In the last five years, there has been increased awareness about the true nature of ‘public health’. This was largely triggered by governments electing to enforce “health” measures through the boot-on-face approach. When lockdowns, face masks and vaccine passports met public resistance, several regimes, including in New Zealand and Australia, responded with batons and bullets.

Some politicians favoured mixing the stick with some carrot. In May 2021, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio chomped on takeaways and declared, “mmm…vaccination,” in order to promote COVID-19 shots. As reported by Yahoo News:

“…de Blasio touted the city’s incentives to get more New Yorkers vaccinated. One of those goodies is a Shake Shack gift card — with the promise of free fries — for anyone who gets a shot over the next few days. As he espoused the benefits of getting vaccinated, de Blasio channeled his inner Homer Simpson Thursday while sitting at the dais, French fries, a burger and a large soft drink positioned before him.”

It was a perverse display of irony with de Blasio acting as a salesman for a combo that included a pharmaceutical product and poor-quality fast food. Not to be outdone, the subsequent introduction of ‘vaccine passports’ in many countries were sold as bringing “benefits” such as going to rock concerts or night clubs. ‘Public health’ had become a sleaze fest.

During the COVID-19 era, independent researchers, such as Canadian biostatistician Christine Massey, advised that what is being called ‘public health’ cannot be trusted. You can watch our interview with her where we outline some of the damaging pseudoscience that is promulgated by the so-called “health” authorities. The conclusion: if you truly care about the wellbeing of your community, then you need to do some research yourself.

For me personally, the new scepticism regarding public health precipitated investigations that went beyond COVID-19. For example, it led to our family no longer using sunscreen, chemical shampoos and pasteurised milk. And I have previously explained to Canberra Daily readers how our avoidance of pharmaceuticals extends to why I no longer give paracetamol to my kids.

This is not to say there has never been any helpful public health measures. However, as I outlined last month in The Healthcare Hoax, these were mostly in the form of nutrition, hygiene and improved living environments. As you may have gathered, today’s government-sanctioned “health care” is a different beast. It comes in the form of coercion, bribes, peddling of drugs and prosecution attempts against doctors like myself.

Hence, if health is one of your priorities, then you are well-advised to be cautious when governments start touting a new technology as your “best choice”. Which brings us to light-emitting diode (LED) lighting. It was not that long ago when most of us only encountered small red LEDs in the form of power indicators on early computers and home appliances. However, from the 1990s onwards, there was a series of technological advancements resulting in LED lamps that could produce bright “white” light. (It is actually blue light that is wavelength separated to make it appear as white light to our eyes.)

Production costs of these lamps plummeted and by the 2010s, LED lighting became commonplace in many countries.  In fact, many businesses and homes switched to using LED lighting exclusively and some people now insist on it. A website run by the New Zealand government advises us that LEDs are, “the best bulbs for your home.” The selling points are based on energy efficiency and purported benefits for the environment. But what about the effects of this lighting on us?

Unfortunately, we are guinea pigs in a first generation experiment and the long term effects of LED lighting are not known. As early as 1999, an experiment demonstrated retinal damage in rats exposed to blue light over 3 to 6 hours. However, the levels for damage to human eyes and problems such as macular degeneration and cataracts is not well described. We do know that our exposure to blue light has gone up exponentially in our life times from not only lighting but due to our screens and electronic devices.

While the potential health dangers of blue light are still being elucidated, one of the established adverse effects is the disruption of optimal sleep cycles. For example, a study published in 2015 detected the negative effects of using light-emitting electronic devices before bed. Persistently disrupted sleep is associated with a wide range of poor health outcomes — something to also keep in mind for younger family members who have screen addictions.

Naturally, people want to save money but this is not a case of getting an equivalent product at a lower cost. Not all forms of lighting are equal and their effects on our wellbeing can be quite different. As most lighting technology has “improved”, it has become more artificial in the sense that it is further away from the best light, being sunlight.

It is beyond the scope of this article to get into the details concerning the effects of LED light exposure and health. For those wanting to know more, please refer to my recently published video, “Are LED Lights Destroying Your Health?”. In this presentation, I share my family’s experience with LED lighting and what we decided to do in our own home. For those wanting to get to straight to the bottom line: we advise the precautionary principle when it comes to LED light exposure.

Dr Sam Bailey is a medical author and health educator from New Zealand. Her books include Virus Mania, Terrain Therapy and The Final Pandemic.

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