Tapsearch Com EditorEnergy Saving lights in the cruel unknowing gobal economic arena (LINK)
July 6th 2008 21:10
Bizarre Politics Reports:
Energy Saving dark side grows darker
By Ray Tapajna based on EPA Cleanup site and Policy Matters Institute, Cleve OH.
Free Trade abuse continues in more way than one - A darker story behind the dark story of Energy Saving Light Bulbs
We tell about the dark side of energy saving light bulbs and the darker side behind it at Philly Future Blog. We also have a summary at dark side post at Bizarre Politics and now Policy Matters in Cleveland Ohio adds more to the story.
Previously, we asked how can a light bulb that has to travel 8000 miles to the USA save energy. For that matter how can any Free Trade product that has to travel that far using up the energy of long haul ocean, air, rail and truck shipping be called an energy saving product.
We also got into the problems of flourescent bulbs breaking. The EPA has a long lists of things to do if you break one of the bulbs in your home because of the mercury inside them.
See Mercury Spills -EPA. They tell you what never to do with a Mercury Spill and what procedures to follow if you break a bulb. There are nine pages of information related to this.
Here , we get into the manufacturing of the bulbs. Someone should tell former Vice President Gore that there are no walls in the sky blocking out pollution from another country and about how workers are affected by working with Mercury based products.
According to a study by Policy Matters Ohio, a nonprofit research institute based in Cleveland, a major supplier of compact flourescent light bulbs to General Electric Co. requires workers to work a 64 hour week tha exhausts workers. Many workers at the plant in southern China, which is partly owned by GE, have no idea they are producing a product containing toxic mercury. The U.S. Government mandates the phase out of current incandescent light bulbs and their replacement with more "energy-efficient products". We put quotes around the term because it is questionable if they are truly energy efficient if these products have to travel 8000 miles to get here. I was recently surprised when I read a high school student paper about abuse in which Free Trade was mentioned three times as an abuse. Free Trade includes the abusive use of workers including children labor.
The Chinese maker provides no pay stubs for workers to tell if they are being correctly paid. Workers work up to 64 hours a week without any overtime pay. Workers who quit without permission forfeit a month's wages. The plant will not hire workers over age 32 and hires almost exclusively women workers- (imagine the affect Mercury has on pregnancy ). If a worker is half an hour late, she will be fined one day's wages.
The workers work with Mercury which is a well known toxin, and mercury vapors can cause serious damage to the nervous system. Yet workers do not receive " a detaile account of work dangers" and receive very little safety training. The majority of workers interviewed told researchers that they had no idea that the company was using Mercury. or how to protect themselves. Mercury is called gong they said and there aremany plastic barrels on which "discarded objects containing gong" was written in red. The barrels were filled with the CFL bulbs often and were not properly sealed.
Experience workers suffer with swollen fingers from repeated pricking themselve when plugging in the bulbs. Workers reported that when finish their shifts, they ache all over and their legs are numb. GE has been closing down production of incandescent light bulbs and parts especially in Ohio.
So, the bulb that takes 8,000 miles of energy to get to the USA, also acts as a health hazard in many ways in China and in use in the USA. This so called "green" product like many products made outside the USA are not truly "green" products in more ways than one.
Free Trade abuse continues in more way than one - A darker story behind the dark story of Energy Saving Light Bulbs
We tell about the dark side of energy saving light bulbs and the darker side behind it at Philly Future Blog. We also have a summary at dark side post at Bizarre Politics and now Policy Matters in Cleveland Ohio adds more to the story.
Electrial Workers respond to dark side of energy saving bulbs.
Previously, we asked how can a light bulb that has to travel 8000 miles to the USA save energy. For that matter how can any Free Trade product that has to travel that far using up the energy of long haul ocean, air, rail and truck shipping be called an energy saving product.
We also got into the problems of flourescent bulbs breaking. The EPA has a long lists of things to do if you break one of the bulbs in your home because of the mercury inside them.
See Mercury Spills -EPA. They tell you what never to do with a Mercury Spill and what procedures to follow if you break a bulb. There are nine pages of information related to this.
Here , we get into the manufacturing of the bulbs. Someone should tell former Vice President Gore that there are no walls in the sky blocking out pollution from another country and about how workers are affected by working with Mercury based products.
According to a study by Policy Matters Ohio, a nonprofit research institute based in Cleveland, a major supplier of compact flourescent light bulbs to General Electric Co. requires workers to work a 64 hour week tha exhausts workers. Many workers at the plant in southern China, which is partly owned by GE, have no idea they are producing a product containing toxic mercury. The U.S. Government mandates the phase out of current incandescent light bulbs and their replacement with more "energy-efficient products". We put quotes around the term because it is questionable if they are truly energy efficient if these products have to travel 8000 miles to get here. I was recently surprised when I read a high school student paper about abuse in which Free Trade was mentioned three times as an abuse. Free Trade includes the abusive use of workers including children labor.
The Chinese maker provides no pay stubs for workers to tell if they are being correctly paid. Workers work up to 64 hours a week without any overtime pay. Workers who quit without permission forfeit a month's wages. The plant will not hire workers over age 32 and hires almost exclusively women workers- (imagine the affect Mercury has on pregnancy ). If a worker is half an hour late, she will be fined one day's wages.
The workers work with Mercury which is a well known toxin, and mercury vapors can cause serious damage to the nervous system. Yet workers do not receive " a detaile account of work dangers" and receive very little safety training. The majority of workers interviewed told researchers that they had no idea that the company was using Mercury. or how to protect themselves. Mercury is called gong they said and there aremany plastic barrels on which "discarded objects containing gong" was written in red. The barrels were filled with the CFL bulbs often and were not properly sealed.
Experience workers suffer with swollen fingers from repeated pricking themselve when plugging in the bulbs. Workers reported that when finish their shifts, they ache all over and their legs are numb. GE has been closing down production of incandescent light bulbs and parts especially in Ohio.
So, the bulb that takes 8,000 miles of energy to get to the USA, also acts as a health hazard in many ways in China and in use in the USA. This so called "green" product like many products made outside the USA are not truly "green" products in more ways than one.
| 38 |
| Vote |
Shared on
Add To: 
Subscribe to this blog
Comment by Anonymous
Those who enjoy an advantage in the process exist in a cruel unknowing world of their own.
History will eventually sort this all out but until then, the losers will far exceed the winners in this process.
Who will tell our grandchildren why we let this happened.
See labor and work are the stepchildren of philosophy and religion