Letter: Quality of CFL bulbs questioned

We are told over and over by the government, who is pushing them, that the new CFL bulbs last for years longer than regular incandescent bulbs, trying to justify their significantly higher price.

That has not been my experience with CFLs; they don't seem to last anywhere near as long as regular bulbs. To find out for sure, I started marking the install date and failure date on the base.

I am looking at a Sylvania (made in China) TL720-2 13 watt CFL bulb. I installed it new in our kitchen ceiling light on June 17 and it failed on Dec. 17. Five-year life? Seven-year life? How about less than a one-year life?

I normally get many times more life out of regular incandescent bulbs than I do CFLs. We are being sold another for-profit lie. Wonder who it is profiting on this.

I have a box full of the failed CFLs waiting to go to the hazardous waste facility. Why? Because they have hazardous mercury in them and can't go to the regular landfill (adding even more to our cost).

If you break one (or if it explodes — and they do), there are special hazardous waste clean-up directions.

Almost all of the failed CFLs I have gave less than one year of service. On top of that, studies now indicate that the mostly Chinese-made CFL bulbs also give off "dirty" electricity that makes many common diseases worse with exposure to them. Surprise, surprise; they are unloading even more hazardous waste on us beyond the lead-contaminated toys. Now what?

James P. Carter

Marysville