New Outlook on Colorblindness


- People with green blindness, known as a deutan deficiency, have trouble distinguishing between greens and reds, and both can look greenish gray.

For people who are colorblind, life involves little workarounds and big compromises alike. Daily challenges range from not knowing whether meat is fully cooked to not being able to read whether a horizontal traffic light is showing green or red. More serious repercussions include being shut out of a dream job, like piloting planes, because misreading landing-strip lights can have life-or-death consequences.

Source: TestingColorVision.comNow, a host of new research and tools promise to improve life for the estimated 32 million Americans—8% of men and 0.5% of women—who have some degree of colorblindness. For many, getting through the day—avoiding wardrobe perils and worse—has often involved bringing in a second pair of eyes. But new websites and smartphone apps offer to help identify or enhance hard-to-see colors. Videogame manufacturers are increasingly including "colorblind" modes in their games. And researchers are homing in on more specific vision tests that may allow mildly colorblind people to qualify for jobs that, until now, have been closed to them.

A genetic test, made by Genevolve Vision Diagnostics, will soon be available that can identify the exact type of colorblindness someone has, which the company hopes could pave the way for customized tools.

A cure for colorblindness might even be in the offing. Vision scientist Jay Neitz and his colleagues at the University of Washington are building on their 2009 breakthrough in which they restored red-green vision in two colorblind squirrel monkeys by inserting the missing gene into a virus and injecting it into their retinas. Four years later, the monkeys, Sam and Dalton, still pass daily vision tests, identifying colors on a computer screen correctly. They also have a newfound liking for green M&M's, Dr. Neitz says.

He and his colleagues are working on a similar therapy for humans, but many hurdles remain. "We know it's effective. The issue is whether it's safe," says Dr. Neitz.

Many colorblind people aren't even aware they have a "color-vision deficiency," as it's officially known, unless they apply for a job that requires precise color recognition. Even people with mild colorblindness can be barred from being pilots, air-traffic controllers, police officers, lab technicians and electricians—usually for safety reasons.

The term "colorblindness" is actually a misnomer. "People think you're living in a black-and-white TV show and that's not true. There are all different degrees, from mild to severe. And you can see colors—they're just different," says Terrance Waggoner, an ophthalmologist consulting on color vision for the U.S. Navy.

But the impact does go beyond missing just one color. "A colorblind person who can't see red can't see the red in purple—he just sees blue," says Dr. Neitz. Since red and green make brown, people with red-green blindness often have trouble telling the three colors apart.

Blue-yellow colorblindness is rarer and develops later in life, often brought on by aging, illness, medication or head injuries. Rarer still is achromatopsia, the inability to see any color.

Red-green colorblindness is far more common in men than women because it's a recessive gene carried on the X chromosome. Men have one X and one Y, so a defective gene on the X shows itself readily. Women have two X chromosomes, and a normal copy of the gene will override the defective one. But women who have one defective X will be carriers of colorblindness. Each of their children has a 50% chance of inheriting the defective gene. Within families, red-green colorblindness typically travels from the maternal grandfather to grandson. A woman can only exhibit colorblindness if she receives a defective X chromosome from a colorblind father and another from a carrier mother.

But it does happen—and it can come as a surprise if previous generations didn't notice or didn't discuss their colorblindness. Ingrid Perri, a life coach in Melbourne, Australia, discovered she was mildly colorblind at age 47. "My family howled, 'That explains so much!'" says Ms. Perri.

Experts recommend that children have regular eye exams, including color-vision tests, starting between ages 3 and 5. Some children with color vision problems are labeled "learning-disabled" if they can't follow instructions. That happened with Dr. Waggoner's son at age 6, prompting the doctor to develop pediatric color-vision tests using shapes instead of numbers, now used by about 15% of school nurses.

Many colorblind people say they have no problem recognizing pure, strong colors. It is the blended and muted colors in between that are often difficult to tell apart.

The DanKam, an augmented-reality app for iPhone and Android, works on the same principle. Users look through the phone's camera and the program converts all the reds and greens in view into pure, basic versions that are easier for colorblind people to see. "It is like having magic eyes," says Andy Baio, a writer and programmer in Portland, Ore., who is red-green colorblind. "It doesn't make me see red or green the way you see them, but it makes it blazingly obvious the difference between them."

