§ Mrs. GillanTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what steps she will take to ensure that class 1 and 2 laser pens are not sold to children under the age of 18 years. [20487]
§ Mr. Nigel Griffiths[holding answer 12 December 1997]: The Consumer Protection Act 1987 contains a power to make regulations prohibiting the supply of goods to particular classes of people; for example to children under the age of 18 if the goods would be unsafe in the hands of those people. However, to do this we would require clear evidence that there was a safety problem arising from the sale of Class 1 or Class 2 laser pointers 174W to children under 18 years. To date there is no such evidence since all incidents appear to involve Class 3 lasers and above.
On 28 October I acted swiftly in urging Trading Standards Departments to remove from general sale all Class 3 and Class 4 laser pointers as specified under BS EN 60825-Part 1: 1994 (Safety of laser products), because these pointers present an unacceptable risk to consumers. I have been advised by the National Radiological Protection Board that there is no evidence that laser pointers in Class 1 or Class 2 of the BS EN standard can cause a direct risk to health.