{"id":29585,"date":"2008-06-13T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T03:45:07","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-19T03:45:07","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T03:45:07","slug":"broken_compact_fluorescent_causes_mercury_poisoning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/06\/13\/broken_compact_fluorescent_causes_mercury_poisoning\/","title":{"rendered":"Broken Compact Fluorescent Causes Mercury Poisoning"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

RUSH: To Royse City, Texas. Jonathan, glad you called. Nice to have you here.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yes, thank you. I admire you a lot, and I really love your program.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Thank you, sir, very, very, very, very much.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I just wanted to tell you about a little incident I had at work with these lightbulbs that all the Democrats and liberals are promoting saying they\u2019re better for everybody and —<\/p>\n

RUSH: You\u2019re talking about the compact fluorescent lightbulbs.<\/p>\n

CALLER: That is correct.<\/p>\n

RUSH: What happened, were you mandated at work to replace your incandescents with these compact fluorescents?<\/p>\n

CALLER: No, sir, not exactly. What happened was, I was straightening stuff on the aisle, and I noticed that one of the boxes had fallen, and I picked it up to look at it, and one of the bulbs was broken on the inside. And there\u2019s a little cut-out in the cardboard box, and I realized I inhaled some of the fumes, and I immediately went and placed it in a plastic bag and went —<\/p>\n

RUSH: How did you know to do that?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Oh, I heard it on your program, of course.<\/p>\n

RUSH: You knew that there was mercury in there —<\/p>\n

CALLER: I heard it on —<\/p>\n

RUSH: — that is potentially dangerous and if you broke it in your house you call the hazmat people.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I heard it on your program, of course.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah.<\/p>\n

CALLER: And so, anyway, my eyes started burning immediately, the back of my throat started getting dry and burning.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Really? That bulb had already fallen from the shelf, you just happened to walk by and see it?<\/p>\n

CALLER: That\u2019s correct, and I picked up the box.<\/p>\n

RUSH: That had the bulb in it?<\/p>\n

CALLER: That\u2019s correct. And basically I went to my boss and I said, ‘Hey, I think something happened. I think we need to make an accident report. And so we had to call a registered nurse through a hotline that we have at our work, and describe my symptoms to the nurse, and she said put your boss back on the phone, and she told my boss to call the paramedics right away and have them come treat me right away at the scene. The ambulance showed up with their truck, and they put me in the ambulance, hooked me up, wires and everything —<\/p>\n

RUSH: All this for a broken lightbulb?<\/p>\n

CALLER: That\u2019s correct. And then they said, ‘We can\u2019t tell you what to do, but you should probably go to the emergency room. They said we can take you or we\u2019ll tell your boss to let you go or have somebody take you, however you want to do it, we\u2019ll get you there.\u2019 And they told me that on the way to en route to where I worked they had to call poison control and find out exactly what they were supposed to do because even the paramedics didn\u2019t know what they were supposed to do. And what they described to me, they described the wrong kind of lightbulb, they described the really long, like the eight foot long lightbulbs that you would see in a warehouse or —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah, the standard fluorescents.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah, so anyway I told them I just wanted to go to the emergency room and I\u2019ll go by myself. Finally got to the emergency room, and the doctor walked in, he was like, ‘What makes you think you inhaled mercury vapor?\u2019 I was like, ‘Well, you know,\u2019 told him about the lightbulb, he basically looked at me and said, ‘I\u2019ve never ever seen anybody that\u2019s inhaled mercury vapor before. Honestly, I don\u2019t know what to tell you. I\u2019m going to have to go look this up in a book. I\u2019ll be right back.\u2019<\/p>\n

RUSH: Now, wait a second.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah.<\/p>\n

RUSH: The EMS guys didn\u2019t know what to do with mercury poisoning and the doctor didn\u2019t?<\/p>\n

CALLER: That\u2019s correct, the doctor in the emergency room.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Where is Royse City, Texas?<\/p>\n

CALLER: It\u2019s near Rockwall.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Oh, well, hell, yes. Okay. Rockwall, Texas. We all know where that is.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah.<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Okay, by Dallas. So, anyway, he listened to my breathing and everything, make sure I wasn\u2019t going to die, and he just said, ‘There\u2019s really nothing I can do for you. There\u2019s nothing I can give you or prescribe for you,\u2019 he said. ‘I don\u2019t even think we have the necessary equipment to run tests if you were dangerously exposed to this stuff here at the hospital. We would have to take blood and mail it somewhere and get the results back in the next day,\u2019 if I wanted to do that, and I was like, ‘Okay, that\u2019s great.\u2019 <\/p>\n

RUSH: Now, now, Jonathan, I gotta tell you, some people here are listening to this and not believing it.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Now, we\u2019ve heard stories that if you do have a compact fluorescent in your house and if it breaks that you are to call hazmat people, but mercury vapors?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yes, sir.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Mercury vapors. How come it only affected you? Were you the only one in the room?<\/p>\n

CALLER: I was the only one on the aisle but as soon as I placed it in the plastic bag, I gave it to the individual who is supposed to defect the item out and seal it up and, you know, keep it protected and it was a short time after that where that individual started hyperventilating and couldn\u2019t breathe, and they almost had to call the paramedics back again for her. <\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, how long did it take you to recover since nobody could do anything for you?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Just a few hours and a pounding headache and some Tylenol.<\/p>\n

