To address the issue of how safe LED lighting is for the human eye, which has generated some confusion and misinformation, the U.S. Department of Energy has published a new fact sheet, Optical Safety of LEDs, which clarifies what’s known about the issue and provides information about current standards for photobiological safety.
The main optical-safety concern expressed about LEDs has to do with “blue light hazard,” which refers to photochemical damage to the eye’s retina that can result from too much exposure to light in the violet and blue range of the spectrum. According to the fact sheet, white-light LEDs do not pose any more of a blue light hazard than other types of general-purpose light sources at the same color temperature. And white-light architectural lighting products in general–regardless of the technology–are not considered a risk for blue light hazard, according to current international standards.’
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