Light Emitting Diodes – What Wirral Council isn’t telling you…

We are quite happy to provide a platform for people who want to get their message out to a wider public , especially when we don’t have the knowledge about a particular  subject and think our readers may have an ‘information deficit’ © Wirral View. Our thanks to our latest correspondent ‘Bright Spark’ for an upcoming series of illuminating posts :

Plans to replace all 27,000 street lamps across the Wirral with LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) is underway. Cllr Stuart Whittingham, cabinet member for highways is quoted in the Wirral Globe as saying ‘this investment is fantastic news for everyone. It brings benefits that are almost immeasurable’. Whilst there may be energy saving benefits of the LED, this investment will take many years to pay for itself. What residents are not being told is that these bright white LEDs (with microwave transmitting devices installed) will have ‘immeasurably’ dangerous health effects on people, the environment and wildlife.

The danger is two fold. Firstly, the bright white LED light is, in itself, not only glaring and unsightly, it is harmful to health. Secondly, the RF (radio frequency) ‘Uninode’ transmitting antenna located on top are transmitting harmful microwaves into the environment, killing insects and small birds and beaming into your child’s bedroom.

Today we will focus on the dangers of the white/blue LED light and next week we will focus on the microwave emitting antennae spewing dangerous frequencies into the environment on continuous transmission

Humans and animals have evolved to require sunlight during the day and darkness at night. Before electric light, we burned wood and candles. This light has a lot of yellow/red and almost no blue and is the most healthy light at night. What we have now is very different. The white light emitted from a LED has a lot of blue and almost no red/yellow. This is disruptive to health, causing an increase in cancers, especially prostrate and breast cancer, by hormone disruption pathways. The bright light emitted from a LED can also cause damage to the retina of the eye and also interrupts sleep patterns because the white/blue light suppresses the production of melatonin, which helps us sleep. Melatonin plays a key role in regulating the day-night cycles and has several other key functions, for example it is a powerful anti-oxidant and also has an anti-inflammatory function. It is estimated that the white LED lampposts are up to five times more effective at suppressing melatonin that the old sodium lamps.

Have you also noticed the uncomfortable glare of the new white LED lampposts compared to the old sodium lights, which are more comfortable to the eye and create a more pleasant ambience at night? Gone are pleasant evening walks with the dog. Night workers, taxi driver and those driving at night will be especially affected. Because LED light is so concentrated and has a high blue content, it causes a severe glare, resulting in pupillary constriction in the eyes. It scatters more in the human eye than the longer wavelengths of yellow and red, damaging the retina. This can cause problems seeing clearly for safe driving or walking at night. You can sense this easily if you look directly into one of the control lights on your new washing machine or other appliance; it is very difficult to do because it hurts. Street lighting can have this same effect. Look up and see how this affects you by comparing the glare and discomfort of the new LED lampposts compared to a street, which still (for now) has the old yellow/orange sodium lights.

Street lighting is also an important component of light pollution and impacts the environment. Bright electric lighting can also adversely affect wildlife by, for example, disturbing migratory patterns of birds and some aquatic animals which nest on shore. Sleep, nocturnal patterns and hibernation are also affected. It is unlikely a co-incidence that the insect population has also declined by a catastrophic 70-80% since the introduction of these lights as well as the rapid increase in microwave radiation from cell towers and wireless devices over the past decade. If you are old enough, you may remember having hundreds of flies all over your car windscreen even after a short journey. When was the last time you saw even one squashed fly or saw flocks of sparrows or small birds? They have nowhere to hide and are unable to escape the glare and radiation, which is being blanketed across the Wirral and the UK by these lights as well as an alarming increase in cell towers. This information is being ignored or suppressed by industry and government in favour of the huge profits (and consumer demand) of new technology.

The council should be controlling the blue-rich lighting by using the lowest emission of blue light possible and they should be properly shielded. There is almost never a completely satisfactory solution to a complex problem. We must have some lighting at night but we need dimmer warmer lighting that is also technologically safe. The need for energy efficiency is serious, but so too is minimising human risk and contributing to environmental catastrophe from bad lighting.

Next week we will focus on the microwave transmitting antenna on the new LED lampposts which many people have not even noticed yet and that have been rolled out without public knowledge or consent outside your home.

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