A letter to the editor of my local paper.

[Guest guest]

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2006/12/08/opinion/letters/121625.

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The Pantagraph's Dec. 2 ``Home front'' column offered wise advice

regarding the care and handling of energy efficient compact

fluorescent lamps when they break.

Citing the Minnesota Department of Health, recommendations include

opening windows to disperse vapors, avoiding use of a vacuum

cleaner, placing fragments and cleanup utensils in a sealed plastic

bag, and disposing of them at a hazardous waste processing center.

All these steps are suggested to reduce mercury exposure.

According to ``Frequently Asked Questions - Information On Proper

Disposal Of Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs'' published by Energy

Star, a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

and the U.S. Department of Energy, CFLs contain about five

milligrams of mercury sealed within their glass tubing. Avoiding

exposure to this known neurotoxin is good advice.

However, the U.S. government not only allows mercury to be injected

into pregnant women, children and the elderly but the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention strongly encourages these groups to

get the annual flu shot, which contains 25 micrograms of mercury in

thimerosal, a preservative in multi-dose vials.

The July 2006 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, a peer-

reviewed journal published by the National Institute of

Environmental Health Sciences, included an article titled

``Uncoupling of ATP-Mediated Calcium Signaling and Dysregulated

Interleukin-6 Secretion in Dendritic Cells by Nanomolar Thimerosal''

which found negative impacts of thimerosal on immune functioning in

a mouse model.

More attention should be paid to the dangers posed by mercury

injected into the arms of people each fall.

Vance