Posted on 09/22/2026 5:18:05 PM PDT by Libloather
Many of us have them in our homes and at offices — but a neuroscientist warns that one household staple may be a major threat to our health.
Glen Jeffery, a professor of neuroscience at University College London, is sounding the alarm about what he calls a “clear and present public health emergency” that no one seems to be talking about.
He has gone so far as to compare the item to asbestos — once widely used in building materials before people realized it can cause issues like mesothelioma and lung cancer.
The health threat? Energy-efficient light-emitting diode bulbs, which are present in schools, offices, hospitals and nearly half of US households — and which Jeffrey claims could raise the risk of diabetes and other metabolic disorders.
“LED lighting is damaging mitochondria and therefore there is no question you’re damaging systemic health,” Jeffrey told The European. “This is a clear and present public health emergency and we need to take action.”
One study found that daily exposure to short-wavelength blue light reduced measures of mitochondrial activity by about 50% in mice. Another study found that exposure to blue-enriched LED lighting altered activity, metabolism and liver function in mice.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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I thought Incandescent lighting was coming back.
It’s not a constant. The movement of the sun shifts color temp continuously. If you say “but it’s 5600k at noon” well how long is that? Sun up and sundown give the largest amounts of red light.
Thanks for that link! (A software solution for less blue light spectrum on computer monitors). (MacOS version)
LED light bulbs can be tailored to have almost any light spectrum desired. That includes incandescent bulbs. A high CRI is a little tougher, but quite doable. Cheap bulbs may have phosphots that allow “leakage “ of undesired blue or UV light.
An LED is just a bit of wire in a blob of plastic. They are in everything you have from cars to electronics to toys.
The biggest problem I have had with (usually A19 60W or 75W equivalent) LED bulbs is their tendency to overheat and become intermittent or intermittently dim. especially in situations where they get operated long hours. OTOH, for short duty cycles in often switched use, such as a typical bathroom, they are usually so much superior (reliability / life) to incadescents that it isn’t funny.
Even most cheap warm white and bright white (3500-4000K) LED lights now have decent color quality, so, that’s not been a big issue for years. In one case I recall, the warm white was a little TOO warm - I just used those where it was not critical, in my older shed and back porch, both being advantageous about not drawing quite so many insects @ night
Theoretically, LED’s should gradually lose output as they age, rather than suddenly quit, but I’ve never noticed that. They “die” suddenly first, or become intermittently dim or just intermittent.
The Great Value LED bulbs and various “off brands” (such as often found at Menards) have been particularly variable about suddenly crapping out for no apparent reason. I’ve taken apart several, over the years, and in all but one case the reason was either:
1) Improper internal design such that the heat generated by the LED’s was never going to be properly conducted to the metal around the “base” even if all the assembly was otherwise correct.
2) In the off-brands, metal around the base can be so thin it poorly conducts heat out from the base of the bulb / the LED’s. (I also suspect powder coated steel or odd alloys with poorer heat conduction than aluminum may sometimes get used. I should test more for this! If a magnet sticks to the metal around the base, and the bulb feels light, that’s not good!)
3) Improper assembly, often consisting of inadequate or completely skipped application of heat sink compound that should “be there” to help conduct heat away from the metal backed “board” the (usually multiple) LEDs are typically surface mounted onto. Crazy as it sounds, this problem is even worse in many shop type lights. I’ve had a LOT of those fail, and they are usually high up, where the environment is usually warmer than, say, a desk lamp. So much for avoiding the hassle of getting up on a ladder. This problem is so severe that I once posted a multi-page manual (were it printed in a standard typewriter font on 8-1/2” x 11” paper) on how to modify a particular high output 4’ shop light, here on FR’s garden thread.
The problem of haphazard assembly is very common with other Chinese products too, of course. The best brand name bulbs are less troublesome - I’m guessing those brand factories have more automation / less chance of a Chinese human robot who doesn’t give a shit, doing assemblies.
Another problem is more readily eplainable: LED bulbs typically do not have good resistance to AC line voltage spikes. We are on a slight rise and have tall oak and hickory trees, plus tall power lines on 2 sides of our property. Ergo, we get a lot of induced voltage spikes from nearby lightning. LED’s do NOT like voltage spikes at all: they are even worse about this than CFL’s and fluorescent lights, whose “electronic” ballasts are pretty bad compared to incandescent lights.
