Publication of the SCHEER Preliminary Opinion on the potential risks to human health of LEDs

European Commission Directorate General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) have published for public consultation the preliminary Opinion of the Commission’s independent Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) on the potential risks to human health of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). The consultation will be open until 17 September 2017. https://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/consultations/public_consultations/scheer_consultation_05_en

The Committee concluded that there is no evidence of direct adverse health effects from LEDs in normal use by the general population. Cellular and animal studies showing adverse effects appeared to be conducted under exposure conditions that were difficult to relate to human exposures or used exposure levels in excess of internationally agreed exposure limits. There is a low level of evidence that exposure to light in the late evening, including that from LED lighting and/or screens may have an impact on the circadian rhythm. At the moment, it is not yet clear if this disturbance of the circadian system leads to adverse health effects. The type of effect, injury thresholds and damage mechanisms vary significantly with wavelength of the emissions. Because the light emitted by the LEDs varies in spectrum and intensity, this hampers the prediction of the profile of the dose-response function for commercially available LEDs used by the general population. Since the use of LED technology is still evolving, the Committee considers that it is important to closely monitor the risk of adverse health effects from the long term LED usage by the general population.