Let's protect our eyes!
Commissione Difesa Vista (Eyecare Defense Commission) is an entity whose objective since 1972 has been to provide correct information about subjects linked to good eye health. This has been possible through many activities and thanks to the collaboration of various consultants. Every day, the Commission takes up the battle on numerous fronts and Mido is certainly the occasion for pointing out the most important of these.
SIGHT AND SAFE DRIVING
Unfortunately, road accidents are a very widespread problem. The major factors that lead to accidents are usually excessive speed and the effects of alcohol and drugs, but there are other factors which are not normally taken into consideration. The first of these is sight.
CDV commissioned the Bicocca University of Milan to carry out research into “the importance of appropriate vision correction for safe driving”, the results of which were disturbing with regard to the link between sight and safe driving. The most alarming figure: 32% of car drivers do not have the minimum vision capacity required by law.
Therefore, it is essential to raise the awareness of the public and the relevant institutions about the importance of sight when driving a vehicle.
In support of this subject, during the last Motor Show the very latest generation driving simulators were made available to the public for demonstrating how incorrect vision influences the ability to drive. The initiative aroused considerable interest among visitors and attracted the attention of the press, which sparked off helpful reflections on the subject.
CHILDREN’S EYES
The eyes are one of the most delicate parts of the body and too frequently we forget to protect them properly, something that should be done from early childhood. Before a child begins any sporting activities, parents are required to provide a medical certificate stating that he/she has the required stamina. However, when children start going to school, their ability to see what is written on the blackboard is often forgotten to be checked. According to recent research, 51.4% of parents are not “active” when it comes to eye protection and 7 out of 10 believe that eye tests are “unnecessary”. Some of the sight defects that are widespread among children, such as amblyopia – more commonly known as “lazy eye” – can be cured only if they are diagnosed at a very early age. In recent months, Commissione Difesa Vista has been in contact with the Ministry of Health, which is receptive to this delicate subject, in order to introduce obligatory eye tests for preschool children.
UV RAYS IN SMALL DOSES
Eyeglasses must be considered as a recipe for the health of our eyesight which applies throughout the year and is as important, if not more important, as sun creams for protection from UV rays. Unfortunately, we discovered that a specific survey about prevention, checks and vision correction - carried out on a representative sample of the Italian population - showed that only 60% of Italians wear sunglasses: approximately 35 million individuals, but only 52% of them believe they are “essential for protecting the eyes from damage caused by the sun”. The aim of the Commission is to convince the other 40% of the sample about the importance of sunglasses for preventing degenerative diseases like cataract and maculopathy. CDV will again publish the results of the annual research into the relationship between Italians and the sun to verify, year after year, any developments in awareness about vision health and UV protection.
COUNTERFEITING DAMAGES OUR EYES
In order to protect our eyes, sunglasses must be certified and of good quality. In addition to being a health risk, which in itself is very serious, counterfeiting also seriously damages the economy. Regrettably, law enforcement data show that almost two million pairs of counterfeit eyeglasses were seized in the space of two years. In the eyewear industry, brands and models are subject to counterfeiting and every year this causes a market loss of over 15%. According to surveys by Censis for 2008, in Italy the market for fake goods had a “turnover” of 7 billion euros, a loss for the State of over 5 billion euros in revenues and a loss of 130,000 jobs.
The phenomenon continues to grow and the economic, fiscal and social impact is considerable: it jeopardizes consumer confidence in the products and services they use, it reduces company turnover and the Gross Domestic Product of individual countries, it causes job losses, increases company expenditure on safety and deprives the State of tax revenues.
CDV has always put consumers on their guard about the danger of wearing counterfeit eyeglasses. A battle whose aim is giving the correct technical and scientific information about purchasing.
