Mercury

[someusername]

Broke a CFL lightbulb around my quail, seem fine, but can I eat the eggs? Since the mercury might have been converted into organic mercury

 

[paneubert]

It will be fine. You probably breathed in way more mercury (still probably none at all) when you broke the bulb verus what the quail might have ingested.

 

[someusername]

Because the mercury could have meen converted into the organic form which is more toxic, so I'm just wondering if this could have happen and leave residue in the eggs?

 

[paneubert]

A quote.

"Despite some alarming news reports, you don't have much to worry about. If a CFL breaks, some of the mercury that's contained in the bulb will evaporate into the air. ... In short, the exposure from breaking a compact fluorescent bulb is in about the same range as the exposure from eating a can or two of tuna fish."

 

[someusername]

Nevermind, I looked up the LD50 and found that the lowest dose is 6microgram per gram, and even for a 70 pound person, the smallest dose to cause harm is about 100 milligrams, lightbulbs only have about 5 micrograms. This is the worst case scenario where all the mercury is ingested.