Mike in Real Life

 

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“We know what shape, sizes and consistencies pose the greatest risk for choking in children and whenever possible food manufacturers should design foods to avoid those characteristics, or redesign existing foods when possible, to change those characteristics to reduce the choking risk,” said Dr. Gary Smith, immediate-past chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention and lead author of the organization’s new policy statement on preventing choking.”

link: Pediatricians Want Redesign of Hot Dogs, Candy to Curb Kids’ Choking – BusinessWeek

You have got to be shitting me!

Sure, small objects in children’s mouths are bad, but what about the costs involved in R&D to redesign all of these objects? Where is that cost going to be offset? Us, the consumer.
Never mind the fact that parents should be mindful of what their children are shoving into their mouths, not mommy and daddy government.

I am curious, of those pediatricians who want government regulation to change the shape of food items that may cause choking, how many of them ate the same items when they were kids? I think back to what I was allowed to do as a child: riding around in the bed of a pick up truck, sitting in the front seat of a car at the age of 6, putting the shoulder strap from my seat belt behind me, and probably too many others to name, and think that, according to what seems a majority of the population, I should probably be dead already.

Guess what, I am not dead, and I have even made it to the age of 32 without breaking any bones.

My parents must have been doing something right.

Thanks for the link on Twitter, Distroia.