Beperk De Straling

Spaarlampen

• augustus 2008 - Wat Dr. Andrew Goldsworthy, prof. emeritus biologie aan het Imperial College te Londen, over spaarlampen te zeggen heeft: Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) - What you need to know about low energy lighting (zie vanaf 'Biological effects')
  
  Biological effects
  
  Despite the absence of flashing, many people have reported ill effects when using CFLs. Typical symptoms include dizziness, nausea, tinnitus (ringing or buzzing in the ears), headaches and various skin disorders. In particular, many sufferers from migraine and epilepsy have found that they still aggravate their conditions
  
  The effects may be due to pulsed electromagnetic radiation
  
  The symptoms of exposure to CFL radiation are remarkably similar to those reported by electrosensitive individuals when exposed to pulsed electromagnetic fields. Since the lamps do not flash, it seems probable that they are a direct effect of the pulsed radiation on the brain and nervous system.  The magnetic component of the radiation is the more dangerous because it can penetrate deep into the human body where it generates electrical voltages proportional to its rate of change. The rapid rise and fall times of these magnetic pulses can therefore give relatively massive and potentially damaging voltage spikes both in living cells and across their membranes.
  
  Contamination of the mains
  
  Poor quality CFLs often allow these pulses to leak back into the mains wiring to contribute to "dirty electricity" and increase the range of their effects to neighbouring rooms or houses. (...) 
  
  Contamination of the mains to give "dirty electricity" can come from many sources, not just CFLs. Measurements made by David Stetzer in the library of an American school showed it to consist of hundreds of sharp spikes that could be up to hundreds of millivolts high, superimposed on each cycle of the 120 volt mains supply. Although the largest of them was only a tiny fraction of the overall mains voltage, their rapid rise and fall times give them biological activity. The sharp magnetic spikes they generate penetrate living tissue easily, where their sudden changes in field-strength induce large voltage spikes.
  
  (...)
  
  What next?
  
  It is becoming increasingly obvious that CFLs are not the best option for low energy lighting, and special dispensation needs to be made to supply alternatives to people whose health is unduly affected by them. Even so, we should regard CFLs as being just a stopgap until LED (light emitting diode) lighting is perfected.  LEDs last indefinitely, they run on DC or rectified AC without generating damaging electromagnetic pulses, and the best of them are already more efficient than CFLs. (...)
  
  Hopefully, research on these devices will be given a high priority so that cheap high-quality LED lighting for domestic and industrial installations becomes available and CFLs, with all their attendant problems, become things of the past.
  
  
  
• juni 2008 - In de American Journal of Industrial Medicine (juli 2008) is een studie gepubliceerd waaruit blijkt dat er een significant verband is tussen het voorkomen van kankers en wat ze in het Engels aanduiden met de term 'dirty electricity' of 'dirty power'. De onderzoekers menen in hun conclusie dat dit soort elektrosmog een universeel carcinogeen (veroorzaker van kanker) is dat alle mogelijke soorten kankers in de hand kan werken (huidkanker, schildklierkanker, ...). In een artikel over deze studie noemen de auteurs ook spaarlampen (CFL's) en halogeenlampen als een bron van deze kankerverwekkende (en/of bevorderende) elektrosmog.
  
  
• Artikel 'New study reveals new understanding about electromagnetic fields as a cause of cancer'
  
  
• De studie zelf is te vinden hier
  
  
  
• Lezersbrief van Prof. Magda Havas:
  
  
  Letter to the Editor: Vitality Magazine (september 2007)
  
  Not all compact fluorescent lights are the same and not all full spectrum lights are safe.
  
  I just read Rob Ferraz's article in Vitality Magazine "Earthwatch-Compact Fluorescents vs. Full Spectrum Bulbs" and agree that there are problems with CFL that go beyond the mercury problem. Some of these hearth concerns were alluded to in the article, namely that some people complain of irritability, depression, hyperactivity, fatigue, headaches etc. The articles goes on to state that if full spectrum lights are used this problem goes away. It's not that simple.
  
  Compact fluorescent lights (CFL) produce radio wave frequencies. These frequencies radiate directly from the bulbs and go on the electrical wiring in the home or school causing poor power quality or dirty electricity. The closer you sit to the bulb the greater your exposure. Because the high frequencies travel along the wire you can be exposed in other rooms of your home as well as the room that contains the CFL.
  
