The EU SCHEER report on LED, 2018

Potential risks to human health of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs).

The SCHEER report makes clear the potential adverse health effects of blue light.

It concluded that:

• Children have a higher sensitivity to blue light and although emissions may not be harmful, blue LEDs (between 400 nm and 500 nm) may be very dazzling and may induce photochemical retinopathy, which is a concern especially for children below three years of age.
• Some people report that they are sensitive to flicker from LEDs.
• Light sources that emit more short-wavelength light, as do some types of LEDs, will have a larger effect on the circadian rhythms at equal optical radiance, duration, and timing of exposure.
• Older people may experience discomfort with exposure to light that is rich in blue light.
• Either discomfort glare or disability glare can be temporarily caused by vehicle LED lights, and particularly daylight running lights and headlights.

Despite this, the report concluded that:

“There is no evidence of direct adverse health effects from LEDs in normal use by the general population”.

LightAware believes this conclusion was disingenuous in that it excluded children, older people and light-sensitive individuals from the “general population”.

Furthermore, under the heading ‘vulnerable populations’ it concluded that ‘Children have a higher sensitivity to blue light and although emissions may not be harmful, blue LEDs may be very dazzling for young children. Older people may experience more problems with glare. Some people appear to be susceptible to flicker and many people experience the phantom array effects caused by flickering LEDs when they move their head or eyes’. 

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