7/4/2023 0 Comments Portable black light![]() ![]() "Walmart is committed to providing safe and compliant products to our customers. "Can be put in the fish tank," the listing notes.Ī Walmart spokesperson provided the following statement after we first published this story: The manufacturer does make sure to specify that the wand is certified waterproof. There's no mention of safety certification other than 3C certification via Chinese regulators, either. And, as an observant CNET reader pointed out, Amazon has it categorized under "Hand Sanitizers."Īnother wand listed on Walmart features no child lock or auto-shutoff at all, and the listing never warns of any hazard to the eyes or skin - though it does boast of lights that are twice as intense as a previous model. You have to scan the fine print in one of the product photos to find a warning about exposure to the eyes and skin - it isn't printed anywhere else in the listing, though it does say you should wear protective goggles. The product features a child safety lock and an auto-shutoff feature if the wand isn't shining downward, but a misleading chart at the top of the product listing comparing the wand's LEDs to other types of UV lamps wrongly claims that the light comes with no side effects. One of the sponsored products at the top of Amazon's search ranks is a UVC light wand from a company headquartered in Shenzhen, China called 59S. ![]() Many of the products currently being sold seem to downplay that risk, or ignore it altogether. "So it may take several days before you realize you've damaged your eyes or caused burns on your skin." "The damage that's being done is also not instantaneous," Gwynn adds. There has to be some time for the device to be in place for it to be able to do the work it's intended to. "This is a hazard you can't see," explains Pamela Gwynn, principal engineer for UL's Life and Health Sciences related to medical equipment. The listing makes no mention of the potential hazard UV light poses to eyes and skin. This UVC wand is sold by Walmart for $20. That gave manufacturers a green light to begin marketing potential COVID killers. "Because disinfection kills most recognized pathogenic microorganisms, it can generally be inferred that sterilization and disinfection should minimize the viability of SARS-CoV-2 on surfaces and in the air in confined spaces," the FDA wrote. While scientists are still working to determine the full efficacy of UVC light against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the early indications are promising - enough so that the FDA issued guidance in March that it "does not plan to object" to any previously cleared sterilization or disinfectant devices updating their marketing to indicate that they combat COVID-19. For years, scientists and medical professionals have used the invisible light as a natural disinfectant against bacteria and viruses, including the coronaviruses that cause illnesses like SARS and MERS. ![]() Man-made UVC light is just as intense, and just as good at ionizing organic molecules and altering their DNA and RNA. Natural UVC light from the sun is completely absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere. Unlike less intense UVA and UVB light, which will burn your skin if you sit out in the sun too long, UVC light can burn skin within seconds. UVC light is ultraviolet light that falls specifically between 180 and 280 nanometers - the shortest, most intense part of the ultraviolet light spectrum. Ultraviolet light is invisible electromagnetic radiation that falls between 180 and 400 nanometers in wavelength. Here's what you need to know - the science, the safety risks and everything experts say you should take into consideration before bringing any UVC-powered light source into your home. Now, as research into UVC and the coronavirus continues, regulators, industry leaders and safety science professionals are urging caution. Watch this: Evaluating the safety and effectiveness of UVC disinfection devicesĭevices like those are nothing new, but the pandemic-borne surge of interest in them is raising alarms, because UVC light is a known carcinogen, and even a few moments of direct exposure can be hazardous to the eyes and skin. ![]()
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