Eyepiece Sunfilter AGAIN please help to do something. - UPDATED AGAIN - WITH REPLY

[h0ughy (David)]

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

I contacted the Qld Office of Fair Trading and they finally got back to me. This looks promising.

Umm hate to be picky but a school of optometry has no clout to order anything from a supplier or manufacturer, that is only the dept of fair tradings role. They can tell them to get knotted! This sounds like its going nowhere Paul, either that or the investigator from fair trading is using very poor english and doesn't know their powers and rights as a government agency. I woud be questioning why the DFT is not acting quickly enough as the "QUT" has no duristictional rights in this fight, only DFT. JMHO

[iceman (Mike)]

I think the Dept of Fair Trading has no clue, so they're going to the university to ask someone who may know something about optics whether "they" think it's dangerous, and they'll trust their opinion.

I think it looks promising Paul, power to the people!

[ving (David)]

well my fingers are crossed!

best of luck!

[matt]

Yeah. I agree Mike.

At least they're going the extra step and seeking an "expert" opinion rather than just telling you "thanks but no thanks".

You can only try, Paul, and good onya for doing that.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

That's how I read it too Mike.

[ving (David)]

would the said school of optometry know how unsafe these are? maybe they refered it to the school of astronomy?

best of luck anyhow.... gee i wish we could find some law!

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

QUT - Qld University of Technology.....I'd hope they'd have some idea

[stephenmcnelley]

I recieved the same reply just now at 8.00pm, at least we got a reply, it is an indication of some due recognition of the dodgy product by the product safety unit. There are some bright people at QUT, and an optometry unit is a smart place to send the offending item IMHO, if anyone understands physical eye damages and their causes it should be an optometry crew.

Fingers crossed the product safety unit and other related departments can act effectively on any positve test outcomes, it would be a difficult task.

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

A well thought out response Stephen !

[Shawn]

Send PM,s with Name and Location to some fictitious member set up exactly for that purpose, a few hundred names should do it...

S

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

As well I know the wheels of bureaucracy work slowly, but as the old saying goes, "All good things take time" and this looks like a good thing

This is a copy of part of the email I have received regarding the progress of getting these damn things removed from circulation. I have made bold the most relevent portion of the email.

I am writing to update you on the progress so far of the "sun filters"
used with telescopes. I apologise but the seriousness nature of this
product can take some time to investigate. Please see below email.

Kind Regards



Stephanie Young
Administration Officer
Product Safety Unit
Department of Tourism, Fair Trading and Wine Industry Development
Ph. (07) 330 59614 Fax. (07) 3305 9619
stephanie.young@dtftwid.qld.gov.au



>>> Stephanie Young 20/02/2007 1:17 pm >>>
Hi Tasy

Thank-you so much for all your help and advice on this matter, I really
appreciate it. My next step will be to contact Mr B Cheng at the UNSW
who have worked with us previously on sunglasses. Based on the evidence
we have received so far we are aiming to take this product off the
market but we will wait for a response from Mr B Cheng.

Once again thank you for your assistance and advice in this matter.

Kind Regards



Stephanie Young

[Ric]

That's great news Paul, the quicker they are off the market the better.

Cheers

[matt]

Well done, mate

I shudder every time I think of the potential harm these bits of junk can do

[RB (Andrew)]

Great news Paul, the sooner they're gone, the better.

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Thats great news Paul, Keep up the good work !

[Sausageman (Mike Boggan)]

Telescopes of this sort and price are aimed at the mass market, and parents will buy them for thier children without realising the danger.

I think a more direct approach would be to email your Federal Gov't minister, especially if it is a Female, they have the Motherly instinct to protect children.

If all 2,000 + of us do that, it may have a real effect.

These EP filters need to be banned NOW, not in 6 months or a year when the study will be completed.

I will email my minister today.

Mike.

[Sausageman (Mike Boggan)]

You can find a list of Ministers here
http://www.directory.gov.au/osearch....DAU&changebase

Mike

[Sausageman (Mike Boggan)]

I am waiting to send this email to my Local Minister.

Dear Mr Ripoll.

As an amateur astronomer, it has come to my attention that some extremely dangerous eyepiece filters are being imported and sold to the mass market for looking at the Sun.

The company is called “Sight and Sound”

These telescopes and filters will probably be bought by parents for their children without the knowledge that using these eyepiece filters will cause damage to their children’s eyes, probably permanent.

Any telescope aimed at the Sun needs a full aperture Sun filter, I mean that the whole of the front of the telescope needs protected, the telescope’s job is to concentrate the object into an eye piece, but an eyepiece filter will NOT stop damaging sunlight.

The office of fair trading has been contacted by my colleagues, but they have passed it on to QUT. A study which may take up to a year to complete. This problem needs to be addressed immediately.

We cannot have anyone being injured permanently because profit comes before safety.

I am a member of an amateur astronomy forum called “Ice in Space” and collectively we are extremely worried about the sale of these items.
You can find our worries about these eyepieces here.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=4

Please help us ban these extremely dangerous imports.

Yours Sincerely

Mike Boggan.

I haven't sent it yet, I will wait for some constructive critisism first.

[snowyskiesau]

My only comment is that as your letter is aimed at a politician, it may be a bit technical

[okiscopey (Mike)]

Originally Posted by Sausageman

I haven't sent it yet, I will wait for some constructive critisism first.

Well done! Just a couple of suggestions:

... the whole of the front of the telescope needs protection (not 'protected')

"The office of fair trading" should be capitalised, i.e. The Office of Fair Trading

also I think this might be better:

".. an eyepiece filter will NOT stop the dangerous ultraviolet and infrared component of sunlight, and is very liable to splinter with disastrous consequences for a child's eyesight."

Aslo, we need to be on solid ground with this matter. It looks to me like the company is called "Wow Sight and Sound" not just '"Sight and Sound".

Their website is at http://www.wowwicked.com.au and they are listed on the ASIC website as follows:

Extracted from ASIC's database at AEST 22:06:19 on 22/02/2007
Name WOW SIGHT & SOUND
Registered state/no. QLD BN18569171
Type Business Names
Registration Date Unknown
Next Review Date Unknown
Status Registered
Principal Place of Business not available
Jurisdiction Office of Fair Trading, Queensland

I looked through all 24 pages of their online catalogue tonight (starting http://www.wowwicked.com.au/catpages/page1.htm ) and couldn't see any telescopes listed. Are we sure they're still selling them? I recall someone said it was only in the printed version, so is this still in circulation?

Also, did a bit of digging around and came up with this:

http://www.motorsm.com/motorsport/au...pr_2006/03.asp

"The 'WOW' factor comes to WPS Racing (March 15, 2006): WOW Sight & Sound's National Retail Director Con Nicolas today announced the company has agreed to a long-term sponsorship agreement with WPS Racing."

So now we now who their director is, or was!

I'm not a legal person, but surely there's some sort of 'duty of care' for companies and their executives, and if the latter can be contacted directly they then cannot say they didn't know if the worst happens to one of their customers.

However I only found one link to a 'Con Nicolas' in Victoria (which may be the wrong person, so I'm not posting it here for the moment).

It IS very frustrating to have all this progress so slowly, but it's worth keeping on even if this particular company has given up with these goods. It'll surely come up again some other time, some other place.