Energy efficient bulbs may trigger migraines, U.K. group says
Last Updated: Wednesday, January 2, 2008 | 1:12 PM ET
CBC News
Energy efficient light bulbs could be causing migraines, a British migraine lobby group said Wednesday.
"These bulbs do trigger migraines for some of our members — it's either the flickering, or the low intensity of the light, causing eye strain," Karen Manning, a spokeswoman for the British Migraine Action Association, told the BBC.
Many jurisdictions around the world have recently moved toward banning standard incandescent bulbs, which lose most of their energy as heat, in favour of compact fluorescent lights.
Last September, Britain's environment secretary announced a voluntary agreement that would see stores stop selling all conventional bulbs by the end of 2011.
"We would ask the [U.K.] government to avoid banning them completely, and still leave some opportunity for conventional bulbs to be purchased," Manning said.
Australia announced last February that it was going to prohibit the use of incandescent bulbs by 2010 in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In Canada, the federal government said last April that it would ban the sale of inefficient light bulbs by 2012.
Implementing the ban in Canada would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than six million tonnes a year and save homeowners about $60 annually in electricity costs, Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn said at the time.
