Doctors seek kitchen knife ban

[Judith]

I wasn't sure whether to put these articles here, or under "Humor", or under "Rants". They're not exactly new, being from last year, but I decided to put them here anyway. They're quite legitimate; not satire, like "The Onion", lest anyone think otherwise, although I wish they were.

Judith

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The Scotsman

Friday, 27 May, 2005

Doctors seek kitchen knife ban

EDWARD BLACK

Key points

• Doctors claim long kitchen knives serve no purpose except as weapons

• 55 out of 108 homicide victims in Scotland were stabbed last year

• Police superintendents say a ban would be difficult to enforce

Key quote

"Many assaults are impulsive, often triggered by alcohol or misuse of other drugs, and the long pointed kitchen knife is an easily available, potentially lethal weapon, particularly in the domestic setting" - Dr Emma Hern, writing in British Medical Journal

Story in full

LONG, pointed kitchen knives should be banned as part of a concerted effort to reduce the terrible injuries and deaths caused by stabbing attacks, doctors warned today.

Accident and emergency medics claim the knives serve no useful purpose in the kitchen but are proving deadly on the streets of Britain, with the doctors claiming the knives are used in as many as half of all stabbings.

The doctors claimed they had consulted leading chefs who said the knives were not needed for cooking - a claim disputed by chefs contacted by The Scotsman.

Latest figures from the Scottish Executive show that in 2003, 55 of 108 homicide victims were stabbed by a sharp instrument - often a kitchen knife.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, specialist registrar Dr Emma Hern and emergency medicine consultant Dr Mike Beckett said a short pointed knife may cause a substantial superficial wound if used in an assault, but is unlikely to penetrate to inner organs. However, a pointed long blade pierces the body like "cutting into a ripe melon".

Internal organs can be heavily damaged, causing serious injury or death. The doctors said long knives with blunt ends - such as bread knives - would do far less damage.

Dr Hern said: "Many assaults are impulsive, often triggered by alcohol or misuse of other drugs, and the long pointed kitchen knife is an easily available, potentially lethal weapon, particularly in the domestic setting. Government action to ban the sale of such knives would drastically reduce their availability over the course of a few years."

Scotland's most respected pathologist, Professor Anthony Busuttil, said: "All the statistics show that for the last 15 years, victims of stabbings, whether fatal or seriously injured, are caused by kitchen knives such as steak knives rather than knives bought specially for the purpose."

Restaurateurs and chefs reacted angrily to suggestions of banning kitchen knives. Malcolm Duck, chairman of the Edinburgh Restaurateurs Association, said: "Kitchen knives are designed for a purpose. It would be like asking a surgeon to perform an operation with a bread knife instead of a scalpel. Anything in the house like a cricket bat could be used as weapon in the hands of an idiot."

Chief Superintendent Tom Buchan, president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, said although a ban on sharp, pointed kitchen knives would be welcome, it could be difficult to enforce.

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BMJ 2005;330:1221-1222 (28 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7502.1221

We need to ban the sale of long pointed kitchen knives

"Britain in the grip of knives terror—third of murder victims are now stabbed to death." Daily Express, 31 January 2005

"Stabbing rampage kills one, injures five—a large kitchen knife was found." Independent, 24 December 2004

Violent crime in the United Kingdom is increasing; figures from London show a 17.9% increase from 2003 to 2004,1 and one easily accessible weapon used in many incidents is the kitchen knife. Unfortunately, no data seem to have been collected to indicate how often kitchen knives are used in stabbings, but our own experience and that of police officers and pathologists we have spoken to indicates that they are used in at least half of all cases. UK government statistics show that 24% of 16 year old boys report carrying knives or other weapons and 19% admitting attacking someone with the intent to harm.2 Although other weapons—such as baseball bats, screwdrivers, and chains—are also carried, by far the most common weapons are knives.3 In the United Kingdom in the first two weeks of 2005 alone, 15 murders were attributed to stabbings and 16 other non-fatal attacks.4

To tackle this increasing problem, various measures are being considered by the government, particularly targeting the adolescent age group. These include raising the minimum age for purchasing a knife from 16 to 18 years and allowing head teachers the power to search pupils for knives.5 However, not all crimes are committed with newly purchased knives, and every household and home economics department in schools contains a plethora of readily available weapons. The modern stainless steel kitchen knife has a high quality blade that makes it unnecessary to look further for another lethal weapon.

