Tuesday night between 6 and 7–on CNN’s only conservative show of which I’m aware–radio and TV talk show host Glenn Beck told of a woman (in Maine, I think) who broke a fluorescent light bulb in her daughter’s room and ended up with a state EPA man in her house.

He told her to hire a clean-up crew, the cost of which was $2,000.

The mercury was dangerous.

Zay Smith’s Chicago Sun-Times column yesterday was headlined:

Beware the dark side of
fluorescent light bulbs

They contain mercury and here’s the advice Smith gives:

1. Do not use a vacuum cleaner, as it will spread the fluorescent bulb’s mercury neurotoxin into the air and contaminate the machine.

2. Ventilate the area and reduce the room temperature.

3. Collect the material into an airtight container while wearing coveralls, goggles and an air mask.

4. Pat the areas with the sticky side of tape and wipe with a damp cloth, putting these, also, in the airtight container.

5. Call local authorities

That’s before he congratulates readers for “going green.”

I remember my mother’s having broken a mercury thermometer in our kitchen at 212 S. Aurora Street in Easton, Maryland.

It certainly was in my pre-school days.

It was such fun pushing the little droplets around and getting them to merge into one larger drop.

That probably explains a lot about my present condition, don’t you think?

The photograph of Glenn Beck is from his web site.