Modern.gov Breadcrumb
- Petition
Modern.gov Content
ePetition details
Replace artificial lighting that is detrimental to health and wellbeing.
The effects of artificial light significantly damage overall wellness.
The negative health impact of artificial light sources on endocrine and cellular levels in humans includes the risk of cataracts, blindness, age-related muscular degeneration, mitochondrial dysfunction, metabolic disorders, disrupted circadian biology and sleep, cancer, heart disease and more. Multiple recent studies have reported that exposure to artificial light can cause negative health effects, such as breast cancer, circadian phase disruption and sleep disorders.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28362390/
Bristol City council is experiencing some shocking statistic on health, wellbeing and life expectancy across the city specifically in deprived areas and isolated demographics. A change in the artificial lighting policy will have a profoundly positive effect and an extremely high return on investment.
Diffused outdoor LED lighting will also significantly reduce light pollution giving the citizens of Bristol views of the stars and cosmos which have a profound effect on the collective mental state of the city and raise Bristol other cities in the UK and world wide to s city of the starts.
One 2015 study reviewed 85 scientific articles and showed that outdoor artificial lights (e.g. street lamps, outdoor porch lights, etc.) are a risk factor for breast cancer and that indoor artificial light intensity elevated this risk. This same study also showed that exposure to artificial bright light during night time suppresses melatonin secretion and increases sleep onset latency and increases alertness and that the circadian misalignment caused by artificial light exposure can have significant negative effects on psychological, cardiovascular and metabolic functions.
One perfect example of the effects of modern light on human biology is that of LED (light-emitting diode), which is rapidly replacing compact fluorescent (CFL) bulb. LED lighting is used in aviation lighting, automotive headlamps, emergency vehicle lighting, advertising, traffic signals, camera flashes, and general lighting. Large-area LED displays are also used in stadiums, dynamic decorative displays, and dynamic message signs on freeways. But LED’s pose significant environmental risks and toxicity hazards.
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es101052q
LED’s also cause severe retinal damage in your eye and have even been shown to induce cell death in eye tissue.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25863264
The American Medical Association even put out an official statement warning of the health and safety issues associated with white LED street lamps.
Things get even worse once dimming and colour changing features are introduced into LED lighting, which is a common lighting feature in modern smart homes.
Unfortunately, energy saving lamps such as compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) also cause similar issues and can induce oxidative stress damage that affects not only the eyes but also sensitive photoreceptors on many other areas of the skin, along with endocrine and hormonal damage.
Started by: Aaron Connellan
This ePetition ran from 08/11/2019 to 08/01/2020 and has now finished.
One person signed this ePetition.