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Interlaboratory Evaluation of Ultraviolet Radiation Emissions from Compact Fluorescent Lamps
Author(s) -
Miller Sharon,
Bergman Rolf,
Duffy Mark,
Gross David,
Jackson Andrew,
James Robert,
Kotrebai Mihaly,
Lamontagne Andre,
Lyon Terry,
Yandek Edward,
Sliney David
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
photochemistry and photobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.818
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1751-1097
pISSN - 0031-8655
DOI - 10.1111/php.12573
Subject(s) - environmental science , ultraviolet , radiation , ultraviolet radiation , fluorescence , materials science , physics , optoelectronics , optics , chemistry , radiochemistry
There have been many recent reports regarding the potential risks of UV emissions from compact fluorescent lamps ( CFL s). In some of these reports, the robustness of the measurements was difficult to discern. We conducted round‐robin measurements, involving three lamp manufacturers and two government research laboratories to gather reliable data on the UV emissions from commercially available CFL s. The initial sample of lamps consisted of 71 spiral‐shaped CFL s purchased from local retailers. From the initial sample, 14 “high UV emitting” CFL s were chosen for further evaluation. We compared the UV emissions at a distance of 20 cm with the UV exposure limits ( EL s) published by the International Commission on Non‐ionizing Radiation Protection ( ICNIRP ). We found that the allowable exposure time for measured lamps ranged from 21 to 415 h. This indicates that the emissions would not exceed the short‐term EL s that have been established by the ICNIRP for healthy individuals. We also evaluated the potential long‐term risk and found it to be insignificant. There was a large variation in the UV emissions found, even for lamps from a single package, indicating that it is impossible to predict the UV output of a CFL based on its physical appearance and model designation.