Hi! >If you come across any literature regarding UVA or UVB and eye >problems, >please post the reference....thanks, it's a subject I'm very >interested >in.
I can't seem to find the reference (not the most organized person in the world :) ), but if I remember correctly I did see a few research reports on eye problems and UV radations. One was done on primates (monkeys) which were exposed to UV lamps for a few minutes a day. I don't think the results were conclusive, since some of the monkeys developed clinical and pathologic retinal lesions and some didn't. On the other hand, it have been proven that the formation of cataracts can be the result of UVB exposure. Although this research was done in humans, it's interesting to see. Didn't somebody on the list report geckos with cataracts a while ago? And on a last note, Unversity of Michigan suggested that UV radiation stops the ability of the skin cells to form retinol (vit. A). I'm sorry I don't have the references to these report handy, but I'll try and look them up later. >Although I can't recall any specific papers confirming or highly > >suggesting it with blacklights. We have been using the NEC and >Sylvania >BL blacklights since the 80's on the entire herp (amphibians, >snakes, >geckos etc..) collection (around 1000 animals) and have never >had any eye >or skin cancer type problems attributed to the bulbs. On a side note, I don't personally recommed the use of the so-called 'Active UV' lights for home-use. Just like too little UV exposure is bad, I belive these lamps put out too much UV in a home-style environment. If a low-output UVB light (Vita-lite etc.) produce enough UV for vit. D3 production, which have been proven in at least Iguanas, why risk overexposure? And yes, I know these lamps put out way less UV than the sun, but the captive environment is very different. and what really matters is not how much UV the sun produces, but how much exposure is needed to promote vit. D3 production and, in the case of UVA, encourage normal behaviour. Well, at least that's my 0.02 cents... :) Magnus _________________________________________________________________ Join the world�s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com ########################################################################### THE GLOBAL GECKO ASSOCIATION LISTSERV WebSite: www.gekkota.com Archive: [EMAIL PROTECTED]/ The GGA takes no responsibility for the contents of these postings. ###########################################################################
