An eye specialist is warning parents and students about the misuse of laser pens, which can be purchased easily but have harmed the eyesight of a number of children in recent months.Laser pens are often used as pointers by teachers in classrooms, and have become popular with some schoolchildren in Chengdu, Sichuan province.Sold in many stationery shops in the city, most are priced between 5 yuan and 200 yuan ($0.8-$31). They can emit a narrow beam of light in either red, blue or green with a single click of a button.But pointing a laser beam into a person's eyes can damage the delicate organs. A number of students have sought treatment at the Ineye Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.Xie Airui, an eye specialist at the hospital, has received two boys since September whose visual acuity fell off sharply after incidents involving laser pens. The first boy's eyes were burned. He couldn't see an object 10 centimeters away. A checkup showed that the macular area of his retina had been damaged, Xie said.The macular area is the most sensitive part of the eye and critical for vision, she said.The second boy, a high school student, was 15 when he sought treatment from Xie in September, after a classmate pointed a laser pen at him.A test found that the macular areas of both his eyes were burned and had obvious scarring. He could only see objects within 50 centimeters, Xie said.The resulting scars were consistent with those left by clinical lasers, she said, noting that damage to the macular areas can be permanent.Four years ago, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine issued a warning that laser pens could harm consumers. But no market supervisors have taken up the matter in a serious way, according to Xu Bin, a lawyer in Chengdu. personalized silicone braceletswellies and wristbandscustom rubber bandscheap custom wristbandsbatman wristbandsilicone keychaintrio spinnersballer bands
Aerial photo taken on Sept 22, 2017 shows the scenery of the Saihanba forest in North China's Hebei province. [Photo/Xinhua] SHIJIAZHUANG -- Forest rangers in northern China's Saihanba Forest Farm recently received a prestigious UN environment award. On Tuesday, Saihanba afforestation community in Inner Mongolia scooped the UN Champions of the Earth Award for its outstanding contribution to restoration of degraded landscapes. As an ordinary worker at the farm, I am immensely encouraged by the award, said fire-lookout Zhao Fuzhou. The award should be credited to three generations of foresters, said Zhao Zhenyu, 78, one of Saihanba's first foresters, who began planting trees on what was then a piece of barren land in the early 1960s. After decades of hard work, Saihanba is now a vast forest covering about 93,000 hectares and an important ecological shield for Beijing and Tianjin. Every year the forest in Saihanba purifies 137 million cubic meters of water and delivers half a million tons of oxygen. Fifty-five years of afforestation efforts tell us that when one generation of foresters after another spares no efforts to improve the environment they will succeed, Zhao Zhenyu said. Erik Solheim, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), hailed Saihanba community for its pioneering innovation, saying that cost effective grassroots initiatives could reclaim degraded landscapes. The Saihanba afforestation community has transformed degraded land into lush green paradise -- part of a new Great Wall of vegetation that will play a part in helping protect millions from air pollution and preserving precious water supplies, Solheim said. The international acclaim has made Saihanba's foresters feel that they shoulder greater responsibilities in afforestation to contribute to a greener world. Winning acknowledgement from UNEP marked a new starting point for our work, and we will redouble our efforts to take good care of the green treasure, said An Changming, deputy Party chief of the Saihanba Forest Farm. In 2016, the restored forest in Saihanba stimulated green sectors of the economy, generating an estimated 15.1 million U.S. dollars. Looking ahead, foresters at the farm are aiming to unleash greater potential of the forest in areas such as tourism, wind power, and carbon trading, bringing more ecological, social and economic benefits to residents in the region and beyond.
