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US: Sen. Schumer gets new FDA leader to consider banning high-power green laser pointers

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer met on February 3 2016 with Dr. Robert Califf, nominated to be commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, to discuss the threat of high-powered green laser pointers. At Sen. Schumer’s request, Dr. Califf agreed to consider having the FDA ban the sale of such pointers.

As of February 4, Califf’s nomination still awaited Senate approval.

Sen. Schumer, a Democrat from New York State, issued a statement saying “We’re only one month into 2016 and already there has been a green laser strike targeting aircrafts in the New York metropolitan area. We need to do something, and that is why I am pushing the FDA Commissioner nominee to act ahead of his confirmation. Green laser pointers have been a repeated danger to pilots across the country and I will continue to urge the FDA to use its authority and finally ban green, long-range, high-powered laser pointers once and for all.”

According to Newsday, there would be an exemption for professional uses. No additional details on the exemption criteria were available.

From Newsday (Note: accessing the article may require payment or answering survey questions)