A LEADING county councillor raised concerns last week over research that suggests there is a link between modern street lighting and prostate and breast cancers.

Many thousands of street lights across the UK have been converted to LEDs and motorways and trunk road lighting has also been upgraded.

But scientists from Exeter University and Barcelona Institute for Global Health say they have found a link between high exposure to the modern lighting and a doubling of the risk of prostate cancer and a 1.5 times higher chance of breast cancer.

Councillor Bob Matthews, Independent group leader, asked Herefordshire Council’s cabinet if they were aware of the findings and what action was being taken to reassure the public. Infrastructure cabinet member Philip Price said he was aware of the research report and said the council will continue to monitor the situation.

He said: “This is an area where there is currently no scientific consensus.

“The European Union’s scientific committee on health, environmental and emerging risks has also undertaken a review of this specific issue and, while recognising the need for further research concluded that there is no evidence of direct adverse health effects from LEDs emission in normal use by the general healthy population.

“Lighting in Herefordshire has been correctly installed and includes an automated process for dimming the lights through the night.”

Older street lighting schemes emit a glow within the ‘orange’ spectrum, but new modern lighting creates a bright ‘blue’ light emission.

The researchers found the bluer the light emission that people in large cities were exposed to, the higher the risk of cancer.

The study also found that people who lived in homes with darker rooms, by using window shutters, had lower risk than those who did not.

The research includes medical and epidemiological data of more than 4,000 people in 11 regions in Spain.

Dr Alejandro Sánchez, of the University of Exeter, said: “Humans have evolved to need light during the day and darkness at night.

“As towns and cities replace older lighting, we’re all exposed to higher levels of ‘blue’ lights, which can disrupt our biological clocks.

“It’s imperative that we know for sure whether this increases our risk of cancer. “Scientists have long suspected this may be the case – now our innovative findings indicate a strong link.

“We must also investigate whether night-time exposure to the blue light emitted by smartphones and tablets increases our risk of cancer.

“We must now improve our research methods to ensure this is robust so we can advise on how best to protect human health.

“Currently, the images taken by astronauts on the International Space Station are our only way of determining the spread of blue light-emitting white LEDs in our cities.”