Are Fountain Pens Dangerous For Children Under 14?

[dms525]

There is often confusion between swallowing a foreign object (down the tube leading to the stomach) and aspirating it (down the tube leading to the lungs). The biggest danger from swallowing a sharp object is that it puncture the intestines. By far, the most common objects causing bowel perforation when swallowed are poultry and fish bones. This has no particular age predisposition. Obviously, the solution is to place warning labels on every serving of Chicken, turkey, duck, salmon, etc. That or ban these dangerous substances outright.

 

Aspiration is another matter. Younger children are at greater risk for life-threatening aspiration for two reasons: First, they are more prone to putting non-food items in their mouths. Second, their tracheae have a smaller diameter and are more subject to total blockage. This is not a rare occurrence, but occurs less often after age 3 years of age. The most common things children aspirate are nuts and other food items, although the full array of stuff puled lout out of children's airways is astonishing. The aspirated foreign bodies most commonly causing death are hot dogs - perfectly sized and shaped to plug a 2 year old's trachea - and deflated balloons which make a nice seal by spreading out.

 

We pediatricians have a list of objects that we believe should not be given to children under 2 years old which includes nuts and hotdogs. Fountain pens has never been on that list. It would seem more cost effective to ban balloons.

 

By the way, the age distribution of foreign body aspirations is bimodal, with one peak in toddlerhood and the other in old age. Are the Brits advising those over 70 or 80 to avoid fountain pens also?

 

David

Edited July 3, 2014 by dms525

[GTOZack]

BIC caps are far more dangerous

[owend]

Nobody's mentioned the most extensive injuries suffered by me and my fellow students from around 8 to 14 (and beyond, actually).

 

Firstly the consequences of arriving home from school with hands, clothes etc covered with ink after a disagreement with a pen, which could be unpleasant in an ear-wigging sense.

 

Secondly and more longlasting: how many of you received ink tattoos? Usually voluntary, but not always . Kneecaps were popular sites (we wore shorts in those days!)

[checkrail]

The issue is actually about pen caps and the Telegraph has taken it incorrectly to be about FPs.

[BernieC]

I seriously doubt that the breather holes in pen caps would allow enough air through to survive very long.

[Cepasaccus]

What about Pilot Vanishing Point? No cap to swallow.

That is even worse! When there is no cap the children will swallow the hole pen!

[checkrail]

ISO 11540:1993 of the International Standards Organisation specifies that pen caps for use by those under 14 should have a breather hole to prevent suffocation.

[dcwaites]

ISO 11540:1993 of the International Standards Organisation specifies that pen caps for use by those under 14 should have a breather hole to prevent suffocation.

 

Smiggle FPs, designed for young persons, should then be banned. They have no breathing hole in the cap at all.

 

However, I feel that the damage done to society as a whole by adults using their pens is far the greater danger.

Just think of the damage done by writers such as Marx, Engles, Keynes, Peter Paul and Mary, and the Brady Bunch writing team.

We need to ban all pens, now!!!\

[logantrky]

Tell them to wear a helmet before they use them too.

[Cryptos]

On the subject of helmets, I hear that the 'experts' are now saying that helmets do not protect the cyclist from head injury. Here is a LINKY

 

Personally I think all these changes this way and that are a giant distraction to keep us from noticing what is really going on.

 

 

 

Soylent Green is people!

[JustWrite Pen Company]

If we're looking at potential harm elimination, then well ahead of keeping FPs away from the tender young'uns should be the removal of all pavement. Kids are hurting themselves on pavement ALL THE TIME, and sometimes quite seriously. Moreover, paved surfaces seem to encourage people to drive vehicles, which also hurt rather a lot of children.

 

Ripping up pavement is a bit extreme. An appropriate warning sign every meter would do.

[dcwaites]

 

Ripping up pavement is a bit extreme. An appropriate warning sign every meter would do.

 

Don't forget a warning sign to warn people not to trip over the warning signs.

 

We have had a City Council successfully sued because somebody climbed over a fence near a cliff, and fell off the cliff.

[JotterAddict62]

What did the under 14 crowd use before the ball point pen? The Kurt Vonnegut short story Harrison Bergeron

is what this world is coming to. Getting dumber every minute.

[william2001]

I am 13 years old, and I am very offended by that telegraph.

They said "anyone under the age of 14" is subjected to the danger.

That is not true at all.

My friends and I use fountain pens regularly and never had a dangerous moment.

Fountain pens are dangerous to "some" people under 14, but not "anyone" under 14.

You should not be worried.

-William S. Park

[LisaN]

if I recall correctly, weren't the British trying to ban pointed chef's knives?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4581871.stm

because of the danger of non-accidental stabbing.

[laserlight]

What did the under 14 crowd use before the ball point pen?

 

Chalk and slate? But then after some use, chalk can become small enough to be a choking hazard when swallowed, and slate can be thrown during a classroom fight, resulting in injuries...

[Kyburo]

On the subject of helmets, I hear that the 'experts' are now saying that helmets do not protect the cyclist from head injury. Here is a LINKY

Hmmm, I've heard this banded around quite a few times and to be honest I'm not sure I entirely agree with it (specifically for road bikes, not people riding mountain bike trails).

 

The main point raised appears to be that more cyclists wearing helmets get hit by people driving cars and that the helmets then don't work all that well to protect them. But to my mind, if you changed it so absolutely everyone didnt wear a helmet I'm not convinced that we'd have a sudden large drop in the number of accidents as drivers paid more attention.

 

It also doesnt include figures of cyclists who've fallen off or been hit and knocked their helmet on the pavement but not reported it. I'd imagine the argument for a helmet is that for smaller falls etc they are a benefit, but for anything where someone in a car collides with you at a decent speed with or without you're not going to get that well protected unfortunately because your brain will still quite happily smash into the inside of your skull.

 

I would fight to prevent any government mandating helmets by law for cyclists, but I'd not be so quick to say that we'd all be better without them.

[pen2paper]

A. They could be, if their parental units have neglected to fortify their young with reasoning about their actions during the period that their brain has less function in this region. Toddlers require constant observation simply because they explore their new world through their senses, and mouth feel is a fun tool.

 

B. Since I'm daily aimed at with tonnage of physical destruction as adults pressing the accelerator while they fully focus upon the object in their hand, with posted signs detailing the law forbidding this dangerous action, I hold little hope that their children have been taught basic safety reasoning. Child will likely follow the examples and boundaries they see.

 

C. New laws frequently do not deter self absorption.

 

D. Working with those who've sustained lack of oxygen, or brain injury gives new perspective.

[Sasha Royale]

So, according to UK Government Standards, British children are fatally stupid ? However at the end of the 168th month

of life, the British brain "ripens" and becomes sweet with wisdom ? Kinda like bananas. I suspect their brains develop

black specks and turn to mushy rot by the age that qualifies for employment in the UK Standards Agency.

 

Of course, Americans are smarter. We have to tell people that hot coffee is HOT, and should not be poured into one's

own lap.

 

So, coffee is dangerous to Americans, and fountain pens are dangerous to Britons. I challenge the FPN membership to

answer, WHAT IS HAZARDOUS TO THE 13-year-olds OF YOUR COUNTRY ?

 

[pen2paper]

Wednesday, eagerly approaching the first sip of a cup of hot Ily, the lid popped off anointing my work garments with the expensive treat.

Clearly I have returned to the bloom of my youth.