KOCHI: Bright lights can increase pulse rate and affect eyesight. “This makes them dangerous for all,” says P Dhanesh Kumar of Social Forestry Department. He said in forest areas, artificial light can even disrupt the movement of some animals, especially elephants and spotted deer.
“Artificial lighting like searchlights are cause immense irritation to elephants. Many resorts in forest areas use such lights to keep animals away. Spotted deer get distracted when the beam from headlights of various vehicles shine on them. It makes them go blind temporarily. This is why poachers use searchlights to disturb the animals,” he said.
“The impact of artificial lights on animals is one of the reasons for banning vehicles in forest areas at night,” he said, adding that there is no official direction regarding the types of lights to be used in the forest areas.
Energy Management Centre director Harikumar R said there is also no clear directive about the lights used in construction work.
“National Building Code of India talks about modern lighting techniques such as LED and induction light and their energy consumption. It stipulates how much light can be used in a building, road, working table or operation theatre. However, there are no provisions to penalise persons violating such measurements,” he said. “The code has various directions that we need to keep in mind. But even those installing solar panels to conserve energy are not aware of it,” he said. “When I installed a solar lamp in my garden, the operation was from dawn to dusk. We had to manually turn it off at night as the light would disturb birds and animals. Not many will do this as they do not know about the harmful effects of such lights,” the director said.
Artificial lights also affect the eyes. “Kids aged up to six and elderly people are most likely to get affected due to exposure to strong lights. The damage to the eyes depends on the wavelength of the light and the duration of exposure. Unfortunately, people are not aware of these side effects,” said Dr Chandrakanth, an ophthalmologist.
How to measure light
The amount of light is measured through lux. Lux level determines the health of the eyes when people are exposed to it.
Permissible levels