists the fruits and vegetables with the highest and lowest pesticide loads. EWG says its research shows that “people who eat [...]
BPA-free Water Bottles
Are the new breed of clear, hard “BPA-free” water bottles made with Tritan – from Nalgene, Kor, Camelbak, Thermos and others — safer than the polycarbonate bottles they replaced? Not necessarily. To assess their safety, we would need to know what chemicals are in the bottles, not just that BPA is not. After all, other [...]
Which Plastics are Microwavable?
The question of which plastics are microwavable can be answered different ways, depending on what you mean by “microwavable.” If you just want to know whether a plastic container will withstand microwaving without becoming damaged or exposing you to on-the-spot injury (such as a burn), the answer is, follow the instructions on the container. However, [...]
Recycling Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
One objection to compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) that people often raise is the problem of disposing of them safely due to the mercury they contain. Mercury is a toxin that is particularly dangerous to the developing brains of children (and babies in utero) and is suspected of posing a heart risk to adults. The amount [...]
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This Green Blog is the companion blog to NRDC's This Green Life, a green living column written by Sheryl Eisenberg for the Natural Resources Defense Council. (Subscribe to get it for FREE each month.) Sheryl has also written Greentips for the Union of Concerned Scientists and designs websites for environmental groups and others with her firm, Mixit Productions.
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