How One Little State (Vermont) Can Make a Difference

Fluorescent lamp makers recently announced a nationwide program to label fluorescent and high intensity discharge (HID) lamps that contain mercury, as well as their packaging. Is this a case of manufacturers coming to terms with mercury toxicity? Unfortunately not.

Although lamp sales in Vermont account for less than $2 million worth of fluorescent lamps purchased each year – a tiny percentage of national lamp sales – Vermont passed a law in 1998 that requires labeling on all lamps sold in state that contain mercury.

The lamp manufacturer trade association, National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), promptly filed a lawsuit asking how “tiny Vermont” would “purport to dictate worldwide lamp labeling requirements.” They argued the Vermont law violated the Commerce Clause as well as other Constitutional provisions. NEMA won the first round but lost in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and again when the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear their case. Then NEMA made their announcement about a nationwide program.

“A harmonized national label is the only labeling approach that makes sense,” said NEMA president Malcolm O’Hagan in a prepared statement. “Lamp manufacturers make their products for national and international markets and do not control the distribution system. Disposal requirements vary greatly across local, state, and international boundaries, making anything other than a national label impractical.”

Lamp makers must label an estimated 600 million lamps and their packaging sold nationwide each year. All lamp makers that sell products in Vermont must provide a web site and toll free number for people to get information on recycling and proper management of spent light bulbs. Manufacturers will also spend $20,000 over two years to educate Vermonters to keep lamps from being broken or thrown in the trash.

“It’s nice to see that lamp makers have finally seen the light,” said Michael Bender, Mercury Policy Project director, who helped draft the Vermont legislation and win its passage. “Yet we question the practicality of only labeling lamps sold nationally based on NEMA’s own statement that lamp makers sell to ‘international markets and do not control the distribution system.’ Because mercury is both a local and global pollutant, we urge lamp makers to recognize their responsibility and label all lamps worldwide to reduce mercury pollution – and exposure to mercury – both at home and abroad.”