MPs voice concern over safety of light bulbs

The energy-saving bulb. Photo/FILE

The push and pull over the Government’s wisdom to introduce the energy-saving bulbs continued in Parliament, with an MP now turning the heat on the Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi for “knowingly exposing Kenyans to danger”.

Addressing a news conference in Parliament, Ms Peris Simam (Eldoret South, ODM) also roped in the standards’ regulator, the Kenya Bureau of Standards, for being lax in vetting the bulb imports coming into the country.

“It is worrying how many people might already be suffering in the countryside or even in urban centres from the effects of using these bulbs,” she said.

Ms Simam displayed to brands of the bulb without the KEBS mark of quality, saying, if such substandard ones had been smuggled into the country, then the rural folk were at a greater risk of developing health complications.

With her focus on the health risk, the MP who has in the past put Mr Murungi to task over the bulbs, now wants a warning message akin to the one displayed on cigarettes to be displayed on the packages of the bulbs.

“I am not a smoker, but even those who sell cigarettes have indicated that it is harmful to the smokers’ health; that warning should also be placed on these boxes,” Ms Simam said.

Her anger did not end with the minister and KEBS: “The Kenya Power and Lighting Company must also not take Kenyans for granted by saying that the effect on life is minimal and that the benefits far outweigh the health hazards. Health is wealth and must not be compromised.”

When he addressed the matter in Parliament, Mr Murungi, the energy minister, said: “The government is aware that certain dangers may arise from exposure to radiations from the energy saving bulbs but so far we have not received any reports of injuries.”

To that, Ms Simam retorted: “Are we waiting for a major disaster before we can take action? What we are talking about here is a serious disease of skin cancer.”

She said the “vulnerable group” that perhaps the minister was waiting upon to report the injuries did not have the “state-of-the-art facilities to monitor and report” the injuries.

“The government should have moved with speed to ban these bulbs and conduct public education on the same so that people know the dangers they are being exposed to through the use of these bulbs or how to handle and dispose of them when they break.”

The bulbs are said to contain mercury and scientists have already cautioned against direct contact with the damaged bulbs. Research has also shown that these bulbs emit cancer-causing rays.

The government put in an order of one million bulbs in last year’s national budget in order to reduce the energy consumption in the country. At the time, the country was in dire energy shortage, following a huge drought that had incapacitated the mainly water-driven electricity generation.

The switch to thermal generation saw electricity consumers complain of high power bills, while the thermal generators said the price couldn’t go lower because the global oil prices were already high