> You're kind of leaving out the whole "literally poisons the user or gives them cancer" part. It was left out because it literally does not happen as you desc

> You're kind of leaving out the whole "literally poisons the user or gives them cancer" part. It was left out because it literally does not happen as you describe it. The state of California compels me to remind you that everything will give you cancer. The risk is that these devices weren't being recycled properly, tossed in a landfill, and the effects were cumulative. Short of you smashing open the thermostat and drinking the mercury out of the bulb the risk posed to you, the user, was basically zero. Yet we introduced mercury-containing CFLs as an environmentally-friendly alternative to incandescents. What do you think is a more likely scenario? Being exposed to a blob of mercury sealed in a glass bulb inside a thermostat that is changed maybe once every 20 years or dropping a mercury containing CFL bulb on the floor? I'm curious, when you set foot in an automobile are you worried about being poisoned by its lead-acid battery? You shouldn't, it's irrational.