Toxic Bulbs

Its reported that councils across the UK are refusing to pick up low energy  light bulbs from homes because they contain toxic mercury which gives off poisonous vapours. These broken bulbs should not be put in the household waste as we have done for the past 120 years. German research has shown that these bulbs give off toxic vapours 20 times higher than the safe guidelines. The UK's Health Protection Agency advises households that if one of these bulbs should break in the house that they evacuate the room for at least 15 minutes, people are also advised to wear protective gloves and masks and to clean the effected area with a damp cloth, all shards of glass should also be collected and placeed into a plastic bag then seal it.Then the light bulbs should then be taken to a council dump and disposed off in a safe recycling bank because councils do not collect hazardous waste. A DEFRA spokesperson said that if the light bulbs break the mercury in it does not pose a health risk to anyone exposed to it? Again who is telling the truth but more importantly if it is correct that there is a danger from toxic vapours why did the EU allow these bulbs to be sold or manufactured in the first place, knowing full well that they might expose people to a danger, and how will council workers know if there are any of these broken  light bulbs in the household waste? Once again are these health and safety worries going over the top.