Recommendations
Recommendations
Flicker measurements were performed by me - see Testing LEDs and Screens .
Sunlight
Candlelight/firelight
Constant DC LEDs. Be very careful that the LEDs are powered on a very simple battery circuit with no pulsing. For example some battery-powered LED lamps I've tried have pulsed the current and triggered what felt like electrical shocks, perhaps akin to seizure, in my brain. The flicker had a complex, rapid pattern when measured with a meter that couldn't be detected with a phone video - the lamps were engineered to flicker even though they were battery-powered. Do not trust manufacturer marketing that says "flicker-free." Testing with a professional flicker meter is recommended if the circuitry isn't obvious. I use simple battery-powered LED string lights and battery-powered DC LEDs in Mason jar lanterns that use AA or AAA bateries and have no dimming or flicker function.
Incandescent lights with flicker less than about 5%, using as few bulbs as possible. Typical household incandescents have higher flicker than this (~8-12% flicker) and can occasionally cause migraines for me with extensive use now that I've become extremely flicker-sensitive, especially when there are many bulbs in use and the light is bright. I tested a variety of incandescent bulbs with a flicker meter to find ones with lower flicker. Note that flicker can vary widely from one bulb type to another for a brand. I am currently using these incandescent Edison bulbs at home:
Globe Electric Edison Incandescent 60 W A19 E26 2200K 245 lumen (model 01325): 3.66% sinusoidal flicker
Hudson Bulb Co. Edison Incandescent 60 W ST58 E26 Spiral filament 2100K 230 lumen (X002K5ZZGN): 4.32% sinusoidal flicker
SCOMX lingruiyi Edison incandescent CA flame tip 40 W E12 280 lumen (lingruiyi15 X00314456D): 4.6% sinusoidal flicker in a nondimmable lamp and in a dimmable fixture from 5.6% flicker at full brightness to 9% flicker when fully dimmed. I use these at full brightness.
A few brands of incandescent halogen MR16 50W GU5.3 12 V spotlights : ~3.5% sinusoidal flicker
None found so far. I have not found any bulbs marketed as "flicker-free" to actually be flicker-free upon testing and many have had severe flicker. There are no regulations for the use of this term.
(The only LED bulbs I still use are 10 years old, have very low flicker, but happen to also be in a fixture with a very slightly unstable current that creates a very random and very slight flicker. I don't know, but it's possible this extra randomness in the flicker might be protective and might be the reason why these LEDs don't seem to harm me. I haven't done health testing of these bulbs yet in a different fixture, but plan to do so the next time I become healthy enough for symptom testing to be reasonable).
Only when new: Waveform Centric Home 60W-equivalent A19 LEDs. They have ~0.9% flicker.with a waveform pattern that repeats 120 times a second. The repeated pattern is fairly complex. I can tolerate these for limited periods when they are new. However, they start to invisibly flicker more as they age, eventually acquiring 100% flicker. Some start to blink visibly. A flicker meter is needed to regularly test the bulbs for increased flicker. We use these in a family member's apartment along with incandescent bulbs. I stopped using these at home when I noticed their increased flicker upon aging.
Sylvania 2700K LED6A19F82710YV LED (40W equivalent) A19 LED bulbs only very slowly start/exacerbate symptoms for me. They have ~0.09% flicker.with a waveform pattern that repeats 120 times a second. The repeated pattern is somewhat complex, but the meter isn't sensitive enough to measure it well. They're currently installed in the common hallway in my apartment building and I don't notice any harm when passing through the hall. After several months, these bulbs have not yet acquired more flicker, but I'll continue to test. I do slowly develop symptoms with these bulbs during extended usage. I tried using them exclusively in my apartment, but have returned to using incandescents after noticing that the Sylvania LEDs slowly cause symptoms.
None found so far.
Black gaffer tape or "Light Dims" with 100% blackout to cover LED indicator lights, etc. Light Dims with partial blackout to cover lighted displays, such as the microwave oven screen.
"Dim It" sheets over smart phone screens. I keep my phone screen at 100% brightness to reduce flicker, but put 2 layers of Dim It sheets (cut to size) over it. These static cling sheets are easy to take off and put back on. These are insufficient protection, but better than nothing.
Blackout curtains - I use 2 layers of blackout curtains to completely block neighbors' LED lights and close them as soon as the sky begins to dim if neighbors' lights are on.
