its the radiation firing through the mechanism that generates the laser
What mechanism? Inside an optical drive the light is emitted by a laser diode.
In CD drives the laser beam wavelength is 780 nm, so it's in infrared region (thus invisible for the human eye). DVDs are read at 650 nm wavelength (red), but for compatibility issues, the DVD drives have dual laser diode (for reading both DVDs and CDs). In both cases there are some invisible electromagnetic radiations and because the laser beam is very focalized it could damage your eye's retina if looking straight into the beam (without actually seeing it).
But this could happen only when the drive is in use (else the laser beam is off).
Almost forgot: once I repaired a laser printer and turned it on when it was in pieces. And I'm not dead yet.
(Note that the CD drive laser's power is about 0.5 mW, but a printer's laser emits at approx. 6 mW.)