Light Aware

Would you like to help?
Join Us
  • Home
  • About
    • Are you LightAware?
      • Types of Lighting
      • Good practice
    • Who we are
    • Individual Stories
    • LightAware Card
  • Politics
    • Government reports
    • Legislation
    • Political process
      • United Kingdom
      • Worldwide
  • Science
    • Medical
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Media
    • UK Press
    • International Press
    • Audio and Video
  • News
  • Blog
  • Contact
You are here: Home / News / LightAware in the Financial Times

LightAware in the Financial Times

October 5, 2019 Filed Under: News

The following letter was published in the Financial Times on October 5th and was written in response to a review in that newspaper of the book ‘Incandescent’ by Anna Levin:

I read with interest Suzi Feay’s review of Anna Levin’s book Incandescent: How Artificial Light is Damaging our Planet (“A glowing concern”, Life & Arts, September 28) As a trustee of the charity LightAware, which campaigns on behalf of light-sensitive people, I was surprised that the lighting professionals Ms Feay spoke to were unaware of health effects. Then the penny dropped — I realised she had been talking to theatre lighting designers, not those who design spaces where people live and work.

I gave a keynote address to the 2017 International Professional Lighting Design Conference in Paris on this very issue and a number of other conference presentations also covered the negative health impacts of new lighting. Our charity also won a “lighting Oscar” award at this conference for our work in bringing this issue to the attention of lighting designers.

Also, the number of people who suffer health problems with lighting is far from the “tiny number” your reviewer imagines. For example, 6m people (mainly women) in the UK suffer from migraine and light sensitivity is closely linked to this condition in around a third of cases — only a few per cent of the population, but clearly a significant number of people. And there are other light-sensitive conditions, such as lupus (also mainly women) and a number of skin conditions, which new forms of lighting have been shown to exacerbate.

I also find the idea that these problems may be psychosomatic offensive — there is a significant body of scientific research, for example on flicker causing migraines.

Furthermore, a recent report on LED lighting from the French Health Agency ANSES concluded: “The Agency confirms the toxicity of blue light on the retina and highlights disruptive effects to biological rhythms and sleep, linked to exposure to even very low levels of blue light in the evening or at night.”

Dr John Lincoln Edinburgh, UK www.lightaware.org

Click here for a link to the letter on the Financial Times website

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Led and flicker, LED and migrane, LED and skin

Latest News

EU finally sees the light!

The EU has just announced funding to examine … [More...]

Light pollution ‘can have a big impact’ on wildlife – Birdwatch Ireland – PODCAST

Light pollution can be hindrance if it’s … [More...]

Digging and dreaming

By Amy, England(Blogs are written by … [More...]

Information sheets

  • Making Buildings Accessible
  • Lighting And Accessibility Your Rights At Work
  • Lighting Accessibility Access Healthcare
  • Lighting Accessibility External Security LED light

Useful Links

Links Page Blog

Stay in touch with us

  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Archives

If you would like to be put in contact with one of the LightAware ambassadors please contact:

info@lightaware.org

Make a Donation

LightAware Card

LightAware Leaflet

LightAware is a registered charity, SC046160 - Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy | Website designed by Lennon Design

  • Increase Font
  • Decrease Font
  • Black & White
  • Inverse Colors
  • Highlight Links
  • Regular Font
  • Reset
Real Accessability