Pumpkin Carving: Doctors encourage Halloween alternatives
Filed under: News | By: Peter Chubb
Posted on: October 10, 2009 | 7 Comments
Halloween 2009 will not be any different to Halloweens of the past, each year emergency rooms at local hospitals will be filled with people who have cut themselves while carving pumpkins. These include finger lacerations, which can often change a person’s life forever.
WKLY are reporting that doctors are trying to encourage different alternatives to pumpkin carving this year. They explain that each year parents try to choose safe costumes and decent candy for their children, so they should also think about their safety when preparing the pumpkin.
Dr. Michelle Palazzo said that most of these injuries are caused with the knife that is used for carving out the pumpkin, which is why we should ditch the kitchen knife and use items such as stickers’ markers and paints. These do not look as great as carving, but it is a good lesson for kids that knives are not safe.
Palazzo does not rule out pumpkin carving altogether though; just make sure that you purchase the safest tools to do so. Let us know your plans for pumpkins this Halloween.
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Who uses knives to carve pumpkins anymore? Its extremely hard to cut through with a knife, which is why somebody invented a miniature saw that does the job nicely. I picked mine up in a package near the pumpkins at the grocery store.
I remember carving pumpkins when I was in second grade, of course now its probably “too dangerous.” What a joke!
You have got to be kidding….This is completely retarded.
Much like crossing the street is dangerous, kids who don’t know how to use knives safely become adults who cut themselves when they need to use them.
Don’t advocate knife paranoia you fools! Advocate knife safety!
Safety Nazis - is there anything they don’t try to ruin?
My children will be kept in a medically-induced coma until they are 18 so I can maintain total control over their well-being without having to deal with the annoyance of teaching them pesky things like which end of a knife is sharp or mammals should not attempt to breath while submerged under water.
Once they turn 18, they’re on their own. I will certainly suggest to them that they use Dr. Palazzo as their PCP though.
Dr. Palazzo if you don`t take your head out of your ass it could cause irreversible neck damage…
Does this doctor also recommend that people put their steaks in a blender rather than cut them up and risk chopping off their fingers? Knives are tools, and are safe if handled safely and dangerous if handled carelessly; that is what children should be taught, not that knives have some magical powers to cut children’s hands off any time that they are in the same room. These children would grow up frightened of every man who carries a pocket knife, and have a panic attack when someone serves them pork chops with a steak knife to cut with.