Ted Burnham reports, for NPR, on a study that shows defects in the manufacturing process of most all compact fluorescent lightbulbs; a defect which can allow UV rays through. UV rays are both damaging to skin and art alike.

That’s CFLs, but smart people stay away from them because they have a pretty bad quality of light and prefer “standard” bulbs or high quality LED bulbs.

But CFLs are cheap and are being pushed heavily by energy companies in the U.S., with many of those companies offering trade-ins for standard bulbs.

Burnham also looked at LED lightbulbs and found that even if the same coating is damaged (the one that allows UV rays to leak through CFLs) in LEDs, the light becomes blue *and* stays out of the UV spectrum — in other words there is no harm. This is fascinating and I wonder what the potential liability is for CFL manufacturers will be in the coming years.

All the more reason to buy [my favorite LED lightbulb](http://brooksreview.net/2012/04/amazon-led-bulb/), or you could [buy Marco’s favorite](http://www.marco.org/2012/07/31/two-new-led-bulbs).