Friday 16 September 2011

I broke a fluorescent light bulb in my bedroom, will I be okay?

So today I was changing a fluorescent light bulb in my bedroom, you know, the long and white color light bulb and I accidentally drop it and it landed on the chair then fell onto the carpet, now the glass pieces are everywhere on the carpet and some white powdery stuff and then I quickly grab the big glass pieces and then vacuum it with a vacuum cleaner then it was pretty clean then I researched online and found out that these light bulbs contain mercury which is harmful, and the websites said that it shouldn't be vacuum and that I have to pick these shattered glasses up with a glove, and that if you vacuum it the white powder stuff would get airborne so I would get mercury on my skin, inhale it in my nose, lung, so will I get mercury poisoning or be fatal? Would I get cancer, help please. I mean my bedroom is small and not very ventilated.I broke a fluorescent light bulb in my bedroom, will I be okay?If you inhaled enough you'd get mercury poisoning not cancer. Odds are you didn't get enough to make you sick but now you know what to do for future reference. If you broke several of them and did this you might be well advised to call poison control.
I broke a fluorescent light bulb in my bedroom, will I be okay?
Mercury is a cumulative poison, a single exposure is unlikely to cause mercury poisoning, but be more careful in future.