7 June 2007

An animated film shown on both TV and the Internet to promote the new London 2012 Olympic Games logo has been withdrawn after fears it could potentially trigger epileptic seizures.

Epilepsy Action, which calls for web designers to adhere to the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) 1993 Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, requested that the film be removed, e-consultancy reports.

"We are grateful to the Olympics Committee for withdrawing the animated footage and we hope that this version of the animated footage is not screened further until it is known that it poses no risk to people who are photosensitive," a spokesman for the campaign group said.

The animated film may have affected the 23,000 people with photosensitive epilepsy in the UK, he said, while also potentially triggering a response in people unaware that they had the condition.

According to the W3C guidelines, website designers should allow users to control flickering screens and freeze moving content to ensure that images do not cause epileptic seizures.

© Adfero Ltd

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