RUSH: America is at risk here, folks. I didn\u2019t have any idea that it was this severe. Ladies and gentlemen, we are not prepared for the coming crisis. Do you feel like you made a sacrifice that nevertheless, Jonathan, was important to help save the planet?<\/p>\n

CALLER: No, I do not. I felt endangered.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, this is an incredible story. I had no idea that it could cause this kind of problem and that the medical community had no idea what to do. Jon, let me make you a suggestion since the medical community was not able to help you by their own admission. EMS guys didn\u2019t know what to do; your ER doctor didn\u2019t know what to do.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Okay.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Do not stop being monitored.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Okay.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Continue to be monitored long-term.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Okay.<\/p>\n

RUSH: We don\u2019t know yet the full effects of this.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I hear you.<\/p>\n

RUSH: You\u2019ve been an unwitting guinea pig, but you could perform a service with ongoing, regular monitoring of whatever levels, bodily fluids and this kind of thing. Do you know a good trial lawyer?<\/p>\n

CALLER: I don\u2019t. I could find one, though.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, you might call John Edwards.<\/p>\n

CALLER: There you go.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Outta work.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I\u2019m just kidding about the trial lawyer business, but it\u2019s like we have a program here, Keep Our Own Kids Safe.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Right.<\/p>\n

RUSH: And the Keep Our Own Kids Safe program is an awareness program to alert parents to the dangers of soccer, the dangers to damaging the head of these young kids who go out and play, it\u2019s far more dangerous than football out there. And I remember I had one guy call me. He didn\u2019t think that our program was like worth it, the Keep Our Own Kids Safe program, he thought that it was much ado about nothing, and that I just had a bias against soccer, and he told me that he had been hit repeatedly, playing soccer a lot, he\u2019d had a lot of head shots, he\u2019s done a lot of this, and he was no worse the wear. And I said, well, the thing is that the victims are the last to know. I told him to continue to consult family members to tell him if there had been any changes in his behavior, because he admitted to me that he\u2019d been beating himself upside the head with a soccer ball for a long time and he thought he was normal. But the victim is the last to know. You might think you\u2019re normal when you\u2019re not.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I agree.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I mean if something like this could happen, a compact fluorescent bulb and the medical community in Rockwall, Texas, does not know how to deal with it, this is frightening be stuff.<\/p>\n

CALLER: It is.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, I\u2019m glad you had the courage to pick up that lightbulb. It was a great act of courage. You saved somebody else from perhaps getting real sick, you saw it, you knew, you knew because you had listened to this program, you took a risk that was sacrificial on your part, and you paid the price.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I did.<\/p>\n

RUSH: But you have lived to tell the story and to help others survive this kind of tragedy down the road.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I did. I hope so.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, you did. You are to be applauded.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Thank you very much.<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right, Jonathan. Thank you. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: I just went to the Consumer Product Safety Commission website. Jonathan, I don\u2019t know how long ago this happened that you got your mercury vapor poisoning out there in Rockwall, Texas, but according to what I have just read on the Consumer Product Safety Commission website, mercury vapors are hazardous. You need to close your store and lock it down. Listen to this: ‘The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is alerting consumers that mercury vapors (which have no odor) are hazardous. CPSC recommends that consumers avoid breathing mercury vapors.\u2019 Too late for you, Jonathan. ‘Most uses of mercury that expose consumers to fumes are banned,\u2019 except the compact fluorescent lightbulb, which we are being forced, over time, to put in our homes. ‘However, some ethnic traditions encourage the sprinkling of mercury around the house for religious reasons. This is hazardous because people — especially young children — could breathe the mercury vapors. Mercury can cause serious and permanent nerve and kidney damage. Mercury poisoning (acrodynia) has these symptoms: rapid heartbeat, sweating, irritability or hostility, withdrawal or shyness, memory loss, peeling of hands and feet, leg pain, slight hand tremors, difficulty with fine motor control (such as handwriting), sleeplessness, and headaches. Young children and children born to women exposed during pregnancy may be especially sensitive. If you believe you have mercury poisoning, see a doctor. If mercury has been sprinkled in your home, open all windows so the mercury vapors can escape. It may take several days of ventilation to eliminate the mercury. If you have questions about how to clean up and dispose of mercury, call your local health department.\u2019 They will send the hazmat team. ‘To avoid mercury poisoning, do not sprinkle mercury around the house or expose people in the home to mercury vapors.\u2019<\/p>\n

They just put weapons in our hands. You let the word spread on how toxic these lightbulbs are, in the average house, how many arguments take place between husband and wife and the 2.8 kids, somebody gets mad, unscrews the lightbulb and throws it at somebody else. Again, the environmentalist wackos forcing out the incandescent bulb by 2012, you\u2019re not going to be allowed to have it, folks, whether you\u2019ve got turtles on your beach or not. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: To Royse City, Texas. Jonathan, glad you called. Nice to have you here. CALLER: Yes, thank you. I admire you a lot, and I really love your program. RUSH: Thank you, sir, very, very, very, very much. 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