Shade 5 welding glasses - these give me a few extra seconds of protection if crossing an area with moderate LED flicker. They are insufficient protection for even a few seconds in severe flicker.
Hat with a brim - I wear a baseball cap outside and use the brim to block my view of headlights as much as possible.
Blackout sleep mask - I use this if riding in a car at night for protection from LED streetlights and headlights. Using the mask can also help reduce harm if I need to spend a little time in a building with LED lights, but it is insufficient protection, perhaps because it is a little leaky or perhaps because light shines into my head around the mask. For example, I have still quickly begun to experience pain and develop symptoms while wearing the mask in a room with a projector that cycled through colors repeatedly and on a train with intensely bright LED lights.
Dimming sheets over TV/computer screens - I have not found a particular color lens that prevents symptoms form screens, although any lens that reduces the light has helped a little. Orange lenses are the same as sunglasses for me - they help a little bit, but are woefully insufficient. Currently, I don't wear tinted lenses so I can get as much sunlight as possible into my eyes. Instead, I put large neutral density photographic gel filters over my screens to reduce the light. I keep the screens at full brightness to minimize flicker. This strategy is insufficient, but better than nothing.
Eye patch - patching one eye lengthens the time I can use a screen before symptoms start. I rarely use screens, so don't use an eye patch very often. Overuse might be problematic. Please consult your doctor about whether this might be appropriate for you.
Pencil or other baton that can be waved rapidly. It the pencil appears to move in stuttered jumps, the lights have dramatic flicker.
Fidget spinner. If a pattern appears that shifts alternatively between clockwise and counterclockwise as the spinner slows, the lights are flickering.
Smartphone slow motion 240 frames per second video (to detect 120 Hz flicker in the Americas). Note that some phones may now require a 3rd-party app to record true 240 fps video. My iPhone stutters the recording, obscuring flicker in the built-in Camera app and the info for the video says ~180 fps instead of 240 fps even if the app is set to 240 fps. Instead, I use the Moment app to record 240 fps video, but play it back in the built-in Photos app. Extreme brightness flicker and extreme color-to-color flicker can be detected.
Camera used to take panning shots of distant LEDs. At certain shutter speeds, flicker might be apparent as descrete dots of lights in panning shots.
Low-cost flicker meter (I have the Opple light meter 3, purchased for $56 on Amazon in January 2023). Such a meter is better than nothing, but can fool one into thinking there isn't flicker when there is flicker. If placed too close to a bright light, the sensor is overwhelmed and the flicker recording is artificially a flat line. Also, the meter is only good enough to record down to ~2% flicker, but flicker below this level can still cause symptoms for me. This meter does not detect color-to-color flicker. For screens, only the most dramatic forms of flicker from a large area can be detected.
Professional flicker meter. After finding the Opple meter to be too limited, I broke down and purchased the UPRTek MK350N meter for ~$800 used on eBay in February 2023. This meter can record down to about 0.1% flicker. New professional meters can cost at least ~$2500. This meter is pretty good for measuring brightness flicker, but cannot detect color-to-color flicker. I pair this meter with camera color filters (Tiffen Blue 47, Green 58, Red 25, and Green-L IR 680 are most useful) to individually measure the flicker of different color bands. The meter should be placed on a tripod and operated via a computer for accurate measurements. For screens, only gross flicker from a fairly large area can be detected, so the meter is insufficient.
Pocket microscopes Carson MicroBrite Pro (MM-350) and MicroFlip (MP-250) paired with slow-motion smartphone video (Moment app) analyzed via Photoshop histogram luminosity to detect screen subpixel flicker.This strategy is less sensitive in detecting brightness flicker than the UPRTek meter, but is the only way I have found to measure subpixel flicker on screens.
Based on the survey data, and until rigorous scientific studies can be conducted to delineate safe parameters for light flicker, I advocate for the following:
Manufacturers in the US are required to relay reports of health problems from LED devices to the FDA: How to report health problems with LED lights or LED screens to the FDA.
Lighting manufacturers should include the proper circuitry so that they completely eliminate flicker from their LED lights. In the current language used by lighting manufacturers, they should completely eliminate all "temporal light modulation" from their lights, regardless of whether normal control individuals know that they can see it. This will not only protect the sensitive, but may also (hopefully, for the sake of the environment) further speed adoption of LED lights by the public, by eliminating a quality that may make people dislike LEDs. Too few US manufacturers are producing completely flicker-free LED lights now, although many manufacturers, including Philips, did so in the past. To my knowledge, the only current US manufacturer of completely flicker-free household LED bulbs is the small company, Waveform Lighting.
