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Research

Light Exposure Part 3: LED – The Looming Threat of Asbestos 2.0

March 13th, 2023

Asbestos 2.0: Why LED-induced light stress is the stealthy culprit behind a man-made health crisis

Asbestos, a now widely outlawed building material, is an on-going epidemiological disaster causing a staggering 255.000 deaths annually [1]. Similarly, careless use of LEDs could surpass these figures and go down as the greatest man-made health crisis in history.

The history of asbestos, a cautionary tale

Asbestos is a prime example of how new technology can have devastating consequences on human health.

Initially lauded during the industrial revolution of the 19th century for its desirable properties such as fire-resistance, insulation, and strength, the mineral’s aggressive carcinogenic and toxic properties were not recognized for over a century. The word "asbestos" itself is derived from the Greek word "asbestos," which means "unquenchable" or "indestructible.". While asbestos was once considered a miracle construction material, history has shown that the opposite is true.

Let us regard asbestos as a cautionary tale about the unintended consequences and unforeseen biohazards arising from the discovery of new materials.

Despite early warning signs, it was only in the mid-20th century that concerns about the health effects of asbestos exposure emerged. Asbestosis (a chronic lung disease), lung cancer, and mesothelioma (another type of cancer eating away the linings of internal organs) became prevalent diseases associated with exposure to the substance. This led to increased regulations in many developed countries, and the material's use declined significantly in the late 20th century due to increased awareness of the associated health risks. That said, the impact of asbestos exposure continues to be felt in developing countries, and workers in many industries remain tragically at risk.

Let us regard asbestos as a cautionary tale about the unintended consequences and unforeseen biohazards arising from the discovery of new materials.

The Looming Threat of LEDs

The main issue with LED light is its inherent blue light component. Under the hood, LEDs are essentially emitters of blue light; however, the light source being coated in luminescence-altering phosphors, some of the emitted blue light is downconverted into yellow light. The intermingling of blue and yellow light creates the impression of white light, but a spectrometer resorted to to profile the light will reveal a distinct "camel-hump" peak in the spectrogram, i.e. the rainbow diagram of the light spectrum. This spike in electromagnetic energy – not present in incandescents or halogen bulbs – turns LEDs into a surreptitious health risk.

Mistimed melatonin release has countless detrimental downstream effects on various hormonal and metabolic pathways in the human body.

20 years ago, research by neurology professor George C. Brainard revealed that the human eye has a photosensitive “retinal ganglion cell” (ipRGC) that principally responds to blue light. Blue light entering the eyeball kicks off an electrochemical cascade that signals the pineal gland to suppress the secretion of melatonin (our master “sleep hormone”), thereby bereaving the body of the Sandman’s dust it needs to switch into rest mode. Due to its inherent blue peak, LED light is highly disruptive to the natural circadian melatonin management in the brain, to the extent that it can be called a radiation-borne endocrine disruptor. Mistimed melatonin release has countless detrimental downstream effects on various hormonal and metabolic pathways in the human body. Imagine your shared calendar at work is hacked and everyone is working on a different clock. Now imagine this kind of scrambling being inflicted upon the roughly 100 trillion cells in your body, unhinging the master clock that orchestrates all of their interactions.

This is what LED-induced cellular jetlag does to you!

In a notable study, light-induced melatonin depletion has been shown to correlate with significantly higher breast cancer risk in females [2]. Furthermore, exposure to artificial light at night (ALAN) heightens the risk of obesity in women [3]. Other studies find that dysregulation of biological rhythms coincides with depression [4], impeded cellular metabolism and throttled mitochondrial activity [5] and various other diseases [6].

Despite scientists ringing the alarm bells ever more frantically, the potential health risks of widespread LED lighting remain largely unrecognized by industry stakeholders and policymakers. A concerted effort by public health professionals and the lighting industry is needed to deconvolute the risk posed at a demographical level by a light source rolled-out worldwide without prior risk assessments. Potentially, swift action has to be ordained by regulators to phase out LED as quickly as it creeped up on us.

A concerted effort by public health professionals and the lighting industry is needed to deconvolute the risk posed at a demographical level by a light source rolled-out worldwide without prior risk assessments.

The potentially harmful effects of chronic exposure to the highly reactive and cell-damaging blue LED light are not receiving the attention they deserve. Roughly 6 out of 10 US citizens have a chronic disease [7], another study finding a 11 % increase over a decade for chronic disease prevalence in Canada [8]. Light stress may be an overlooked contributing factor to these perplexing numbers. More research is urgently needed.

Mimotype: Enabler of the Post-LED Age

The painful lessons from the asbestos fiasco have taught us that it is far better to stay ahead of potential health hazards rather than to remain idle and wait for the fallout of tech exuberance to rain down on our heads. Mimotype is poised to become the category leader for light-biomatter interfacing in the post-LED era, serving as both a teacher and a catalyst for derisking light.

With our cross-sectional expertise in organic semiconductors and photobiology, we are working to reinvent solid-state lighting by creating bioorganic material systems. In our research, we use a metric called melanopic ratio to design light that suppresses melatonin as little as possible. By combining blueless systems that mix green and red to create amber light, we are engineering biofriendly light with a safe spectrum and a clean bill of materials. In doing so, our aim is to create lighting solutions that put an end to light stress and eliminate the most nefarious of environmental stressors for wellbeing across the entire biosphere.