European Union Bans Eyeglasses
1 April 2017
During today's
negotiations, the European Parliament has approved a ban that applies to
wearing, selling, and distributing all prescription glasses and their
imitations. This regulation was approved by European Parliament member
Martina Jameson, who was also involved in creating the final version of this
law.
"I do not see anything controversial in banning glasses. In
the twenty-first century, they are a very obsolete invention, and should no
longer be supported in any case," said Jameson. It is widely speculated that the
international lobby of contact lenses
manufacturers is behind this ban, as they try to gain a competitive edge over
more traditional eyewear producers on the market. At the forefront of those
expressing support for this ban is leading online contact lens retailer
Alensa.
Panel experts cited many reasons for the ban, primarily the
dangers and health hazards of wearing glasses, especially while participating in
sports activities. According to research made by the World Health Organization
(WHO), athletes were at least 100 times more likely to sustain injuries while
wearing eye glasses than their non-spectacled competitors, and the likelihood of
serious eye injuries also increased exponentially.
The head of the
traumatology department at General University Hospital in Upton Snodsbury,
Worcestershire, Dr. Linda Dorkova says, "Wearing spectacles can actually result
in serious injuries due to poor peripheral vision because glasses and goggles do
not allow the full 180-degree field of vision necessary for safety. We see these
accidents regularly among athletes, but the dangers are not limited to people.
We recently saw injuries to a dog whose owner‘s glasses had broken and caused
acute trauma on one of the legs of the dog."
Prescription eye glasses also pose another
problem that lead to their recent ban, and that is their ecological and
environmental impact. Because eye glasses are made of a combination of
materials, they are not able to be efficiently recycled. To properly dispose of
a single pair of spectacles requires extremely costly and complicated disposal
methods, and standard recycling containers are not suitable for objects
containing combinations of plastic, glass, and even metal.
"This
combination of materials is almost impossible to dispose of in an
environmentally friendly manner," adds John Gutter, the director of the Upton
Snodsbury municipal waste collection services department.
The EU
ban does not include other protective eye glasses for industrial purposes,
however, these have been renamed protective eye covers to avoid any confusion
with common eye glasses for vision correction.
Professional
athletes will, henceforth, be required to adapt to the ban to comply with EU
regulations and to promote the healthy use of alternative vision-correction
products among their fans. One player directly affected is Serbian professional
tennis player Janko Tipsarevič, who is known for playing in specially designed
prescription spectacles. "Well, this sucks,” Tipsarevič is quoted as saying
at a press conference in Belgrade today. "I guess I’ll get used to it.“
The question remains of how eyeglasses as medical devices will be
replaced. Monica White is an expert in the field of optometry and design and
works for the Alensa company. According White, “This dilemma will ultimately
be solved with the help of contact lenses.“ She continued to assert that
contact lenses are the most health-appropriate and most environmentally friendly
option on the market from a health and environmental point of view. Today’s
contact lenses, says White, are environmentally biodegradable and are 90%
recyclable, a market improvement over traditional spectacles.
Dr. Dorkova, among other eye-care professionals, suggests complying with the EU ban by switching to contact lenses. There is a wide variety of brands and models on the market, and you no longer need to leave your home to purchase your supply. Companies like Alensa offer online shopping for contact lenses, to help you save time and money while still complying with this new legislation. So if you want to be one step ahead, order your lenses now from Alensa because next time this message might be more than an April Fool's prank!
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