Lighting professionals should stop using language and flicker metrics that have the effect of creating confusion and obfuscation about LED light flicker. First, the 2015 IEEE report distinguished between "visible" and "invisible" flicker, with both kinds being implicated in causing adverse health effects, with seizures from visible flicker and headaches and eyestrain from "invisible" flicker (IEEE std 1789, 2015). Then, in 2016 the lighting industry decided that "invisible flicker" would no longer qualify as "flicker" at all and what they previously called "flicker" would now be called "temporal light modulation" and only "visible flicker" would be called "flicker" (CIE TN-006).
I think "flicker" should mean "flicker." Especially because the public needs to understand, "flicker" should be used in the sense that it is used by the general public and in the sense that it was often used by the lighting industry prior to 2016. Otherwise, how can the average person receive comprehensible information from the lighting industry? The lighting industry's current insistence that certain flicker is "temporal light modulation" but isn't "flicker" if it's not obviously visible creates considerable confusion. For example, using their industry-specific jargon, lighting professionals can currently tell people that the lights "don't flicker" even if they do flicker, as long as their flicker (temporal light modulation) isn't visible to average normal observers. This is despite the fact that research has shown that people can have headaches and eye strain due to flicker whether or not they consciously see it (see Background: Health Effects, including Brundrett, 1974, discussed in Background: Health Effects of flicker below 100 Hz).
The ability of lighting professionals to deny the existence of flicker through industry-specific language can increase the likelihood that third parties, like employers or medical professionals, might dismiss the health concerns of sensitive individuals. Sensitive individuals face an uphill battle convincing others that they are hurt by light that many people don't sense could be causing injury. They face medical professionals who might dismiss their condition as psychosomatic (see discussion of the "sunglasses sign" in Background: Unanswered questions), they face employers who might question their truthfulness or mental health, they face lighting consultants who have a monetary interest in not admitting that the lights they have specified are unhealthy, and they face lighting manufacturers that are not likely to appreciate reports that their products are unsafe. Sensitive individuals, who may be experiencing significant neurological symptoms, should not also be burdened with navigating unnecessarily confusing industry-specific language.
Pst and SVM are not useful metrics for protecting sensitive individuals from flicker ≥100 Hz that is produced by LED lights. Pst is only used for flicker <80 Hz. SVM is a measure of flicker visibility based on average normal observers and the current SVM limit proposed by the lighting industry is much more permissive of flicker than the previously-developed IEEE recommendations (see Background: LED lights). My personal experience is that the IEEE recommendations for flicker are not close to stringent enough (see Testing LEDs and Screens). None of these current metrics are based on any studies of the health effects of flicker ≥100 Hz.
The lighting industry should stop assuming that the visibility of flicker equates with whether flicker produces health effects. There is no data to support this assumption. Additionally, visibility is quite subjective and dependent on testing conditions. As mentioned above, research has shown that people can have headaches and eye strain due to flicker whether or not they consciously see it (see Background: Health Effects, including Brundrett, 1974, discussed in Background: Health Effects of flicker below 100 Hz).
Lighting professionals should stop arguing that it's not important to limit flicker in venues that people might pass through transiently. No one has established a safe exposure time for sensitive individuals. My personal experience is that seconds of exposure to flicker can be enough to trigger serious health effects for me. Also, brief individual exposures to the hundreds of flickering LED lights that I encounter on a short walk in New York City have a cumulative effect. Flickering LEDs have become so ubiquitous in public places that they can't be considered to act transiently in isolation from each other.
Since light flicker can have adverse physiological effects on the human nervous system and can create neuroinflammation (see Background: Health Effects), lights that flicker should undergo the testing and regulation of medical devices.
Policy makers should require completely flicker-free circuitry in LED lights and should require that LED lights are actually completely flicker-free upon independent testing.
Policy makers should require manufacturers to publicly disclose flicker metrics for their LED lights, including percent flicker, flicker frequency, flicker index, and a graph of light output vs. time. (On such a graph of light output vs. time, it's obvious whether the graph is a flat line, meaning that the light is completely flicker-free, or whether there is repetitive flicker. Other metrics are more difficult to interpret). They should require language from the lighting industry that clearly informs the public about flicker, rather than creating obfuscation through an industry-specific, limited definition of flicker.
