Sure, we know you want to do your part for the planet and all that jazz, but what if conserving energy is killing you? Okay, well, it might not be killing you, but according to a new report out of the UK, it's possible that those new-fangled fluorescent bulbs
everyone is telling you to buy these days may be aggravating your migraines, making you nauseous, or causing you physical pain (if you've got lupus). The Daily Mail says that because the bulbs work in the same fashion as typical fluorescent bulbs (which can be irritating to some), the subtle flickering inherent to the technology can cause problems. Britain's Migraine Action Association director Paul Jansen said, "For some people a migraine attack can be triggered by fluorescent lights, video screens, stroboscopic effects and flashing lights." And added that, "We hope that the Government will allow regular light bulbs still to be available to those who need them." On the flip side, compact fluorescent supporters say only older technology or low-energy bulbs have flickering issues, and that new models being produced are clear of problems. Surely that may be the case -- but we need something to blame this stabbing eye pain on.
[Via
Switched]
posted January 2nd 2008 9:02PM
Actually, smartass, my wife can't spend more than 15-20 minutes in a store without having a seizure. It's not the fun fucking joke you'd like to think it is.
Most of the people I hear about end up complaining that they "suddenly" have migraines because of these things. If these things really DID cause that to happen, they probably would have known from YEARS of exposure in supermarkets etc.
While I feel for your wife's condition, she's not in the class of people I was targeting. If you re-read my comment, you can see that. Honestly, I doubt your sincerity given your choice of language.
60Hz monitors (or anything under 85Hz) are way worse, in my opinion. Especially when most of what they are displaying is white.
I can't stand 60Hz refresh rates on CRTs. It is painful.
I hate it, because I am the _only_ one i know who can see it.
Thankfully there's few CRTs left where I work. But when I started it was all CRT and you wouldn't believe the number of times I adjusted the refresh rate for colleagues - everyone had their monitors at 60hz even though they could go as high up as 120!! What's worse, most people DIDN'T NOTICE ANY DIFFERENCE! I must have sensitive eyes, because for me even looking at those monitors at a distance was a pain...
LED bulbs = the future
Ya just as soon as they get cheaper
..and dimmable.
Contrary to marketing claims and the opinions of many people who have never actually bothered to look into the matter, LED's might be the future, but current compact fluorescents have better luminous efficacy than (almost) every white LED product on the market. Regular long tubes are even better than CF's and then you have things like high and low pressure sodium that still beat the pants off of anything else.
As far as the flickering claims -- modern ballasts normally operate at over 100KHz. If you think you can see that, you are an idiot. And for the folks bemoaning the lack of "warmth" try looking for bulbs with lower color temperatures. You probably won't find them in the store though, but there are lots of phosphor materials that can produce something that would probably appeal to your average fluorescent detractor. I have a lot of 5400K CF lighting that people are always mistaking for incandescent.
On the flip side, there are some good reasons you might not always want fluorescent bulbs or should be careful with them -- many fluorescent tubes can output a good deal of UV compared to other light sources. It might or might not be harmful to people, but it is assuredly harmful to artwork and photographic prints, so if you have a lot of very expensive paintings on your walls, be very careful when you select your lighting...
I don't care how you xolor the damned things, if you look at them through a spectroscope, you'll still see the same prominent blue and green lines. LED may be less efficient at the moment, but at least it has a hope of approximating natural light someday, and isn't introducing a new source of mercury into landfills.
Until LED is ready, though, I use GE Edison Halogen bulbs. They provide beautiful, full-spectrum light, with much more light per watt (fewer lights turned on), and much longer life (less waste and inconvenience).
And two or three years after the ban everyone will get to live in the world I do. One where you sit around in a dimly lit room for 5 min. waiting for the compact florescents to warm-up.
Ah progress. (So, what are they going to do with all that mercury?!?)
Wow, either you are using insanely bright bulbs or you're still using the bulbs that came out 5+ years ago. I've been using CF's for the last year+ and they turn on right away. Ok, maybe it takes a whole 3 seconds to hit max brightness, but still..not 5 minutes.
haha! Are you using those old gym lights from the 80s?
Nope, just the standard ones for sale at my local Safeway.
The Brits wouldn't notice it so much if their generators (dynamos in UK) ran at 60 Hertz instead of 50 Hz.
The legend is probably the greatest part of this story... Fantasticly hilarious!
These light will really help us save electrical energy especially at night so we can have plenty for recharging our electric cal. Go stuff it oil companies.
This website will cause a migraine!
http://www.starterupsteve.com/seizurebots/
OUCH. Screw you, that sucked.
CFs don't flicker "like regular fluorescents". All CFs use electronic ballasts, and thus although they flicker, they flicker at over 20,000Hz, not the 50 or 60 at the wall socket.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballast_(electrical)
There's no way you're seeing the flicker in a CF bulb.
Sorry to bust your bullshit with science.
Note that you can get an electronic ballast for all fluorescent fixtures now, and in fact chemical/flux ballasts will be gone soon since they cost more and are less efficient. Already, all T8 fluorescent fixtures (the newer, smaller bulbs, unlike the old 1" tubes) use electronic ballasts.
No they don't, I've been hearing this crap for 40+ years, and never once....OWW! MY HEAD!!!
No really, but they do cause death. Any living thing exposed to a CFL will die, someday.
Lets all switch to high brightness white LEDs... Toss in a few yellows, reds, and blues, and you could tailor the color temp to suit your mood.
could be true.... i have those lights in my living room and i've been getting the hugest migraines lately... although, it could also be my new hdtv that's to blame...
Yeah, stop watching Anime with the lights off.
heh -_- .... no anime here. i can find something better to do than watch anime...
The very second that I hear that incandescent bulbs are totally banned, I am going to march over to Wal-Mart and buy every single 75W bulb that I can get my hands on. Two reasons: 1) incandescent bulbs are cheap and 2) they are made in the USA. Can anyone show me one CFL that is made in the USA? Nope.
Are you really that mathmatically challenged that you actually believe that a 75 watt bulb that you will need to replace approximately 5 times in the same time as a CFL, and pay significantly higher energy bills to power over that time is cheaper?
"We hope that the Government will allow regular light bulbs still to be available to those who need them."
Wow... have individual rights really come to this?
Until LED bulbs are cheap and full-spectrum, you can take my Halogen bulbs from my cold, dead hands.
Not that anyone would look good under these zombie lights. I can feel them sucking the juice outta my eyeballs. Suck, suck, suck, SUCK!
My husband suffers from epilepsy and the flickering of the fluorescent lighting causes him to have seizures. Sometimes when we go out shopping he has to put on his sunglasses because of the lights the stores use.