Thank you for this notice. We do not make laser pointers but as a Laser Safety Officer I am quite surprised that these devices are allowed on the market. We use Class IIIb lasers in our products and take great care to prevent user access to these levels of laser light. But these pointers are everywhere and can be at least annoying and possibly even potentially dangerous.
An example. I attended an annual celebration at a local community that boasts great fireworks. The vendors were all there selling various wares, balloons, glow in the dark things, etc. One of the hottest items was laser pointers. Many kids (or their parents who had the cash) bought these and they played tag and had "laser wars". I was quite surprised when my son pointed out a bright red dot on my shirt. I looked up right into the eye of one of these pointers. No harm done, no permanent damage caused, probably because I know enough what I was seeing and looked away pretty fast. Now think of this. Driving down the highway at night and some kid starts "shining" cars and/or drivers behind them. At the least the natural aversion response should kick in and cause someone to look away. But it is possible to have some driver get surprised, yank on the wheel and crash or worse... Yes, this might seem like a far-fetched possibility and it might be improbable to have serious accidents or deaths caused, but are you willing to take that chance? I, for one, am not. Make no mistake, these laser pointers are tools, just like any other. But you don't let you kid shoot their BB gun at the neighbors or cars passing down the road, or use your nail gun for target practice, do you? These pointers, properly used and not misused are a great tool. But in the hands of un-supervised kids, well, I leave that to your imagination. BTW, these devices can be rated anywhere from Class II to Class IIIa or Class IIIb, depending on the laser source. As such, I wonder if they should be restricted in sales to adults only. Also, there has been some talk of banning them in some localities in the US but none have so far as I know. Regards, Scott s_doug...@ecrm.com jeanmarie.vandenbul...@barco.com writes: >Dear group, > >FYI: > >For reason of consumer protection, laser pointers of class 3 and higher, >according to EN60825-1, are banned for a period of one year from the >Belgian market. Products already in commerce should be removed from the >stores. This ruling was published on 16 September 1998 in the official >"Belgisch Staatsblad - Moniteur Belge" by Ministrial Decree No. 98-2461. > > >Are there any other countries that also have a ban on the sales of laser >pointers of class 3 and higher? > >Jean-Marie Vandenbulcke >Snr. Product Safety and Compliance Engineer. > >Barco NV >Div Barco Projection Systems >Noordlaan 5 B-8520 Kuurne Belgium >Tel: + 32 56 36 83 31 Fax: + 32 56 36 83 55 >E-mail: jeanmarie.vandenbul...@barco.com >Web: http://www.barco.com > > >--------- >This message is coming from the emc-pstc discussion list. >To cancel your subscription, send mail to majord...@ieee.org >with the single line: "unsubscribe emc-pstc" (without the >quotes). For help, send mail to ed.pr...@cubic.com, >j...@gwmail.monarch.com, ri...@sdd.hp.com, or >roger.volgst...@compaq.com (the list administrators). > --------- This message is coming from the emc-pstc discussion list. To cancel your subscription, send mail to majord...@ieee.org with the single line: "unsubscribe emc-pstc" (without the quotes). For help, send mail to ed.pr...@cubic.com, j...@gwmail.monarch.com, ri...@sdd.hp.com, or roger.volgst...@compaq.com (the list administrators).
