I've heard that CFL's contain Mercury and that if they break the mercury will evaporate into the air. Isn't this a little dangerous? I mean normal lightbulbs break all the time and if there was a short and the lights burst while you were near them wouldn't you be harmfully exposed?
It's a tiny amount of mercury, less then 1/5th the amount of mercury found in a wristwatch battery. Think about your thermostat (if you don't have a digital one), you can literally see the amount of mercury in that. Imagine if that broke, plus almost everyone has at least one of those in their home. It is made up of around 5 milligrams of Hg. In a few years all CFL's will be Mercury free.
Spot on Borot. The amount of mercury is extremely low. It's absoultly safe to use CFL's.
If one does break or blow up, open all your windows to allow for ventelation, clean up the area around the CFL with a damp cloth and dispose of it right away. Make sure you pick up all the glass shards as they may contain trace amounts of mercury. There are much more dangerous things in your house then 5 milligrams of Hg surrounded by glass.