Re: UV & fluorescent bulbs

[P3D Paul Talbot <ptww@xxxxxxxxx>]

Alan Lewis really wants to know the answers to a series of questions
about the King Inn MF stereo viewer.  Never having seen or used one,
I can't help with the specifics of the viewer but regarding:

> >1) Does it have warnings about UV exposure?

My vague recollection is that the possible UV-cataract connection
is a relatively new theory.  I say "relative" in terms of how long
it takes the government to react and require warnings.  Perhaps
there is not yet a government standard for UV exposure from this
class of device.  Thus I would not conclude anything about safety
based on lack of a warning.

Someone (Gabriel?) made a good observation about the yellowing of
under-counter flourescent lights.  I had wondered what caused that.
Someone else proposed setting one of two identical slides out
under flourescent light and observing the changes over time.  To
save yourself the effort of the experiment and loss of a slide,
stop by a place such as a National Park gift shop that sells
strips of 35 mm slides, and compare those hanging on the rack
to the backlit samples.  Huge difference!  I was looking at some
at the Bryce Canyon visitor center last month and wondered how
they expected to sell any because the backlit samples looked awful!

Getting off topic, but wasn't there also a research finding a while
back that the nutritional value of milk in translucent plastic
containers was being compromised by exposure to (flourescent?) light?

So all in all it does seem flourescent light has a lot of potential
for damaging a lot of things.  I appreciate being made aware of it
as a result of the discussions here.

Paul Talbot


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