Diffusing the Blue Light Threat to Vision

Online, October 28, 2010 (Newswire.com) - SAN ANTONIO, Texas - In an effort to conserve energy, the US government has passed legislation that will effectively eliminate the incandescent light bulb. It will be replaced - by default - with a corresponding increase in energy-efficient fluorescent lighting. However, fluorescent lights have a larger output of glare-causing UV and HEV (high energy visible) blue light. Recent research suggests that both UV and HEV light contribute to skin damage, eye damage and even premature spoilage of foods and valuable goods. "Photo-oxidation is at the heart of each of these cases of light damage," says San Antonio-based physicist, Dr. Jim Gallas, who believes he has a natural solution to this new environmental threat: light filters that block UV and high energy visible blue (HEV) light using a synthetic form of melanin, which is the pigment produced by the body to deal with the harmful effects of sunlight.

Gallas's R&D company, Photoprotective Technologies (PPT), developed the technology to synthesize and chemically modify melanin so that it could be blended with plastic coatings for fluorescent lights. PPT teamed up with coating specialists ATR Lighting to make a compact fluorescent light bulb that is coated with melanin to reduce glare and to reduce the risks of eye and skin damage from long-term exposure to the UV and HEV components of fluorescent lighting. ATR also will distribute the new melanin-coated fluorescent bulbs. "We believe this new technology will provide our customers with a more pleasant and safer fluorescent lighting environment," says ATR President Tom Reagan. According to Gallas, the new melanin-coated fluorescent bulbs will also improve the perception of color, opening up a number of interesting applications that include protection of works of art, color photos and clothing in department stores - where both color perception and fading are important issues. Even foods would be protected from photo-oxidation - as in the premature browning of red meat.

A recent surprise for Gallas was the realization that melanin light filters are therapeutic: While melanin strongly absorbs UV and HEV, it strongly transits red and near infrared light which is a well-established source of light therapy for repair of damaged tissue. But the real appeal of the new bulb might relate to a growing legal issue: increasingly, law suits against companies that make and use bright blue LED lights are mounting because of a growing public awareness of the potential long term damage caused by the ever increasing presence of brighter blue LED bulbs in all indoor environments.

Contact: John-Paul Lozano
Photoprotective Technologies, Inc.
6610 Topper Ridge
San Antonio, Texas 78249
Tel: (210) 493-6353
Fax: (210) 493-7043
Email: [email protected]