  Not all CFL bulbs produce the same amount of dirty electricity. Some are worse than others. Our research on CFL will be released to the public this fall so shoppers can decide which bulbs they want to buy based on energy efficiency, cost, and potential health impacts to their family.
  
  Full spectrum lights mimic the sun and can reduce seasonal affective disorder or SAD especially during our northern winters when natural sunlight is limited. But some full spectrum bulbs also produce high frequencies that some people are sensitive to. This sensitivity is known as electrical sensitivity (ES) or electrohypersensitivity (EHS) and is becoming a growing concern because of our increasing exposure to electromagnetic energy from electronic equipment and wireless devices. As many as 3% of the population have full blown EHS and are unable to live is a modern electrical environment. Many complain that they cannot be in a room with fluorescent lights because they feel "unwell". These people have difficulty shopping in large department stores because of the lighting and often go with list in hand and spend as little time in the store as possible. Their cognitive functions diminish and some have difficulty recalling where they parked their car.
  
  Putting lights on dimmer switches exacerbates the problem. The dimmer switch converts the electrical signal into high frequency transients that result in dirty electricity. Even clean incandescent lights will produce dirty electricity if a dimmer switch is used. Most CFL are incompatible with dimmers.
  
  Ontario moved too quickly promoting CFL and David Suzuki should have done his homework before he allowed his picture to be used to promote CFL. Yes they will save us green house gases but at what cost to our health?
  
  Magda Havas
  
  
  

• Nog meer commentaar van Prof. Havas:
  
  What we haven't been told about the CFL bulbs is that they also
  produce radio frequency radiation and dirty electricity and are making
  some people sick. Symptoms include headaches, nausea, fatigue, body
  aches and pains, dizziness, difficulty concentrating, loss of
  short-term memory, tremors, [warm, gloeiend gevoel in het gezicht, roodheid,
  andere huidreacties] etc. About 3% of the population have
  electrohypersensitivity (EHS), a sensitivity to energy produced by
  electronic equipment and wireless technology. These people don't
  "like" these lights, become ill when entering stores that use them,
  and wouldn't consider buying them for their home or office use. They
  prefer the less energy efficient incandescent lights that don't
  produce dirty electricity or radio frequency energy.
  
  If you really want to "save the planet" and still protect your health,
  I would suggest you buy the LED (light emitting diodes) that are more
  energy efficient than CFL, don't contact mercury, and don't produce
  radio frequencies that may be harmful to your health.
  
  The Canadian government has to convince manufacturers to redesign
  these CFL bulbs and instead of promoting them, they should be banning
  them.
  
  We are in the process of completing a study with these bulbs. So far
  everyone of the ones we've tested, including full spectrum "healthy"
  compact fluorescent bulbs produce dirty electricity although at
  different frequencies and intensities. The results will be made
  available to the public so people can decide for themselves which
  bulbs they want to buy for their home. 
  
  
  
• Magda Havas in een nieuwsbrief van ElectroSensitivity UK:
  
  

  We have just completed a study on energy efficient light and have some interesting things

  1. CFL (= spaarlampen)

  CFL emit RF through the air and also dirty electricity on wires at frequencies lower than 450 kHz. This means that if you plug in a CFL and turn it on, the entire circuit will have dirty electricity flowing along the wires and this can come into rooms other than the one that has the light. So my advice is not to use these ‘dirty’ CFL anywhere.

  Notice that I wrote ‘these CFL’. Some CFL are clean and do not produce dirty electricity. Of the 30 we tested, 5 were relatively clean electromagnetically. We have submitted our research for publication.

  2. LED

  Not all LED lights are the same. Some produce RF and dirty electricity as well. Any LED that converts DC to AC will have this problem unless they are properly filtered by the manufacturer. One company that we found to produce LED without any dirty electricity is Real UV Corp (www.realuvcorp.com/home). The owner of the company is Bill Myers, who is an American living in Taiwan. He's aware of this issue and produces bulbs that are among the cleanest we tested and very energy efficient. He has produced some that are affordable and as demand goes up, cost will continue to come down. One of his newest light bulbs is equivalent to a 75-watt light bulb and uses 4 watts of energy.

  3. Filtering and shielding these lights

  We also tested the Graham/Stetzer filters (www.stetzerelectric.com) and RF-reflecting film and fabric (www.safewirelesstechnologies.com) to reduce someone's exposure. Both work well but it doesn't make sense to buy these bulbs and then have to shield them. The only time you may want to consider filtering and shielding is if you are in a building (office/school) and cannot change the lighting. Then shielding and filtering your immediate surroundings makes sense. 
   