Access to environments with safe lighting should be viewed as both a basic accessibility issue and a basic public health issue. Since no one yet knows what level of light flicker is safe for sensitive individuals, in the interim, completely flicker-free LED light should be required in any setting subject to public health law.
LED flicker should be eliminated from the environments of particularly vulnerable individuals, such as the homes of children, schools, hospitals, and institutional residential settings.
LED flicker should be eliminated from all venues accessed by the general public, but especially those needed for meeting basic needs, such as groceries, pharmacies, medical offices, public transportation, and urban sidewalks. Flicker should be eliminated in vehicle lights and in street illumination. Lights inside public transportation vehicles should not flicker. LED signs that flicker should be remodeled to eliminate the flicker or should be removed from public places. For example, LED signs on New York City sidewalks, at bus stops, on subway platforms, and, recently, on some subway trains have significant flicker that makes it impossible for sensitive individuals to walk on the sidewalk or take public transportation without encountering triggering flicker.
In locales like New York City where incentives for light replacement or policies for increased energy efficiency led to the recent widespread installation of LED lights with flicker (because those were virtually the only kind of LEDs in the marketplace recently and there is a lack of awareness of the issue), programs should be created to help businesses and individuals to replace the unhealthy flickering LEDs with completely flicker-free LED alternatives, both in terms of helping to identify flicker-free technology and to provide financial support for the correction, especially to individuals and small businesses.
Scientists should begin to do both clinical and basic research on the health effects of ≥100 Hz flicker, such as the flicker of LED lights and the numerous complex forms of flicker that may be viewed on LED screens.
Scientists should determine how to test people for flicker sensitivity. It is particularly important to be able to screen children for flicker sensitivity before exposure to flicker at home or school impacts their learning.
Lighting engineers should shift their focus from developing various forms of flickering LED lights to further improve upon existing completely flicker-free LED technology.
Engineers should develop an intuitive, reliable, and low-cost flicker meter that will allow sensitive individuals to detect flicker in new environments without needing to observe more flicker. For example, my current strategy of using a slow-motion smart phone video (see Testing LEDs and Screens) isn't effective for the most subtle flicker and has the significant problem of exposing me to more flicker when viewing the video playback. Among other flicker metrics, a flicker meter should include a graph of light output vs. time so that the waveform shape can be readily viewed. The flicker meter should also readily report about multiple kinds of flicker for lights that have more than one type, such as when LED lights controlled by a driver have faster than 120 Hz flicker, but also have a residual 120 Hz component to the flicker because of insufficient elimination of flicker from the AC mains. The screen on the device should be free of flicker. An eInk screen that only refreshes when a new reading is requested would be ideal.
Medical professionals should insist upon safe, flicker-free lighting in their facilities, not only to protect their patients from potentially serious injury, but also to protect themselves and ensure that flicker isn't compromising their visual perception, concentration, or cognition in a way that could harm patient care. They should not accept a situation that requires their sensitive patients to accept new brain injury in order to receive medical care. They should also advocate for research on how to make screens safe for similar reasons.
Medical professionals should develop tools for distinguishing between different kinds of photophobia in patients, including between sensitivity to light brightness, sensitivity to light flicker, or sensitivity to particular wavelengths of light. Sensitivity to constant light sources, like sunlight or completely flicker-free LEDs, should be compared to sensitivity to LEDs with flicker. Those who report sensitivity to LEDs tend to not be bothered by a moderate level of sunlight and may even find that sunlight is in some way helpful. Since LED-sensitive individuals tend to become even more sensitive when experiencing symptoms, and perhaps generally over time, other forms of flickering light that might not have been bothersome in the past might become bothersome, including fluorescent lights and even halogen or traditional incandescent lights.
Medical professionals should begin to consider flicker sensitivity as a relatively new medical condition with flicker as a novel trigger and with a collection of symptoms that may require evaluation distinct from that for previously-characterized disorders. It should be recognized that while many sensitive individuals do know that LED lights and/or screens are their triggers, especially if they have an immediate adverse reaction, others may not have yet realized that LEDs cause their symptoms, especially if their symptoms take time to build following exposure, or if their symptoms are currently subtle. Additionally, even if individuals know they are sensitive to LED lights and/or screens, they may not have the tools to figure out whether flicker or some other aspect of the light is the problem.