Contact lenses and glasses for colorblind people, which can cost up to $700, use tinted lenses to alter light coming into the eye. Manufacturers say they make hard-to-see colors brighter. Many employers don't let applicants use them during vision tests. Other online tools, such as Color Name & Hue, can identify colors by name or numerical codes, so that graphic artists, say, can "see" what colors they are using. Apps such as Colorblind Avenger let people do the same thing through smartphone cameras. Other apps, such as HueVue and Colorblind Helper, assist with matching or harmonizing colors.

Some tools, like Colorblind Vision, help businesses and marketers see what their materials look like to colorblind people by simulating various color-vision deficiencies.

To help colorblind users in the trading world, Bloomberg financial-data terminals include plus and minus symbols or up and down arrows to indicate the direction of the market or stock price, says a spokeswoman for Bloomberg LP. After speaking with many traders with color-vision deficiencies, designers of DJ FX Trader, a foreign exchange tool offered by Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, say they made a point of using icons to supplement color. FactSet Research Systems Inc., a financial information company, says it uses patterns and labels in its graphs, and avoids using colors that most colorblind people can't discern.

Some popular videogames, such as PopCap's Peggle and Zuma Blitz, now let gamers switch to colorblind modes, where color codes turn into shapes.

Advocates for the colorblind say the world could be more accommodating to the nearly 10% of people who have trouble seeing shades of red and green. Battery chargers blink orange for empty and green for full. Hotel keycards flash green for entry and red for stop.

Vision and design experts say the best maps, charts and presentations use words and icons in addition to color. "Color deficiency is way low on the totem pole of accessibility problems, but when doing the right thing isn't hard, you should at least take that into account," says Mr. Baio.

 

A sign for pharmaceutical compounding company New England Compounding Center (NECC), a producer of the steroid methylprednisolone acetate, is seen in Framingham, Massachusetts October 8, 2012. The chief pharmacist at the company linked to the deadly meningitis outbreak has received a subpoena to appear before a congressional committee after he declined to appear voluntarily.

The House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee issued the subpoena to Barry Cadden, co-owner of the Massachusetts-based New England Compounding Center and its chief pharmacist before the compounding pharmacy surrendered its license in the wake of the outbreak.

"With more than 400 people infected and 30 deaths, it is critical that we hear directly from the head of the facility linked to the outbreak," said Committee Chairman Fred Upton and Ranking Member Henry Waxman in a statement. "Since Mr. Cadden has indicated he will not appear voluntarily, we are left with no choice but to issue a subpoena."

James Coffey, Director of the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy, which regulates pharmacists in Massachusetts, has also been invited to testify at a hearing scheduled for November 14.

"With more than 400 people infected and 30 deaths, it is critical that we hear directly from the head of the facility linked to the outbreak," said Committee Chairman Fred Upton and Ranking Member Henry Waxman in a statement. "Since Mr. Cadden has indicated he will not appear voluntarily, we are left with no choice but to issue a subpoena."

James Coffey, Director of the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy, which regulates pharmacists in Massachusetts, has also been invited to testify at a hearing scheduled for November 14.

A spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a question as to whether Coffey had agreed to attend.

Margaret Hamburg, Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is scheduled to testify.

Hamburg, Cadden and others, including officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have also been invited to testify about the outbreak before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee at a separate hearing scheduled for November 15.

Meanwhile, NECC's legal team has been busy in federal court defending the company against a mounting number of lawsuits.

NECC lawyers, for example, say NECC did nothing wrong and have been caught in a crossfire of conflicting federal and state laws concerning specialty pharmacies.

In addition, NECC lawyers argue various states have themselves enacted differing and in some cases conflicting regulations on the practice of pharmacies.

"Permitted practices in some states may be arguably impermissible manufacturing by FDA and other states," NECC lawyers said Monday in documents filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.

But Peter McGrath said NECC and its attorneys are just buying time to plan how to contend with looming lawsuits and investigations.

Last month, McGrath, a former federal prosecutor, filed suit in state court in Massachusetts seeking to freeze the assets of NECC and its owners, including Cadden. His attachment, filed on behalf of an unnamed New Hampshire man, seeks several million dollars.

NECC wants that case moved to U.S. District Court because of the federal questions involved over what makes a drug manufacturer.