  

• Ook het Franse onderzoekscentrum Criirem waarschuwt voor de elektromagnetische straling van spaarlampen (Klik op 'Lampes')
  
  Ampoules à économie d'énergie : Alerte à l'allumage électropolluant
  
  Le fonctionnement des lampes basse consommation génère de puissants champs électromagnétiques, susceptibles de gravement perturber les biens et les personnes. Le (riirem déconseille l'utilisation de ces ampoules en tant que lampes de chevet ou de bureau et demande aux fabricants de remédier à cette électropollution.
  
  (...) L'expérimentation, menée près de Valence, en Espagne, et réalisée en chambre anéchoïque avec différentes lampes, de marques et puissances variées, montre que les ampoules LBC, dès l’allumage, sont à l'origine d'importants rayonnements radioélectriques... Alors que les ampoules à incandescence n’en émettent pas. (...)
  
  Mise en garde sur les ampoules à économies d'énergie (persbericht van het Criirem en Arca Iberica, augustus 2007)
  
  

  Ampoules à économie d'énergie: Alerte à l'allumage électropolluant (persbericht Criirem, september 2007)
  
  
  

• Artikel op stopumts.nl:
  
  (...)
  
  Spaarlampen geven niet alleen licht en warmte af, maar ook een
  aanzienlijk deel hoogfrequente straling, vergelijkbaar met die van
  lange- en middengolf radiozenders. De straling, tussen 43 en 51 KHz is
  gemoduleerd met 100 Hz pulsen. Op het tafelblad onder een spaarlamp is
  de sterkte ongeveer gelijk aan die van de radiozender Beromünster op 2
  kilometer afstand (namelijk 1,5 tot 2,5 V/m). Die radiozender is
  vanwege gezondheidsproblemen van omwonenden ontmanteld.
  
  Ook het 50 Hz elektrische veld van spaarlampen is sterker dan van
  gloeilampen. De laatste geven meer infrarood licht, warmte dus. De
  warmte die niet door de spaarlampen geleverd wordt, moet in de winter
  in woningen en kantoren bijgestookt worden.
  
  (Oorspronkelijk artikel in het Duits)
  
  
  
• Petitie tegen een verbod op gloeilampen in Groot-Brittannië:
  
  Banning Incandescent Light Bulbs
  
  We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to maintain the availability of
  existing incandescent lightbulbs until there are suitable non-fluorescent
  energy saving bulbs which can be tolerated by everyone including people with
  light sensitivity.
  
  Health conditions which can result in severe and painful reactions to fluorescent low-energy bulbs and LEDs include lupus, ME, forms of eczema and dermatitis, XP, migraine, electrosensitivity and many more. These people will suffer increased ill health and total social exclusion if the ban on  incandescent bulbs is implemented. Their home life, family life and social life will be severely disrupted and their access to employment, places of worship, cultural and educational activities will be removed.
  
  Lightbulbs are essential items of everyday use. We need to encourage
  technologies that promote both environmental sustainability and human health
  and wellbeing. This is a serious and complex issue of public health,
  disability rights and human rights.
  
  THE PETITION CAN BE VIEWED/SIGNED AT:
  http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/righttolight/
  
  For more information on the campaign visit:
  http://www.spectrumalliance.org.uk
  
  
  

• Uit 'The Invisible Disease' van Gunni Nordstrom, p. 72:
  

  The Swedish Radiation Protection Institute warns against halogen lamps unprotected by glass covers as table lamps or working areas lighting since, over 8 hours, the radiation from a 50W halogen lamp, at a distance of 0.5 metre, is equivalent to an hour’s summer sunshine.

  Danish research detected from halogen lamps short-wave UC-C radiation (wavelengths of 200-280 nanometres) which does not normally reach us from the sun.
  
  
  

• Convenience may be causing people to get sick: Electromagnetic hypersensitivity is a growing health concern (november 2007)
  
  (...)
  
  

  Kevin Byrne, a former sufferer, also said the effects are real.

  Three years ago, Byrne moved into a house and did renovations, including installing new lighting complete with 15 compact fluorescent lights and three dimmer switches. Over the next few months, Byrne noticed he was feeling overall unwellness.

  "I developed arthritic-like pain. I was very sore and my joints hurt, especially my hips, and I wasn't sleeping well," he said.

