With the success of James Cameron’s blockbuster ‘Avatar‘ looking like it knows no bounds, attention is being focused on the safety of 3-D glasses.
There have long been those who contend that the 3-D glasses give headaches and blurred vision to users, but now the Italian Government has officially intervened on health grounds, confiscating 7000 sets of glasses from Italian cinemas showing Avatar, Movieline.com reported, on health grounds.
The health ministry made the move citing “hygiene risks” from glasses not being disinfected between screenings, as well as lack of research proving they do not cause short-term vision problems for users.
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And despite rumours that the move could be a cynical attack on controversial Italian filmmaker Tinto Brass, who is set to direct a 3-Dd remake of his 1979 erotic film, ‘Caligula‘, new research from the US backs up the Italian Government’s position.
The study, from the University of California, Berkeley, confirmed what many people suspected, that 3-D viewing can cause headaches and blurred vision.
These are caused by viewers trying to focus on things in the foreground and background, causing the eyes to converge and separate simultaneously, an effect called “vergence accommodation conflict”, Movieline.com reported.
The worrying thing for parents is that the side effects of this are more pronounced in younger people and children.
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However, movie mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg disputed the findings saying: “We’ve performed studies on hundreds of toddlers outfitted in tiny 3D glasses, and even after 70 straight hours of ‘Monsters vs. Aliens’, the findings have been utterly inconclusive!”
Surely 70 hours of watching anything would be bad for you…
Your say: Did you or your children get headaches from watching ‘Avatar‘ in 3-D? Would it make you avoid 3-D in the future? Share your thoughts below.
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