b'HEALTH BITS & PIECESBy Dan Kenner, Ph.D., LAcNeither Health Freedom News nor I are suggesting that any such medical care or treatmentbe conducted without competentmedical advice and supervision.Heres Looking at You Age-relatedmaculardegeneration (AMD) accounts for 8.7% of blindness worldwide and is a leading cause of blindness in the West. Lifestyle may be the key factor in preventing or de-laying the onset of this affliction that often leads to blindness. Scientists in the UK found genetic evidence that anincreasedintakeofalcoholmay be a causal risk factor for advanced age-related macular degeneration and Killer Light Beams its subtypes. Since there are no known A study carried out by scientists at the University of St Andrews, University oftreatments for some of the subtypes, Dundee, University of Leeds, and Columbia University found that a new type of ul- this finding has important implications traviolet light took less than 5 minutes to reduce the level of indoor airborne microbesforscreeningandprevention.Their by more than 98%. The microbial level remained low with the lights on even as anresults also validate previous obser-aerosol mist of the pathogenic bacterium Staphylococcus aureus was being continuouslyvational studies associating smoking sprayed into the room. This type of ultraviolet light, known as far ultraviolet lightwith increased risk of advanced AMD. (Far-UVC), is safe for people and does not induce acute reactions in the skin or eyes,Public health campaigns and programs nor delayed effects such as skin cancer. The effectiveness of reducing indoor virusshould encourage reduced or no alco-levels is usually measured in terms of the efficiency of ventilation measured in equiv- hol intake as well as smoking cessation alent air changes per hour. In the study, the ultraviolet light lamps produced theto reduce the prevalence of advanced equivalent of 184 air exchanges per hour. Previously, 5 to 20 equivalent air exchangesAMD in aging populations and should per hour have been the best that could be achieved in disinfecting occupied indoorincorporate the evidence that these ac-spaces. Dr. Kenny Wood, lecturer in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the Uni- tivities can lead to blindness. versity of St Andrews, and senior author of the study explained, Our trials producedKuan V, Warwick A, Hingorani A, et al., Asso-spectacular results, far exceeding what is possible with ventilation alone. In terms ofciation of Smoking, Alcohol Consumption, Blood preventing airborne disease transmission, far-UVC lights could make indoor places asPressure, Body Mass Index, and Glycemic Risk safe as being outside on the golf course on a breezy day at St Andrews.Factors With Age-Related Macular Degener-ation: A Mendelian Randomization Study, Eadie E, Hiwar W, Fletcher L, et al., Far-UVC (222 nm) efficiently inactivated an airborne pathogen in aJAMA Ophthalmology, 2021, 139(12), 1299-room-sized chamber, Scientific Reports, 2022, 12:4373; doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-08462-z. 1306; doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2021.4601.20 H ealtHF reedomN ews /s priNg2022'