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Gov't Report: Laser Pointers Produce Too Much Energy, Pose Risk For the Careless
coondoggie writes "Commercial grade green and red laser pointers emit energy far beyond what is safe, posing skin, eye and fire hazards. That was the conclusion of a National Institute of Standards and Technology study on the properties of handheld lasers. The study tested 122 of the devices and found that nearly 90% of green pointers and about 44% of red pointers tested were out of federal safety regulation compliance."
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Not really.
What this study finds is that most laser pointers outright violate safety regulations that already exist.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
As someone who has worked extensivly with class IIIb/IV lasers in the past (I was even licensed by the state of New York to do so) you can think of laser safety in this way:
Class i: Stare in to the beam until the end of time, no issues gaurenteed,
Class II: Stare in to the beam until the end of time, you might have some issues but probably not permanent,
Class IIIa: Your aversion reaction is fast enough for you to escape permanent damage.
Class IIIb/IV: You're fucked.
They did tests on animal eyes and eyes of people who were going to have them removed. They tested different power level until 50% of tests had damage then divided the power level by ten for the safety rating. So long as you're not an idiot (that's a stretch for most people) and you don't get your hands on some real class IIIb/IV toys you're probably not in any danger.
That being said, don't screw around with UV lasers. UV exposure is cumulative and you will get cataracts when you hit your individual exposure limit.
it's actually quite useful for pointing out stars and dark sky features.