Who’s have thought that the compact flourescent light bulbs (CFL) pitched by environmentalists and President Obama as a better alternative to the incandescent light bulb would be leaking mercury into the environment? That is the latest story reported by Canadian Television in which CTV reports 90 percent of compact flourescent bulbs are being thrown away with the potential to pollute the environment with the mercury the bulbs are made out of.

Due to the lack of education, CTV states, almost 9 million of the light bulbs end up in Canadian landfills. Consequently, the mercury in the bulbs can end up in the air or land. The situation surrounding the light bulbs has prompted Toronto to consider a ban on them in local land fills. Compact flourescent bulbs were pitched as a better alternative to the incandescent light bulb since they allegedly lasted longer and could be recycled. However, the fact that so many people are throwing them out rather than taking the bulbs to recycling centers usually found at home improvement and hardware stores and the mercury content of 4.5 milligrams in the bulbs demonstrates they are not safe in the least. Once one of them breaks you can potentially inhale the mercury or it can settle into your carpet or your clothes fabric. The LED bulbs touted as an alternative to CFL’s, unfortunately, are no better as they have materials in them that make LED bulbs just as bad as CFL’s.

Fortunately, the incandescent bulb is not dead. Back in 2013, The Blaze reported someone in New Jersey examined the law said to have outlawed incandescent bulbs and found a loophole in it that he is exploiting. As it turns out, his company manufactures a better, longer lasting product than the original version. The fact that environmentalists pitched the CFL bulbs as the alternative to incandescents all the while knowing their mercury content and the hazards associated with them makes sense. If your end goal is to rid the Earth of as many humans as possible, one of the best ways is to do it via household items like light bulbs that contain hazardous chemicals.