I got concerned and I googled this and found a lot of good information. For instance, the amount of mercury in one bulb is a tiny fraction of what was in the old mercury thermometers (100 lightbulbs to equal one thermometer).

It also said that no mercury is released while the bulb is intact or in use. There are also links to agencies to find local recyclers of CFL bulbs.

Once I read all the info, I felt a lot better. I had already changed over at least half of the bulbs in my house! I'm not sure if we can post links here or not, so I didn't want to. The info I found was on a government site (energystar) so I felt it was pretty trustworthy. I just googled CFL bulbs and mercury.

Don't panic - it doesn't sound like it's all that bad.