A recall was issued over the weekend by more than a dozen retailers for special glasses meant for use during Monday’s eclipse that were sold at their stores.
The glasses, which were available at businesses in Missouri and Illinois, reportedly do not meet safety standards for safe viewing.
On Monday afternoon, the moon will be positioned so that the sun’s entire disc will be blocked in 13 states, starting in Mexico and moving across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine before heading over the North Atlantic Ocean.
KMOV, a CBS-affiliated television station in St. Louis, on Sunday reported that several businesses in the area announced they had mistakenly sold glasses without the proper ISO number.
ISO is an acronym for the International Organization for Standardization, an independent, international standard development organization. ISO standards are used for a broad range of products.
KMOV provided a list of stores that sold glasses that don’t meet ISO standards:
- B+H Market (Pacific, Missouri)
- Farm Fresh Market (Breese, Illinois)
- Fink’s ALPS (Union, Missouri)
- Highland Tru Buy (Highland, Illinois)
- K+R Market (Marthasville, Missouri)
- Karsch’s Market (all locations)
- Mace Supermarket (Cuba, Missouri)
- Midtowne Market (St. Charles, Missouri)
- Perry County Market Place (Pinckneyville, Illinois)
- Save A Lot (St. Clair, Cedar Hill, Ste. Genevieve, and Pevely, all in Missouri)
- Sinclair Foods (Jerseyville, Illinois)
- Straub’s Market (all locations)
- St. Clair Country Mart (St. Clair, Missouri)
- Steeleville Marketplace (Steeleville, Missouri)
“The stores listed are all offering full refunds,” KMOV said.
News of the recall follows a warning from the American Astronomical Society (AAS), which recently reported it had “discovered that some eclipse glasses and other solar viewers are labeled as ISO-compliant when in fact they have not been properly tested and shown to be safe.”
The AAS said solar eclipse glasses that meet safety compliance should be labeled with ISO 12312-2 (sometimes written as ISO 12312-2:2015). This number indicates the glasses have met international standards for reducing visible sunlight to safe levels and block UV/IR radiation.
One business noted by KMOV was Fink’s ALPS, which wrote on its Facebook page that it had recently carried glasses with 12312-1:2022 instead of the appropriate ISO 12312-2.
Photo by Manuel Guadarrama/Getty Images
Proper eye protection is crucial for viewing an eclipse, and officials have warned that it is vital that people remember that directly looking at the sun during the eclipse can cause severe and permanent damage to the eyes.
Ultraviolet radiation can cause sunburn of the cornea, known as solar keratitis, possibly leading to solar retinopathy, when a hole is burned into the retina (the light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye).
“Eclipse glasses are NOT regular sunglasses; regular sunglasses, no matter how dark, are not safe for viewing the sun. Safe solar viewers are thousands of times darker and ought to comply with the ISO 12312-2 international standard,” NASA advised in a post about eclipse safety.
The AAS published a list of vendors who are offering glasses and viewers for Monday’s eclipse. There are also a number of ways to make your own eclipse viewer using household items.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.