Posted on Sun, 11 Oct 09
Night is no longer dark in the modern world, and the Milky Way has disappeared. Electric light has benefits but there are also a few detriments. These are [1] loss of the night sky, [2] wasted energy, [3] harm to animal and plant life, [4] and perhaps increases in some severe human maladies such as cancers of breast and prostate. These are the words of Professor Richard Stevens, Cancer Epidemiologist. In the 1970s Stevens began to question why cancer rates dramatically rise as societies industrialise, a series of clues around this time led him to the propose the theory in 1987 that electric lighting at night disrupts natural human circadian rhythms causing changes in hormones that may be linked to breast cancer risk (1-2). The theory that light at night is linked to breast cancer, and perhaps others, is now well supported by evidence.
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