Eco-friendly LED bulbs loded with lead, arsenic

It would be nice if they posted which ones did, what testing method they used, etc.

I do feel he's a little mis-guided by saying "widely used in headlights" as they are rarely used in headlights, but used as tail/brake/turn lights more prominently.

Either way, I'll take my chances. If it's not one thing that's going to kill me, it's another. I just put about 10 LED bulbs into different recessed lighting fixtures I've gotten installed in my house in the last few weeks.

 

Yea . . . youd think if the study wasn't bogus, they quote what brands/colors of lights they were testing. But then again, you DON'T want to say branded products if you'd be held lible for false statements.

I'm guessing they're talking extreamly small/trace amounts, like you'd pick up from many other (quasi acceptable) sources. We'll see.

 

LED bulbs don't contain any vapor. What sort of bulb breakage does the author envision? LEDs are semiconductors, just like those used in every computer, digital camera, and wristwatch. They may use differing semiconductors, such gallium-arsenide, to get differing colors, but they are still a solid chip. Furthermore, their long life means they get thrown away less often.

Tom

 

Somehow we have to remember to recycle them instead of eating them or vaporizing them with an acetylene torch and inhaling the vapors.

 

I won't call it bogus yet, as these are still relatively new for household use, although, they seem to be talking across the board application. If they were confident, they wouldn't have any issue in stating the brands and colors that they tested. It does make me wonder how they supposedly tested this, though.

Bets on whether they were made in China?

I do find it a little ironic, that we accept certain "toxins" from certain sources, but we'll decry it when it comes from others. It's always about personal convenience and societal wants.

 

I was wondering the same thing about the breakage. What's there to break?? As for their long life, that's still yet to be proven in everyday household use, I think. It's a relatively new application for the product (all things considered). Either way, the ones I got from Home Cheapo have a 3 year warranty from the manufacturer (I didn't look to see where they're made). Their rated life is 40k hours on some and 100k hours on a few. If they really do last that long, I'll be ecstatic!

Then again, I also have only had 1 CFL go out on me in the last 6 years. There's a couple that will probably go in the next year (they get dimmer as they get aged, I've noticed). At the hour rating difference, the LEDs should last almost my expected lifetime.

For those really interested, I've read that the CREE technology is the most advanced out there. The 6" LED w/ recessed trim I have use this, and they are $45/each. A steep price, but I'll gamble for now with the new technology. You wouldn't even know they were LED if you weren't told, though. Some of the other LED bulbs you can easily see, but others have the diffuser covers that make them seem like regular incandescent.

 

Good Lord, just think of all the extra weight (lead) I am adding to my car. I am going to have to remove them now!

 

I think it's bad for strings of LED christmas lights: they're ubiquitous and a lot are going to go out in the garbage, and in turn get crushed in land fills. Stuff like LED headlights will hopefully be handled more responsibly, though how do you dispose of them, with the best intentions?

 

Ahh, if only I had confidence in 'recycling'

 

I'm like, you're kidding me, right?

So I went and read the EPA test referenced in the article referenced in the story, to see what they actually did.

They ground them up and let them sit in nitric acid (ph of 2 or lower, about as acidic as lemon juice) for 6 months, then used a mass spectrometer to test the metals concentrations in the resulting solution.

That may be a great method for testing the eventual impact of landfill leachate. Makes reasonable sense as a type of accelerated aging test. And there may be a real disposal problem at some point.

But I think this has nothing to do with my hazard from dropping an LED bulb in the home.

I mean, lead sinkers have lead in them. If you subjected them to this test ... you'd find out that they leach a lot of lead. Does this mean I need to call the hazmat team if I drop a lead weight on the floor?

 

The lead content is probably just in some of the soldering (possibly cheap eastern led's) as for the tiny trace amounts of colouring chemicals are within the semiconductors in a stable solid state.
Recycling is never a bad thing when it actually happens but LEDs are the least of our worries.

 

Not to mention the decrease in uncontrolled releases of lead, arsenic and god knows what else from coal mining and burning by using less energy!

Get a grip folks!

Icarus

 

In reply to the title of the thread:

...so don't lick it!

 

A couple of real zingers all conspired to make a big story out of a non issue:

1) Not a single LED exceeded any Arsenic Limit, nor were any close. Out of the 9 LEDs, one had an abnormal amount of lead (1000 times higher than any of the others-Strange). So the "loaded with Lead, Arsenic" title is just flat wrong. Apparently, the press did not bother to read the report.

2) The contaminant metals that showed up were copper and nickel. Is the trace copper and nickel in LEDs a significant toxic waste concern?

3) The testing was for "relative concentrations" (mg/kg), not total amount. (e.g. If there were 2 atoms of copper in the 10 atoms measured, the test exceeded the limits.) I'm not worried about 2 atoms of copper. This is the part that I still cannot believe made news.

If I read this closely, it looks like LEDs have the least amount of toxic waste of any light.....by a wide, wide margin.

 

I'll sit back and wait to see a report on the levels of arsenic and lead prevented from being dispersed into the air and water due to the use of energy efficient LEDs vs. incandescent bulbs. Maybe we need a cradle to grave analysis of each type of bulb and the "well to watts" measurement of total energy expenditure and pollution output.

 

It's well documented that reduced gas for electric is beneficial to the enviroment even from your dirty coal fired supplies, not that ours are much cleaner here in UK I think 60% now comes from burning Gas (gas as in gas not petrol) ...too many do gooders that think wind farms spoil the view even when they are 3 miles out at sea and hardly visible.

 

If you are concerned, make sure your LEDs meet the RoHS standards.

Tom