Evaluating Laser Pointer Safety [POSTER]

The purpose of this study was to assess the safety of laser pointers. Additionally, a variety of consumer level laser devices were evaluated in order to test the validity of any existing manufacturer label classification.  Classification discrepancies are a problem for the environmental health professional due to the fact that the lasers are easily obtained, have widespread use and have the potential to cause permanent ocular and/or skin damage with very little contact time with the beam.  Ocular damage is of particular concern due to the eye’s ability to increase laser light intensity to many thousands of times by its focusing power.  Currently, there are no regulatory standards to keep class III and IV laser sources out of the hands of minors or careless consumers. This study will evaluate the power/energy emitted from a variety of 17 consumer lasers, all of which were unconditionally purchased online.  Data collected from the laser evaluations have been analyzed and tabulated in accordance with ANSI 2007 recommendations.