Oregon schools, warehouses and businesses will soon be getting a state safety warning about the potential danger of ultraviolet exposure from cracked metal halide lights. State officials said they will also notify the federal government about an unusual but very real danger of severe "sunburn" and irritated eyes that can come from such exposure. The warnings follow a November incident that left about 80 Lake Oswego teachers suffering a range of symptoms after being exposed to ultraviolet radiation from a cracked metal halide bulb burning in a school gym. It was similar to a 2000 incident in which several spectators at a junior high basketball game in Sutherlin suffered from sore eyes and skin rashes that resembled sunburn.

Canada is changing gears. It has announced a new plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions and one that deviates from the Kyoto Protocol agreement that the nation had earlier signed. The Canadian government said that greenhouse gas emissions have only risen since the Liberal government there inked the global warming treaty. Under the revised scheme, it says that Canada will begin seeing real reductions within 3-5 years.

The Home Depot's customers are already energy savvy, adopting energy efficient lighting at a rapid rate

OTTAWA (April 25) - Today, the Government of Canada declared a country-wide ban on the sale of inefficient light bulbs by 2012. Due to an increasingly rapid adoption rate of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) by The Home Depot(R) Canada's customers, the company announced it expects that demand will cause the retailer to phase out inefficient bulbs by 2011.

Throughout history, metal has provided many uses and many dangers

Uses
Mercury is valued for its ability to conduct heat, stay liquid at room temperatures and form alloys with other metals such as gold, silver and zinc. It is used to make thermometers, barometers and other scientific instruments. Its ability to form alloys with other metals has led to its use in dental fillings as well as in industrial mining, where it is used to remove metals such as gold from the surrounding rock.

Many schools in the U.S. have light ballasts containing PCBs. The PCBs are contained within the light ballasts’ capacitors and in the ballasts’ potting material, which is used for insulation. Until the late 1970s, PCBs were commonly used as insulators in electrical equipment because they have high tolerance to heat, do not burn easily, and are nonexplosive. Below is an EPA Publication for School Administrators on some of the safety strategies involved.

Removing PCBs from Light Fixtures: Protecting Students from Hidden Danger