Laser Info!

1) Join the Laser forum.

• Done!!

2)List U.S. laws on laser "pointers".

• According to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, more powerful lasers may not be sold or promoted as laser pointers. Also, any laser with class higher than IIIa (more than 5 milliwatts) requires a key-switch interlock and other safety features.
• All laser products offered in commerce in the US must be registered with the FDA, regardless of output power.
• In Utah it is a class C misdemeanor to point a laser pointer at a law enforcement officer and is an infraction to point a laser pointer at a moving vehicle.
• In Arizona it is a Class 1 misdemeanor if a person "aims a laser pointer at a police officer if the person intentionally or knowingly directs the beam of light from an operating laser pointer at another person and the person knows or reasonably should know that the other person is a police officer." (Arizona Revised Statutes §13-1213)
• Real-world situations: On April 30, 2010, Clint Jason Brenner, 36, of Prescott, AZ was found guilty of two counts of endangerment, each a class 6 felony, and it was also found that each was a dangerous offense, for pointing a handheld laser pointer at a Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter responding to a late-night burglary in December 2009. He was give a sentence of two years in prison for each count, to run concurrently
• On November 2, 2009, Dana Christian Welch of Southern California was sentenced to 2.5 years in a federal prison after being found guilty of shining a hand held laser light into the eyes of two different pilots landing Boeing jets at John Wayne Airport.

3) List the main dangers of lasers.

• The output of laser pointers available to the general public is limited (and varies by country) in order to prevent accidental damage to the retina of human eyes. Doctors have reported several cases of permanent eye injury from higher-power hand-held devices sold as laser pointers.
• In the U.K., doctors recommended against laser pointers more powerful than 1 mW.
•  In the U.S., regulatory authorities allow lasers up to 5 mW.
• Swiss doctors reported a case of a boy who bought a 150 mW laser, sold as a "laser pointer," which left him temporarily blind in one eye, and with 20/50 vision in the other eye, after he shone it in a mirror. The boy's vision eventually returned to near-normal.
•  Doctors said that any laser powerful enough to burn a hole in paper, light matches or pop balloons are dangerous and could cause immediate blindness. Laser pointers as powerful as 2,000 mW can be bought on the Internet which are indistinguishable from a low-power device.
• Recent studies show that the risk to the human eye from accidental exposure to light from commercially available class IIIa laser pointers having powers up to 5 mW seems rather small; however, prolonged viewing, such as deliberate staring into the beam for 10 or more seconds, can cause damage.