IRELAND NEEDS official guidelines to regulate light flashes on television that can induce epileptic seizures, according to an expert who will call for their introduction here and across Europe during a visit to Dublin this week.
Photosensitive epilepsy is triggered by visual stimuli, and television is a particular problem in Europe because the PAL format has a refresh rate of 50 Hz (flashes) per second, according to Graham Harding, professor of clinical neurophysiology at Aston University in Birmingham, who will make a presentation this Thursday as part of Brain Awareness Week.
“About 60 per cent of patients have their first seizure when watching the television, and the most likely response is a tonic-clonic convulsion where you lose consciousness, lose tone and fall to the ground and start jerking,” he told The Irish Times.
The condition arises in one per 4,000 people. First seizures tend to occur between age seven and 19, and they are twice as common in girls.
“So the likely first occasion is when you walk into the lounge and find a daughter having a convulsion,” said Prof Harding, who wrote protective guidelines adopted by the United Kingdom in 1993.
He also developed a widely used computer-based system to analyse material before broadcast for potential seizure-inducing sequences, and he is now pushing for official guidelines to be introduced without delay for video games.
In Ireland, verbal warnings may be given about upcoming sequences, but no production guidelines are in place here.
And where guidelines are absent or not followed, problems can arise, according to Prof Harding, who drafted measures for Japan after an episode of the cartoon Pokémon used blue-red flashes, inducing 560 proven seizures in viewers there in 1997.
Then in 2007, an unchecked sequence in a promotional video for the London 2012 Olympic campaign failed to comply with guidelines and triggered a reported 30 epileptic seizures after it appeared on the BBC.
“The guidelines work. You can still use flashing, but we move it into a safer range,” said Prof Harding, who recommended that anyone who thinks a light flashing sequence on screen or at a disco is triggering a seizure should cover one eye, and not close their eyes.
When contacted by Healthplus, a spokeswoman for the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) said the issue of introducing guidelines on flashing images was an area of interest for the commission, and it would encourage broadcasters to take the appropriate measures.
She added that a BCI representative would attend Prof Harding’s talk.
“It is likely that the production of guidelines will be considered as part of a future work plan. However, we don’t have a definitive timeframe for when that is likely to happen.”
This Thursday Prof Harding will speak at a session hosted by the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and Brainwave, the Irish Epilepsy Association, to mark the bicentennial of Irish doctor Robert Bentley Todd, who contributed to the understanding of the electrical basis of epilepsy.
The session will also feature an overview of Dr Todd’s career and legacy, presented by consultant neurologist Dr Edward Reynolds from King’s College Hospital in London.
The talks take place at Trinity College Dublin’s Science Gallery on Thursday, March 12th, starting at 11am.
- To book a place contact Brainwave at 01-4557500 or e-mail info@epilepsy.ie
- For more information on Brain Awareness Week see www.nai.ie
