Posted by Wolf Dreamer on October 14, 2003, at 8:09:48
In reply to Re: fluorescent lights are evil.. UV radiation bad! » Wolf Dreamer, posted by Larry Hoover on October 14, 2003, at 8:00:45
http://www.rdcbraille.com/pbpb-c.html
ROP did not exist prior to the introduction of fluorescent lamps into intensive care nurseries. In fact, ROP began and spread in this country and abroad, together with the introduction and spread of fluorescent lamps into intensive care nurseries.The fluorescent lamps in the nurseries emit high-energy blue wavelengths in a laser-like concentration. Research shows that much of the nursery lamps' energy is concentrated in precisely the wavelength that is known to cause the most damage to the retina.
The lighting level which the American Academy of Pediatrics currently recommends for intensive care nurseries exceeds the occupational safety standards for adults. In fact, a preemie's retinas receive, in less than three hours, more than 11 times the amount of irradiation recognized as the industrial danger limit for adult workers.
A preemie's retinas are much more vulnerable to damage than an adult's. And to make matters worse, the preemies cannot turn their heads away from the light, they do not yet know how to blink (that mechanism develops at about six months), and their paper-thin eyelids and clear lenses allow virtually all of the blue and ultraviolet light to enter uninhibited so that the babies are, in effect, left staring into the lights.
Studies show that damage to the retina from light and damage from ROP look identical under the electron microscope.
The studies that supposedly prove that fluorescent lighting is safe, in fact, all suffer from the same basic flaw: that babies' eyes were protected only after the first day of their life, after the damage had been done.
poster:Wolf Dreamer
thread:268264
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20031003/msgs/269243.html