Laser and UV Lamp Hazards
Howard Shapiro (HPANDA@HARVARDA.HARVARD.EDU)
Mon, 21 Feb 94 09:54:37 EST
Several recent postings about UV lamp hazards from the Southeastern and
Southwestern U. S. seem unduly concerned about UV lamp hazards, given the
prevailing attitudes about a much older and more prominent source of UV
in the Sun Belt. I have yet to hear of anybody picking up a tan from
incidental exposure to an arc lamp, especially in a dark room such as the
typical locale for a flow cytometer. Let's get real!
Let's also get real about eye injuries. Neal Benson says there are lots
of stories about partially blind cytometer service technicians. There may
be lots of stories, but there are lots of Elvis sightings, too; maybe they
are caused by all those laser eye injuries. As I recall, the Bureau of
Radiologic Health at the FDA maintains records of laser injuries, and the
last time I checked, there were fewer than a dozen documented cases of
significant eye injury from all laser sources. There have been several
deaths due to contact with exposed power supply connections in larger
lasers; I myself took an unplanned trip across the room during a mirror
change on a water-cooled argon laser when my sweaty fingers brushed a
hot contact. Rob Habersett may still have to worry about that problem;
those of us who now stick to only low-power lasers probably don't. The
last thing we need on this network is baseless hysteria nurtured by
rumors. Next we'll hear that the Federal Government, through the NIH
funding of our labs, is exposing flow cytometer users to dangerous laser
radiation without informed consent.
Sorry if I've REALLY offended anyone...
Howard
CD ROM Vol 2 was produced by staff at the Purdue University Cytometry Laboratories
and distributed free of charge as an educational service to the cytometry community.
If you have any comments please direct them to Dr. J. Paul Robinson, Professor & Director, PUCL,
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907. Phone:(317) 494-0757; FAX (317) 494-0517; Web http://www.cyto.purdue.edu
EMAIL robinson@flowcyt.cyto.purdue.edu