Additionally, it has become hard to find LED bulbs rated for enclosed fixtures, and we have a lot of enclosed ceiling light fixtures that take A19 type bulbs. If a bulb doesn’t say “rated for enclosed fixtures”, the odds it can handle such use are not good. Integrated bulb-fixtures “should” take care of this problem, as they can easily in most cases incorporate more heat sinking, at the cost of having to put in the new fixture / light. Unfortunately, now you have more chances of haphazard assembly, and if replacing a bulb due to a voltage spike is grevious, having to replace an entire fixture is even more so. (2 summers ago, the seemingly “great” $45 LED fixture I’d picked up for our kitchen, to replace the old fluorescent “circline” fixture, got popped by nearby lightning. I was sitting, eating, at our kitchen table right when it happened: Flash outside with simultaneous “pop” from the fixture, and ALMOST simultaneous boom outside. We’d had the light installed for about 4 months. I still had the box & instructions. Sure enough, 90 day warranty... I kept the thing - may try to rebuild it sometime, if I ever get time. (Electronics background.)
All in all, with electricity rates so damn high now, I have to give the nod to LED bulbs. I even do a lot with modifying stick-on, etc., type LED lights to run off of 3 volt or 5 volt “wall warts” instead of batteries, for lighting of small areas, under shelves, etc. These I can “fix” dubious construction of in the process. Not one has failed. :-)
In my post above I forgot to mention that I have had MANY failures, after a year or two use, of Wally World (actually "Intertek") LED "desk lights". We use these in many spots. In fact, I just replaced another one yesterday. They are, in short, POS when it comes to product (LED) life. The internal heat sinking is a really bad joke. The $3 on clearance "no name" "flex-neck" LED desk lamps I picked up at Menards have been, otoh, so far 100% reliable, even one I've used outside a lot, in sort of rough use. They just don't have a long / tall enough "flex-neck" for some desk (indoor) uses. :-(
Another thing the Left forced everyone to use. We live in THEIR world.
I hate LED's
White LED came out shortly after a blue LED was developed in Japan.
I think the whites started being manufactured in 1996, they sure changed the flashlight world and eventually the household light bulb world.
Long before the white leds were the tiny red ones that everyone remembers on their stereos, radios, and car dash that would never burn out.
I don’t have any of those problemas and have never had a Great Value bulb go bad or burn out, I thought the enclosed one in the bathroom might have a shorter life since it isn’t rated for enclosure but after 6 or 7 years I don’t worry about it anymore.
I guess we have to ban computer screens and tv.
There could be an upside to this.
Well! I guess the new LED bulbs have become more efficient, popular and relatively inexpensive, because the nitwits now want to ban them.
The incandescent bulb ban was never about the environment, and this namby-pamby alarmism is not about our health.
Inexpensive, lightweight blue-blocking glasses
Absorb 98% of blue light from laptops, computers & tablets
(Makes things look orange, seems weird at first, but your eyes quickly adjust. If color accuracy isn’t an issue in what you’re doing, these work great.)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000USRG90
Honeywell Uvex Ademco Skyper Blue Light Blocking Computer Glasses with SCT-Orange Lens (S1933X)
Consumer Reports found that the Uvex Skyper Safety Eyewear (orange-tinted) by Honeywell was the most effective blue-light-blocking glasses tested, cutting out almost all blue light compared to style-focused competitors that only absorbed a fraction.
https://www.consumerreports.org/eyeglass-stores/3-blue-blockers-put-to-the-test/
I did the same thing.
Filled my cupboard with incandescent bulbs.
It has been known for at least ten years that they are the safest bulbs for immune compromised people.
I just did some research - the danger is real - and also can cause severe eye damage.
Incadecents are still being made. one can not obtain 100 Watts in the USA.
Because we are a free people.
where are you finding 100W incadescents?
My incandescent last years. I bought rough applications ones. they have the warmest light. for heavy duty work, called contractor grade. they could always be made to last. our manufacturers chose otherwise.
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