Dear LightAware Advisors, Ambassadors and Supporters,
Thank you for your continued support during this important year for LightAware. This newsletter is to share what has been happening so far this year.
Greetings from the Cotswolds, where the LightAware team are gathered for our 2019 AGM
European Union Liaising with the European Union EU about lighting regulation has been a high priority for LightAware again this year. The EU is the source of the original ban on incandescent light here in the UK, and increasingly stringent lighting regulation continues. During 2019, LightAware has continued to be actively engaged with the policy-making process at EU level: submitting comments to the legislative process, providing clarification, asking questions and responding to EU reports.
EU Single Lighting Regulation This is the current round of EU legislation, which seeks to bring the different regulations governing lighting into one law. Last year LightAware submitted detailed comments to the committee tasked with the legislation – specifically requesting an exemption for light sensitive people, and we have since been consulted about clarification on how such an exemption might work in practice.
SCHEER The EU Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) published their final opinion on the “Potential risk to human health of LEDs” in July 2018.
The overall conclusion was that there is no evidence of direct adverse health effects from LEDs in normal use (lighting and displays) by the general healthy population.
LightAware responded to this report, pointing out that it fails to make clear that SCHEER’s definition of ‘the general healthy population’ excludes the young and old, which make up over one-third of the population. With an aging population, this figure is likely to rise to 45% by 2040. The young, the old and people with light sensitive conditions are all part of society and all use the same hospitals, schools, shops and streets. It is not acceptable to make a policy which does not take the safety of these groups into account.
Please continue to write to your MEP and other political representatives about these issues and keep the needs of light-sensitive people on the agenda. To find out who represents you at local and international level, type your postcode into: https://www.writetothem.com/
MEPs questions
LightAware has been working closely with the office of MEP Julie Ward, and we are grateful for their engagement with this issue. The office has kept LightAware informed of EU developments and submitted a series of written questions to the EU Commission, in collaboration with an international group of MEPs. Julie Ward’s office is also currently looking at legal support for LightAware to explore, and putting us in touch with different groups that advocate for disabled people in the EU.
In April 2019, the French Government released their latest report on the “Effects on human health and the environment (fauna and flora) of systems using light-emitting diodes”. Among its conclusions are that intense LED lighting is ‘phototoxic’ and can lead to irreversible damage to the eye. LightAware welcomed this addition to previous warnings from ANSES (the French government agency for food, environmental and occupational health and safety), and plan to use this latest information to draw attention to the risks of LED street lighting.
We are continuing to expand our network of Ambassadors, whose role it to promote LightAware in their geographical region or area of concern, act as a focal point for people in these regions or subjects, and to keep LightAware informed and involved.
East Midlands, UK
In January, we welcomed our new East Midland Ambassador Jessica, who has since become a very active and engaged member of the LightAware team. Jessica has Lupus and is also helping to engage medical professionals with the LightAware message, and the value of the LightAware card.
Incandescent:
We Need to Talk About Light One of LightAware’s founder members, Anna Levin, has written a book about her personal experience of sensitivity to new forms of lighting and how that led to a wider awareness of the importance of light to human health and well being, and the impact of changing light on the natural world.
Incandescent: We Need to Talk About Light follows this journey as the author discovers that people all over the world are suffering ill health and social exclusion as a result of new forms of lighting, and questions the basis of the ban on incandescent light.
To be published by Saraband in September.
Pre-order available now:
LightAware Trustees Dr John Lincoln and Eleanor Levin will be walking the Dales Way in July 2019 to raise funds and awareness for LightAware. The Dales way extends for 90 miles between Ilkley and Bowness on Windemere. They will be walking in their new LightAware T-shirts! If you would like to do your own charity event to raise funds for LightAware and would like one of our LightAware t-shirts, drop us an email to info@lightaware.org for details on how to purchase one!
LightAware is now registered with JustGiving, a global platform for online giving and charity sponsorship. If you would like to use this for a sponsored event for LightAware, set up your Just Giving page here:
The LightAware card is a wallet-sized plastic card for photosensitive people which helps them gain access to different venues.
It has been used successfully to ask for lights to be switched off in hospitals, buses, ferries, cafes, garden centres, and shops.
Now LightAware are getting ready to launch a German language version of the card which we hope will help sufferers in Germany and Austria and help to raise awareness of the social exclusion caused by LED and fluorescent lighting.
LightAware AGM 2019 Seven members of the LightAware team gathered in the Cotswolds on 8 June for our 2019 AGM. It was a really valuable opportunity to meet each other in person, to review the progress that LightAware had made this year and to clarify our vision for the future.
We identified LED street lighting as the most urgent priority for LightAware, as LED street lights continue to be rolled out across the UK and Europe, and indeed throughout the world, without regard for the increasing body of evidence that they are potentially harmful for human health and the environment. We are asking local authorities to ‘Stop – Look – Listen – Think’ before any further rollout of LED lighting.
The LightAware team will continue to work on our street lighting campaign throughout this year, compiling fact sheets, briefings and press information.
As there were different light sensitivities among us, we decided simply not to use artificial light over the AGM weekend, and enjoyed the peace of candlelight during the evenings.
Fundraising
All this work and more is still being undertaken by a small group of hugely committed individuals, most of whom are juggling LightAware work with their own light-related health issues and the impact of these on employment prospects.
Earlier this year, LightAware supporters responded to our request for a small, regular donation and this has enabled us to fund some administrative support for a few hours each week.
Please consider supporting the charity in this way if you can. https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/5456#/DonationDetails
Donating to LightAware while you shop online
We have signed up to two online schemes which donate a percentage of takings to charity, with no extra cost to yourself. If our supporters shop regularly in this way, it would make a big difference to what we are able to achieve. All donations will strengthen LightAware’s capacity to raise awareness about the effect of artificial light on human health and wellbeing. Here’s how to do it:
Give as you Live www.giveasyoulive.com Give as you Live is an online fundraising platform allowing users to shop at over 4,100 top stores and raise free funds for charity. The store pays Give as you Live a percentage of your total purchase price in commission and of this, 50% is passed on to charity.
Choose a charity to support (type in LightAware in the search box)
Select LightAware
Search for the store you want to shop at using the search facility
Once you’ve found the store, click on the ‘Shop & Raise’ button
You will be then directed to the stores website where you can shop as normal
Once you’ve made your purchase, the store will confirm the transaction with Give as you Live
You’ll then receive an email confirming how much you’ve raised for LightAware!
Amazon Smile smile.amazon.co.uk When the customer shops with Amazon using Amazon Smile, Amazon donates 0.5% of the net purchase price (excluding VAT, returns and shipping fees) of eligible purchases to the charitable organisation of your choice - LightAware! So basically, 50 pence for every £100 can go directly to LightAware at no cost to the customer. It doesn’t seem a great deal of money, but it will soon add up, especially once the Christmas shopping frenzy begins.
