Yes, it's official.. The what-was-once-thought to be the most environmentally friendly screen light, LED, is now being scrutinized by scientists who believe it might have unexpected negative health consequences!
LED is, at a first glance, better than other traditional screen lights, especially from an environmental point of view:
1) LED Screens use less power
2) LED Screens, compared to other flat screens, contain NO MERCURY
3) LED Screens have long lifetimes and are more shock resistant.
But before you go on and change your flat TV to one that uses LED, and before you buy one of the newest laptops with LED light, you might want to keep your good-old cold cathode light screen laptop. That might be harder in the future, since more and more laptop manufacturers are switching to LED, even for their large laptops (as of now, most LED laptops are the popular netbooks/mini-notebooks). Apple (Macintosh), for example, is a huge proponent of this change:
- from http://www.apple.com/environment/recycling/
So are is LED lights bad for health?
LED lights have been found to exceed safety limits of the so-called blue-light hazard as defined in eye safety specifications such as ANSI/IESNA RP-27.1-05: Recommended Practice for Photobiological Safety for Lamp and Lamp Systems - and this does not only apply to Blue type LEDs, no, it also applies to White LED - the LED used in screens.
But how can white LED present a blue hazard? Well, most white LEDs have spectra that differ significantly from a black body radiator like the sun or an incandescent light. The spike is at 460 nm and dip at 500 nm - this is why there is light much stronger in the blue spectrum than with any other type of light. And according to the most recent studies, this can not only damage the eyes irreversibly, but it can also cause changes in hormone levels (such as melatonin), and cause sleep disorders!
- from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED#Dis..._of_using_LEDs
More information can be found here:
- http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feat.../Light_Impacts
- http://texyt.com/bright+blue+leds+an...e+health+risks
What is your opinion on this? Should one refrain from buying a popular netbooks such as ACER ASPIRE ONE, ASUS EEE PC, etc., because of the possible health hazards?
LED is, at a first glance, better than other traditional screen lights, especially from an environmental point of view:
1) LED Screens use less power
2) LED Screens, compared to other flat screens, contain NO MERCURY
3) LED Screens have long lifetimes and are more shock resistant.
But before you go on and change your flat TV to one that uses LED, and before you buy one of the newest laptops with LED light, you might want to keep your good-old cold cathode light screen laptop. That might be harder in the future, since more and more laptop manufacturers are switching to LED, even for their large laptops (as of now, most LED laptops are the popular netbooks/mini-notebooks). Apple (Macintosh), for example, is a huge proponent of this change:
Quote:
| To eliminate mercury in our displays, we need to transition from fluorescent lamps to light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to illuminate the displays. Fortunately, all iPod displays already use LEDs for illumination, and therefore contain no mercury. We plan to introduce our first Macs with LED backlight technology in 2007. Our ability to completely eliminate fluorescent lamps in all of our displays depends on how fast the LCD industry can transition to LED backlighting for larger displays... Apple plans to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of mercury by transitioning to LED backlighting for all displays when technically and economically feasible. |
So are is LED lights bad for health?
LED lights have been found to exceed safety limits of the so-called blue-light hazard as defined in eye safety specifications such as ANSI/IESNA RP-27.1-05: Recommended Practice for Photobiological Safety for Lamp and Lamp Systems - and this does not only apply to Blue type LEDs, no, it also applies to White LED - the LED used in screens.
But how can white LED present a blue hazard? Well, most white LEDs have spectra that differ significantly from a black body radiator like the sun or an incandescent light. The spike is at 460 nm and dip at 500 nm - this is why there is light much stronger in the blue spectrum than with any other type of light. And according to the most recent studies, this can not only damage the eyes irreversibly, but it can also cause changes in hormone levels (such as melatonin), and cause sleep disorders!
Quote:
| Blue Hazard: There is increasing concern that blue LEDs and white LEDs are now capable of exceeding safe limits of the so-called blue-light hazard as defined in eye safety specifications such as ANSI/IESNA RP-27.1-05: Recommended Practice for Photobiological Safety for Lamp and Lamp Systems.[39][40] |
More information can be found here:
- http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feat.../Light_Impacts
- http://texyt.com/bright+blue+leds+an...e+health+risks
What is your opinion on this? Should one refrain from buying a popular netbooks such as ACER ASPIRE ONE, ASUS EEE PC, etc., because of the possible health hazards?
