Interesting Article

[kelwyn]

The CFL mercury nightmare

"As each CFL contains five milligrams of mercury, at the Maine "safety" standard of 300 nanograms per cubic meter, it would take 16,667 cubic meters of soil to "safely" contain all the mercury in a single CFL."

However:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Milloy

and

http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/mercury/faq/spills.htm#less

Also keep in mind that these lamps are meant to be recylced (as should regular fluorescent lamps), not thrown away.