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Re:Disinfection with Far-UV (222 nm Ultraviolet light) [pdf] by londons_explore on Tuesday February 14, 2023 @03:57PM (#34795869)
We need more studies, or maybe metastudies, that compare the germicidal benefits of UV lamps with the health disadvantages (skin cancer, ozone).

It seems that there is consensus on both effects, but I can't find anything conclusive that allows the scale of the effects to be measured sufficiently to do a benefit/cost analysis for each type of light spectrum and usecase.

Re:Disinfection with Far-UV (222 nm Ultraviolet light) [pdf] by lazide on Tuesday February 14, 2023 @04:03PM (#34795961)
Skin cancer is easy to prevent by not allowing the light to shine directly on anyones skin, and using non-UV reflective enclosures.

Ozone is already a known and easily tested quantity, and generally only happens at 240nm and lower wavelengths. So 222 as listed might produce some, but doesn't seem optimal (180nm seems better).

Found a paper - seems likely that is the case [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/php.13391]

Note scale on the first graph.

edit: ah hah, but many of these lamps have defects that can result in higher freq. light emission and high ozone production! See later parts of the paper.

Re:Disinfection with Far-UV (222 nm Ultraviolet light) [pdf] by modestmc on Tuesday February 14, 2023 @04:21PM (#34796180)
Far-UVC (~205-222 nm) light can’t penetrate cell walls and thus does not risk DNA damage.

However, our skin heavily depends on friendly bacteria to do useful things. One concern that I have yet to see research testing is the impact of extended Far-UVC exposure on these microbial populations.

Re:Disinfection with Far-UV (222 nm Ultraviolet light) [pdf] by thfuran on Tuesday February 14, 2023 @07:46PM (#34798487)
Human cells don't have cell walls.
Re:Disinfection with Far-UV (222 nm Ultraviolet light) [pdf] by modestmc on Wednesday February 15, 2023 @01:13AM (#34800661)
My apologies, the membrane. I went and dug more into this to brush up on the exact specifics and the exact conclusion of the research was that less than 5% of the intensity of the light reached the nuclear envelope, thus avoiding DNA damage. This is the original study: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/1341520/

However, while I was trying to find the specifics on the DNA damage, I found this: https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/ijms/ijms-23-09112/article...

My only grief with this article is the conclusion they draw from the yH2AX staining. I can see several possible reasons for observing the higher proportion of cells with it.

Other than that, the paper raises a boatload of serious points and definitely observes negatively impacted cellular function. I still think FarUVC has incredible potential but just like cellphone towers the exact specifics to interact with it safely need serious further study.