Teenager learns about laser safety warnings the hard way

A 15-year-old Swiss boy burned two holes in his retina trying to create a laser show with his newly purchased green laser pointer.

The boy had originally purchased the laser pointer for the usual reasons:

…to use as a toy for popping balloons from a distance and burning holes into paper cards and his sister’s sneakers.

Unfortunately he deviated from his original plan and shone the laser at a mirror – and ended up with a hole burned into his retina.

Now I am not trying to be mean or anything, a burned retina is a serious and permanent injury, but it is the year 2010 and you would think that most people have become aware that lasers are dangerous. The warning labels are on pretty much every laser product on the market (including DVD players), so it is probably fair to say that this is not the sort of kid who should be allowed to ever own a laser pointer to begin with. That he purchased it online suggests to me that some credit-worthy individual in his family dropped the ball or seriously overestimated their teenager’s ability to handle dangerous devices.

[MSNBC]