  He went to the doctor for a checkup, but everything was normal. It wasn't until he was visiting a neighbour, an environmental engineer, that there was some light shed on his situation.

  The neighbour was using a Stetzer meter, developed to measure dirty electricity. Dirty electricity is caused by energy-saving devices such as power bars and compact fluorescent light bulbs. To achieve the lower voltage, electricity is chopped up, allowing it to move slower and achieve energy efficiency. As a result, electricity spews outward and goes back through the wiring in your home, contaminating everything that is plugged in. After Byrne took to the meter home to his house, he found high levels of dirty electricity.

  "Your electricity, when it's clean, there's nothing fundamentally wrong with it, but when it's contaminated ... it's got radiation spewing off of it," Byrne said.
  
  
  

• Fluorescent lights giving pupils headaches (september 2007)
  

  Children are increasingly being put at risk of headaches because of the amount of fluorescent lighting in schools, researchers claim. Eight in 10 classrooms in England are fitted with excessively bright and flickering lights which have been linked to eye strain and loss of concentration, a Cambridge University study says today. It claims the problem has been exacerbated by the use of computerised whiteboards and poor classroom design.

  Mark Winterbottom, from Cambridge's faculty of education, said: "The installation of whiteboards and data projectors in classrooms has been enormous over the last 10 years - I would be amazed if they were not now used in every school in the country.

  "There is evidence that this equipment, coupled with excessive fluorescent and natural light, can cause headaches and impair visual performance."
  
  Dr Winterbottom and Professor Arnold Wilkins, from Essex University, investigated the lights in 90 classrooms at 11 secondaries. They found that 100Hz fluorescent lighting, which creates an "imperceptible flicker that can cause visual discomfort and make it more difficult to read accurately", had been installed in up to 80 per cent of rooms.

  The majority added to the problem by having whiteboards and failing to control the natural light levels, with poor classroom designs or faulty blinds often to blame, the study said.

  The Government has spent an estimated £50 million on "interactive whiteboards'', which use video, animation, graphics and sound.

  Researchers said nine in 10 classrooms were "excessively bright". Dr Winterbottom said that schools should make more use of daylight, and use high frequency 32KHz lighting which "does not cause discomfort".

  The findings, to be presented at the annual conference of the British Educational Research Association in London today, will be considered by ministers. A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said schools should be aware of the safety issues, adding that information about the use of electronic whiteboards and lighting was openly available.
  
  
  

• Zie ook de informatie op de website van Next Up 
  
  
  
• Energy-saving light bulbs are threat to epileptics
  
  The 'green' light bulbs which will be made compulsory in British homes can cause people with epilepsy to experience symptoms similar to the early stages of a fit.

  The charity Epilepsy Action says that those with the condition are complaining of dizziness, loss of focus and discomfort after being exposed to light from the energy-saving bulbs. The cause of the problem is not known as the bulbs do not flicker at the rate that would normally cause ill-effects.

  But the issue has become prominent because of EU plans to phase out all traditional bulbs within two years and replace them with low-energy versions. Almost half a million people in the UK suffer from epilepsy and the Government has acknowledged there may be a problem.
  
  

  Answering a parliamentary question, Health Minister Ivan Lewis said: It is known some people with epilepsy may be affected by energy-saving light bulbs. We have made no assessment of the number of such people affected.

  Why eco lightbulbs won't cure global warming:

  Conservative MP Geoffrey Cox last night called on the Government to investigate the health effects and devise a policy that will enable sufferers to acquire these bulbs without ill-effects. In March, Tony Blair and fellow EU leaders agreed to phase out old-fashioned bulbs in private homes by 2009 to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions. It is likely there will be a ban on the sale of the older bulbs.

  Epilepsy Action confirmed they had taken calls from people complaining of problems with the new bulbs. A spokesman said: 'There are no reports of seizures - it is more reports of discomfort similar to the symptoms that come before a seizure. The research into this is still at an early stage. It has just come to our attention and we are starting to look into it.'

  Dr Arnold Wilkins, a professor of psychology at Essex University, came up with one possible explanation. He said: 'The new lights have an uneven spectral distribution. The white light is made up of a red and blue peak, rather than all wavelengths. That may make it difficult to see differences between colours and might affect people.'

  There have also been complaints of discomfort from people with lupus. In the UK there are about 16,000 sufferers of the condition, which causes swelling and pain as the body attacks its own tissues.

  The Department of Health said: 'This is a developing area and we have no further comment.'