I'm also pretty sure the plastic wouldn't fully block the UV-B from the mercury discharge, effectively resulting in a germicadal lamp, (those are made of I THINK quartz, someone please correct me if I'm wrong) which would be very unsuitable for general use for obvious reasons.
The plastic does block the UV even better than glass.
But the result of its absorption is its the well known corrosion (the browning,...).
And the additives, which are designed to make the plastic UV resistant do nothing more than block the UV directly on the surface - so it won't pass the wall either...