Letters to the Editor
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CFLs and Neurological Problems
As a person with neurological problems triggered by fluorescent lighting, I find the march toward universal use of CFLs terrifying. After five minutes in a room illuminated by these bulbs, I begin to have extreme head pain, followed by cognitive and speech problems. If CFLs become the light bulb of choice, millions of migraine sufferers and people like me with neurological problems will have their lives severely limited. If CFLs blaze and flicker everywhere, where will I shop? Which restaurants can I eat at? Whose homes or businesses can I visit?
Telling others of my problems with CFLs and fluorescent lighting, I find that fifty percent of the time, people without neurological problems also detest these bulbs. If those of us who are especially sensitive have extreme problems with this lighting, it seems likely that average people are also adversely affected by it. I once convinced friends to switch their office lighting from cheap fluorescents to more expensive incandescent lighting. They reported back: not only had their productivity improved but they felt much more rested in their daily work environment.
I found the comments of reader DLF particularly annoying: “I don't tell them that all the lights in my house are CFLs, and they don't notice the difference.” Believe me, anyone who is sensitive to this lighting can immediately identify which bulbs in a room are CFLs.