Medical professionals should recognize that light flicker may initiate neuropathology in some people, and these individuals may experience both acute symptoms during and immediately after the flicker "injury" as well as persistent symptoms that may last weeks or months. Repeated exposure to flicker may repeatedly re-initiate the disease process and may lead to an increase in symptom severity over time. It may be more appropriate to treat flicker exposure as a novel form of mild brain injury (likely with both central and peripheral nervous system involvement) for sensitive people than it is to try to explain their symptoms as only sequelae of other preexisting conditions, although these conditions, like migraine, dry eye, concussion, or other conditions with photophobia, may certainly increase the likelihood of flicker sensitivity or have disease processes that interact with the flicker-induced disease process.
Medical professionals should report patients experiencing health effects from LEDs to appropriate government agencies. Health issues with LED lights or screens should be reported to the US Food and Drug Administration, which welcomes these reports from both inside and outside the US. How to report health problems with LED lights or LED screens to the FDA.
Health departments and government agencies should recognize sensitivity to flickering lights as a public health issue, given the wide-scale anecdotal reporting of adverse effects and particularly considering the severity of the neurological symptoms reported in this Survey and on online forums like LEDStrain.org.
Health departments should provide a mechanism for people to report harmful light flicker in public places, in the US should help to relay reports from individuals to the FDA, and should help sensitive individuals find essential businesses and services that are accessible because they are free of light flicker.
Government agencies like the US Food and Drug Administration that regulate products that emit radiation, including visible light, should provide a clear mechanism for doctors and patients to report adverse health effects of such products. As of August 2022, the US Food and Drug Administration has communicated that health issues with LED lights or screens should be reported to the them as described here - they welcome reports from both inside and outside the US: How to report health problems with LED lights or LED screens to the FDA. Our reporting through this avenue will be essential to inform future regulation, legislation, and to justify funding research.
Businesses should consider providing lighting that doesn't cause harmful neurological health effects to be a basic public health issue as well as an accessibility issue, regardless of whether the law has yet caught up to requiring this.
Businesses should require completely flicker-free lighting be used in new construction and renovations. Businesses should know that there is not yet any known safe level of flicker and current flicker metrics and recommendations do not result in safe levels of flicker. Lighting designers and architects should review data about the flicker of light fixtures and bulbs before choosing them for projects. Business owners should have an independent lighting consultant that is different from the manufacturer or consultant who chose the lights for the project evaluate the flicker of the lights in situ. They should evaluate whether the specified lighting equipment was actually used in the project and whether the lights flicker following installation. Lighting control systems or dimmer systems common to business installations might themselves introduce flicker. The entire lighting system needs to be tested for flicker in the actual building following completion of installation. Especially if sensitive individuals indicate that the lights may be unhealthy, only considering manufacturers' descriptions of lighting is insufficient. The actual lights that are harming people should be tested. They should be tested without sunlight or other lights on in the room. Full room readings of flicker are insufficient to identify which lights flicker. A low level of flicker does not indicate that the lights aren't affecting the health of sensitive individuals - the safe level is unknown.
Use daylight to light buildings when possible - it has energy-saving, psychological, and physiological health benefits.
Edwards, L. & Torcellini, P. A Literature Review of the Effects of Natural Light on Building Occupants, National Renewable Energy Laboratory TP-550-30769, July 2002. https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy02osti/30769.pdf
Manufacturers in the US are required to relay reports of health problems from LED devices to the FDA: How to report health problems with LED lights or LED screens to the FDA.
Screen hardware designers should eliminate flicker from screen backlights or other screen hardware that can produce flicker.
Software designers should stop using flicker of luminance or color as a strategy in image-rendering. Software designers should stop using flicker to create cosmetic visual effects. Software designers should also stop using moving repetitive images for cosmetic effects, such as having repeating waves of subtle colors move across a screen to indicate content is loading, as repetitive patterns can also be noxious to sensitive individuals, and when patterns move on a screen, they appear to flicker. As an accessibility feature, there should be an alternative to scrolling that animates the scrolling process - for example, this can be done some of the time by clicking on the portion of the scroll bar below the scroll handle to jump to the next part without animation, but in some software, this just rapidly animates the scroll, creating flicker.
Video producers should avoid introducing flicker, including all of the forms of video flicker described in Background: LED Screens.
Ensure that lights in your home and your child's school are free of light flicker. Since indications are that flickering LED light may impact concentration and short-term memory in sensitive individuals and that sensitive individuals become more sensitive to flicker with more exposure (see Survey: Discussion and Testing LEDs and Screens), LED flicker might impact the learning of sensitive children. There is not yet a way to identify sensitive children.
