Flooding public spaces with far-UVC light, a type of ultraviolet light that’s harmless to humans, could finally spell the end of seasonal flu epidemics. Germicidal UV tube. Image via Wikimedia. Continuous but low doses of far-ultraviolet C light (far-UVC) will kill airborne flu viruses while leaving human cells unscathed, new research has found.
Wow man, is this cool or what?
People have used far uv light in biohazard hoods for a long time, when working in cell culture for example. Buuuut, no one would seriously suggest it is harmless. For one thing, it could cause cataracts and eventually blindness. for another, this light as noted, excites tryptophan and tyrosine moieties in proteins, which can lead to electron ejection reactions, typical of free radical and other reactive oxygen species’ type reactions. It also excites thymine residues and other nucleic acid residues, which leads to mutagenizing photoreactions (e.g. thymine dimers etc).The idea that it doesn’t penetrate to dermal layers is absurd, as can be witnessed by autofluorescence of your own hand (in case you can see near uv light, some people can), or if you ingest a nontoxic fluorophore like turmeric. This MD is simply irresponsible.Very low levels might be tolerated for some time, but workers exposed over a long period would be susceptible to the above mentioned complaints, AND very low levels would be much less effective anyway/