The chief pharmacist at the company linked to the deadly meningitis outbreak has received a subpoena to appear before a congressional committee after he declined to appear voluntarily.

The House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee issued the subpoena to Barry Cadden, co-owner of the Massachusetts-based New England Compounding Center and its chief pharmacist before the compounding pharmacy surrendered its license in the wake of the outbreak.

"With more than 400 people infected and 30 deaths, it is critical that we hear directly from the head of the facility linked to the outbreak," said Committee Chairman Fred Upton and Ranking Member Henry Waxman in a statement. "Since Mr. Cadden has indicated he will not appear voluntarily, we are left with no choice but to issue a subpoena."

James Coffey, Director of the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy, which regulates pharmacists in Massachusetts, has also been invited to testify at a hearing scheduled for November 14.

A spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a question as to whether Coffey had agreed to attend.

Margaret Hamburg, Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is scheduled to testify.

Hamburg, Cadden and others, including officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have also been invited to testify about the outbreak before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee at a separate hearing scheduled for November 15.

Meanwhile, NECC's legal team has been busy in federal court defending the company against a mounting number of lawsuits.

NECC lawyers, for example, say NECC did nothing wrong and have been caught in a crossfire of conflicting federal and state laws concerning specialty pharmacies.

In addition, NECC lawyers argue various states have themselves enacted differing and in some cases conflicting regulations on the practice of pharmacies.

"Permitted practices in some states may be arguably impermissible manufacturing by FDA and other states," NECC lawyers said Monday in documents filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.

But Peter McGrath said NECC and its attorneys are just buying time to plan how to contend with looming lawsuits and investigations.

Last month, McGrath, a former federal prosecutor, filed suit in state court in Massachusetts seeking to freeze the assets of NECC and its owners, including Cadden. His attachment, filed on behalf of an unnamed New Hampshire man, seeks several million dollars.

NECC wants that case moved to U.S. District Court because of the federal questions involved over what makes a drug manufacturer.

NECC said it expects a Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to rule within the next two to four months on whether to consolidate a number of lawsuits in one court. The decision could come soon after a hearing is held January 31 in Orlando, Florida.

The chief pharmacist at the company linked to the deadly meningitis outbreak has received a subpoena to appear before a congressional committee after he declined to appear voluntarily.

The House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee issued the subpoena to Barry Cadden, co-owner of the Massachusetts-based New England Compounding Center and its chief pharmacist before the compounding pharmacy surrendered its license in the wake of the outbreak.

"With more than 400 people infected and 30 deaths, it is critical that we hear directly from the head of the facility linked to the outbreak," said Committee Chairman Fred Upton and Ranking Member Henry Waxman in a statement. "Since Mr. Cadden has indicated he will not appear voluntarily, we are left with no choice but to issue a subpoena."

James Coffey, Director of the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy, which regulates pharmacists in Massachusetts, has also been invited to testify at a hearing scheduled for November 14.

A spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a question as to whether Coffey had agreed to attend.

Margaret Hamburg, Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is scheduled to testify.

Hamburg, Cadden and others, including officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have also been invited to testify about the outbreak before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee at a separate hearing scheduled for November 15.

Meanwhile, NECC's legal team has been busy in federal court defending the company against a mounting number of lawsuits.

NECC lawyers, for example, say NECC did nothing wrong and have been caught in a crossfire of conflicting federal and state laws concerning specialty pharmacies.

In addition, NECC lawyers argue various states have themselves enacted differing and in some cases conflicting regulations on the practice of pharmacies.

"Permitted practices in some states may be arguably impermissible manufacturing by FDA and other states," NECC lawyers said Monday in documents filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.

But Peter McGrath said NECC and its attorneys are just buying time to plan how to contend with looming lawsuits and investigations.

Last month, McGrath, a former federal prosecutor, filed suit in state court in Massachusetts seeking to freeze the assets of NECC and its owners, including Cadden. His attachment, filed on behalf of an unnamed New Hampshire man, seeks several million dollars.

NECC wants that case moved to U.S. District Court because of the federal questions involved over what makes a drug manufacturer.

NECC said it expects a Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to rule within the next two to four months on whether to consolidate a number of lawsuits in one court. The decision could come soon after a hearing is held January 31 in Orlando, Florida.