Most domestic kitchen knives are based on two designs, the dagger variety with a pointed tip—for example, vegetable knife or carving knife—and the blunt round nose variety—for example, bread knife. When using a knife to harm, a blunt nosed knife is unlikely to cause serious injury, as penetrating clothing and skin is difficult with it. Similarly an assault with a knife with a short blade such as a craft knife may cause a dramatic superficial wound but is unlikely to reach deep structures and cause death. A dagger type knife, however, can penetrate deeply. Once resistance from clothing and skin is overcome, little extra force is required to injure vital organs, increasing the chance of a fatality (likened to cutting into a ripe melon).6

As knives are so readily available, does a culinary reason exist for so many domestic knives to be of the dagger variety, or are we just sticking to tradition? Knives as we recognise them were made first from copper and bronze between 3000 and 700 bc, and some are very similar in design to those used today. Personal eating knives were first used in Britain in the 14th century and became commonplace during the 1800s when manufacturing processes improved.7

Knives were used to spear meat, lifting it from plate to mouth, so pointed tips were vital for this function. Also, with repeated sharpening of a flat blade, a pointed tip inevitably develops. However, now domestic knives do not need sharpening, and numerous other kitchen utensils can be used to spear food. The current practice of eating with forks and blunt ended table knives was introduced in the 18th century to reduce the injuries resulting from arguments in public eating houses. In 1669, King Louis XIV of France noted the association between pointed domestic knives and violence and passed a law demanding that the tips of all table and street knives be ground smooth.8 Today many households have a block of kitchen knives of which several will be of the long pointed variety.

Perhaps the pointed kitchen knife has a culinary purpose that we have failed to appreciate? We contacted 10 chefs in the UK who are well known from their media activities and chefs working in the kitchens of five leading London restaurants. Some commented that a point is useful in the fine preparation of some meat and vegetables, but that this could be done with a short pointed knife (less than 5 cm in length). None gave a reason why the long pointed knife was essential. Domestic knife manufacturers (Harrison-Fisher Knife Company, England, personal communication, 2005) admit that their designs are based on traditional shapes and could give no functional reason why long pointed knives are needed. The average life of a kitchen knife is estimated to be about 10 years.

Many assaults are impulsive, often triggered by alcohol or misuse of other drugs, and the long pointed kitchen knife is an easily available potentially lethal weapon particularly in the domestic setting. Government action to ban the sale of such knives would drastically reduce their availability over the course of a few years. In addition, such legislation would make it harder to justify carrying such knives and prosecution easier.

The Home Office is looking for ways to reduce knife crime. We suggest that banning the sale of long pointed knives is a sensible and practical measure that would have this effect.

Emma Hern, specialist registrar in emergency medicine, Will Glazebrook, specialist registrar in emergency medicine Mike Beckett, consultant in emergency medicine

West Middlesex University Hospital, London TW7 6AF (emmah@doctors.org.uk)

References

1. Metropolitan Police Service. Latest crime figures for London. www.met.police.uk/crimefigures/(accessed 20 Jan 2005).

2. Beinart S, Anderson B, Lee S, Utting D: Youth at risk? A national survey of risk factors, protective factors and problem behaviour among young people in England, Scotland and Wales. London, Communities that Care, 2002, JRF Findings 432.

3. Townsend M, Barnett A. Children of five who carry knives in class. Observer 2003, November 23. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/sto...1091441,00.html (accessed 21 Apr 2005)

4. BBC News Online (manual search). http://newssearch.bbc.co.uk/cgibin/search/...amp;q=stabbings (accessed 20 Jan 2005).

5. Home Office. Off the streets and out of schools: Home Secretary's fight against knives. Press Release 389/2004. 15 December 2004. www.homeoffice.gov.uk/n_story.asp?item_id=1188 (accessed 30 Mar 2005).

