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Are 3D Glasses Bad For Your
Health?
Reported February 23, 2010
A funny thing happened on the way to the Vatican IMAX
theater: Italy’s ministry of health confiscated 7000 pairs of 3D glasses
from cinemas. And they pledge to snatch away more, claiming the glasses
could easily pass around “hygiene risks” if not disinfected between
screenings, and that they lacked tags proving they don’t cause vision
problems.
That this sweeping health initiative should come so soon after the
announcement of a 3D remake of Caligula by veteran Italian softcore auteur
Tinto Brass is indeed suspicious — it’s perhaps the type of action taken by
a nervous government after a presentation from public health officials on
mass forehead-herpes outbreaks. But according to a new study from the
University of California Berkeley, the Italians might well be onto something
when it comes to those vision issues. And that’s something Hollywood would
love to sweep under the carpet.
The study found what many 3D viewers already knew: the
effect causes headaches and blurred vision. That’s because it forces viewers
to focus on things in the foreground (which causes eyes to converge) and
distance (which causes them to separate) simultaneously. The effect is
called “vergence accommodation conflict,” and its unwanted side effects tend
to be strongest in younger people.
An irate email to the Berkeley Board of Trustees from aspiring
3D-theater-monopolist and technological cheerleader Jeffrey Katzenberg is
almost certainly forthcoming (“We’ve performed studies on hundreds of
toddlers outfitted in tiny 3D glasses, and even after 70 straight hours of
Monsters vs. Aliens, the findings have been utterly inconclusive!”). As for
the hygiene issue, Movieline’s Special Medical Correspondent said the
transmission of infection via unsanitized 3D glasses is “unlikely but
possible.” So if you have some antibacterial wipes handy, it couldn’t hurt.
Source : www.movieline.com |
