High-powered laser pen leaves permanent damage on retina of 7-year-old Brit boy

Criminal charges would be filed by the British government against selling high-strength laser pen after a seven-year-old-boy suffered a permanent burn on his retina just by shining the laser into his eye for a fraction of a second. As a result, Jonathan Marshall could be stopped from driving as an adult.

Following this development, British Business Minister Anna Soubry sought an urgent safety notice to be issued across the UK so that parents would be warned against the dangers of high-strength laser pens, reports The Telegraph. She singled out laser pens manufactured in China.

Among the measures that the government is planning to put in place is a total prohibition of sale of laser pens to kids and to crack down on pens that are being used to target pilots. Current laws allow the sale to children of low-strength laser pens.

Marshall is not the first victim of the laser pens. Soubry discloses that there are more than 150 similar known cases when children sustained eye damage because of laser pens, but she adds the actual number of cases could be higher.

The British government has initiated a full criminal investigation into the case of Marshall who purchased the laser pen, using his pocket money, at a school fair stall. Angela Marshall, the mother of Jonathan, found out what happened only two days after the incident, but right away a black blurb appeared in the boy’s eye.

“I took him straight to the opticians who sent us to A&E where we found out he had burnt his retina. He’s got a burn at the back of his eye that will always be there and they’re not sure whether he will be able to drive a car, they think he will but they’re not sure,” explains Angela.

Douglas Johnson, senior health physicist and laser safety officer for Texas A&M University, says that eye damage is unlikely from a pocket laser, but could be possible if the pointers are not made to federal specifications. That’s because green lasers, directly imported to the US, far exceed safety standard. However, red laser pointers, which are properly labeled in the 3-5 mW range, have not caused eye damage, according to Scientific American.