The only artificial lights without flicker are completely flicker-free LEDs. The artificial lights with the most flicker are flickering LEDs. Note that sometimes misleading marketing misapplies the term "flicker-free" to flickering LEDs. Only "upgrade" school lights from fluorescent lights to LEDs if the LEDs are completely free of all flicker. Installing flickering LEDs will likely be much worse for sensitive individuals than fluorescent lights. Be aware that typical dimming strategies for LED lights introduce flicker, so consider whether dimming is necessary for the project, and if so, ensure that the dimming doesn't introduce any flicker. Be aware that white tunable or color tunable LEDs use flicker to create particular colors. Other than completely flicker-free LEDs that have no flicker, incandescent lights have the least flicker. An article by John Davenport of Energy Focus provides examples of the health an cost benefits of completely flicker-free lighting in schools.
Realize that screens are another source of flicker and limiting screen time could be extremely important for the health and development of most, if not all, children. There is emerging evidence, especially as a consequence of Covid lockdown online learning, that children are very susceptible to the headaches, light sensitivity, and eye problems surveyed as "digital eye strain." Although flicker is not directly assessed, emerging research on the effects of screen use on the eyes and rates of headache and light sensitivity suggest that a majority of the adult population (at least 66-74%) is being harmed by screen use and the few surveys of children suggest they are susceptible too, with more screen use being linked to greater symptoms (see More screen sensitivity literature).
Other LED sensitivity symptoms have not been widely surveyed in children. However, test scores have been falling since about 2012 internationally, with lower scores associated with more screen use.
I have noticed in my work in schools that some teachers are introducing lamps with household LED light bulbs into their classrooms to provide a more pleasant atmosphere than provided by overhead classroom fluorescent lights. Teachers should be aware that almost all current LED bulbs on the market in the US flicker and teachers who wish to introduce their own light bulbs into the classroom should invest in completely flicker-free LEDs.
Allies can help sensitive individuals by measuring flicker for them (thus allowing the sensitive individual to avoid seeing flicker on a screen themselves) for the purpose of evaluating ambient LED lights and identifying the most flicker-free routes when traveling,
Allies can help sensitive individuals to report lights, screen hardware, computer software, or videos to appropriate places, since making such reports generally requires screen use that aggravates sensitive people.
Allies can help by acknowledging how severe a problem flicker sensitivity is for some individuals. It can be quite difficult to limit one's normal activities. Showing empathy by helping the affected individual to avoid flicker and to find ways to include the affected individual in activities that do not involve light flicker can be very helpful.
Please do consult medical professionals. Even if they don't have a test yet to identify what's wrong if the LED lights and/or screens are the only problem, they will be able to do the appropriate tests to rule out other serious medical conditions that might have some similar symptoms.
Please do consult professionals who can provide support for any mental health issues.
This website should not be viewed as providing medical advice. However, one could point medical professionals unaware of these issues to this website as a starting point to learn more.
Along with forums like LEDstrain.org, these survey results can be used as a reference to show that other people are having similar experiences.
Try to report your health problems to the appropriate government agencies in your country and even if you are not in the US, please report your health problems to the United States Food and Drug Administration. In the US, the most important agency to report your health problems with LED lights or LED screens is the FDA, the agency that regulates devices that emit radiation, including visible light: How to report health problems with LED lights or LED screens to the FDA. The FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health regulates light-emitting devices in the US. Specific lights/LED devices that cause health effects can be also be reported to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission which will transmit your report to the manufacturer. However realize that these reports should also be made separately to the FDA because my experience has been that they are not forwarded from the CPSC to the FDA automatically and as of August 2022, manufacturers receiving CPSC reports have not relayed those reports to the FDA themselves. Our reporting to the FDA is a key step in generating enough data points about this problem in order to motivate further action, such as regulations or funding for scientific research. In the US, health problems from lights/screens in the workplace can be reported to OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration which can help if employers do not provide accommodations. Note that OSHA is has not to date been aware of the FDA reporting avenue. In the US, The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), a division of the CDC, can also be contacted and can evaluate workplace safety. I have also tried reporting to the EPA, but they directed me to the FDA. I have also (unsuccessfully) tried reporting to the NYC Health Department and to the NYC Department of Buildings, but continuing to contact local agencies could also be helpful.
Advocate with policy makers for light and screen safety and accessibility regulations.