6. Sadler D. Injuries of medico-legal importance. Lecture notes for LLB in Forensic Medicine, University of Dundee. www.Dundee.ac.uk/forensicmedicine/llb/woundsdws.htm#stabs (accessed 20 Jan 05).

7. The Sheffield cutlery industry. http://freespace.virgin.net/a.data/The%20H...f%20Cutlery.htm (accessed 20 Jan 2005).

8. Knives. http://www.eat-online.net/english/educatio...sils/knives.htm (accessed 20 Jan 2005).

[Kat]

The doctors claimed they had consulted leading chefs who said the knives were not needed for cooking - a claim disputed by chefs contacted by The Scotsman.

Latest figures from the Scottish Executive show that in 2003, 55 of 108 homicide victims were stabbed by a sharp instrument - often a kitchen knife.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, specialist registrar Dr Emma Hern and emergency medicine consultant Dr Mike Beckett said a short pointed knife may cause a substantial superficial wound if used in an assault, but is unlikely to penetrate to inner organs. However, a pointed long blade pierces the body like "cutting into a ripe melon".

Geez... Even if technically you wouldn't actually use a long pointy knife while actually cooking food as cutting is generally done before and after the actual cooking. Spoons, spatulas and other utentils are used during cooking and the knives during prep and serving...but that is just splitting hairs. How many of those 55 stabbings were actually with a long pointy kitchen knife? They'd like you to think they all were, but then use the vague term "often." They are trying to use statistics to promote a political agenda. These things always set off my bullshit-o-meter.

Despite their doctors' claims, we need our big kitchen knives to do things like cut ripe melons. Now people think need to babyproof all our homes because some people use common household objects as lethal weapons (Carving forks are pretty wicked, too) and, of course, the government needs to step in. It doesn't seem to end does it? If they have their way, the only option to cut into a nice ripe watermelon would be by using a little plastic knife. Pretty soon it will be illegal to run with scissors.

I sure hope the Chicago alderman don't get any bright ideas like these. They've been on quite a roll lately.

Kat

[John Dailey]

~ When the anti-gun advocates showed the political power they have over the last couple decades, I'd been wondering when normal 'kitchen' knives were going to get targeted.

~ Wonder if I'll live long enough to see baseball bats and Bic-pens 'regulated'...like nunchuks are.

LLAP

J:D

[Reidy]

Given the findings of the Lovenstein Institute study a few years back, we can be sure Bush won't have the smarts to keep this from happening here. They can enforce the ban with revenues raised from the email tax.

Edited December 21, 2006 by Reidy

[Peri]

Kitchen knives can be dangerous in the hands of the "wrong" person...like me, who hasn't yet mastered the "professional" way to cut veggies..."dangerous" in that I might cut off my finger or dull the knife's blade. ;-)

Otherwise, what else is there for me to do but join the amen chorus on stating that making kitchen knives illegal is clearly absurd?

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Actually, there should be a ban on hands and feet. These have been known to cause all kinds of damage and hands are even supports for the dastardly kitchen knives.

Michael

[Judith]

As many of you probably know, many of the martial arts were invented by classes of people who were prohibited from carrying weapons.

And the September 11th terrorists managed to hijack planes with what appeared to be harmless X-acto blades.

When will the silly banners learn? The only real weapon is the human brain. Everything else is just a tool.

Judith

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Judith,

Ban brains?

Michael

[Judith]

Judith,

Ban brains?

Michael

Hah -- don't think they won't try.

Judith

[John Dailey]

~ Uh-h-h, re 'banning brains', that's been worked on for a few millenia, no? That's what Roark's and Galt's end-speeches were, partly, complaining about, methinks.

~ The only diff 'tween 'then' and 'now', is that such is N-O-W becoming more blatantly spelled out, with few (if any) in the same decision-making/power-levels fighting against it by identifying it...and showing it to those who 'decide' (ie: 'vote for') those to be in the law-making/power-levels.

LLAP

J:D

Edited December 31, 2006 by John Dailey