Life Science log

A new study from the Center for Interdisciplinary Chronobiological Research at the University of Haifa has found an additional link between Light At Night (LAN) and cancer. This research joins a series of earlier studies carried out at the University of Haifa that also established the correlation. ?High power light bulbs contribute more to ?environmental light pollution?, which the study has shown is a carcinogenic pollution,? notes Prof. Abraham Haim, who headed the study.Earlier studies in which Prof. Haim has participated at the University of Haifa, have shown that people living in areas that have more night-time illumination are more susceptible to prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women. The researchers? hypothesis was that LAN harms production of melatonin, a hormone that is released from the pineal gland during the dark part of the 24h cycle and which is linked to the body?s cyclical night-day activity and seasonality. When this hormone is suppressed, the occurrence of cancer rises.The curren