Dangerous Things that Don't Seem Dangerous at All

Laura Lee

People tend to worry about the wrong things. We worry about safety each time we board an airplane, though we are far more likely to die in a car accident. We worry about a terrorist attack, though the household chemicals that we keep under our sinks are more likely to cause us harm.

Some seemingly harmless products pose significant risks that most Americans have never considered. Here, six of the surprising dangers that most of us encounter regularly...

DISHWASHERS

Each year, an average of about 7,500 Americans suffer dishwasher-related injuries. Most of these are cuts or punctures caused by upturned knives or forks. In the past 10 years, at least two people were killed when they slipped and fell onto open dishwasher drawers and landed on sharp knives.

Steam burns from opening the door and leaning over the dishwasher -- or reaching in immediately after the cycle is finished -- also are common dishwasher injuries.

Young children and pets can be poisoned if they ingest the soap residue in the dispensing compartment. According to a study by the Royal Children’s Hospital of Australia, far more children are poisoned this way than by eating dishwashing detergent out of the box.

Self-defense: Always load knives and forks into the dishwasher with their pointy ends down. Stand clear when opening the door immediately after the cycle ends. If children or pets are around, remove any residue from the compartment as soon as the door is opened.

PAPER MONEY

Researchers from the Medical Center of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio found that 87% of dollar bills in circulation carry bacteria, including strains that cause sore throats, urinary tract infections and food poisoning. There’s no way to tell how many people get sick from handling money -- people rarely know where they picked up a germ when they become ill -- but this evidence suggests that money is an often-overlooked culprit.

Self-defense: Wash your hands frequently when you handle cash. To be ultrasafe, adopt a strategy used by a Chinese bank during the SARS epidemic. When you receive money, put it in a safe place, wash your hands, and don’t touch it again for at least 24 hours. That should be long enough for most germs to die.

BAGELS

Their hard crusts require a sharp knife and significant force. The result can be a serious hand injury. How great is the danger? No definitive statistics are available, but American emergency rooms report that palms sliced open by kitchen knives, often with serious ligament or tendon damage, are among the most common accidents they treat. Emergency medics even have a phrase for this type of injury -- "bagel hand."

A bagel’s hard crust also can damage the esophagus if too large a piece is swallowed. The publication Environmental Nutrition once referred to the bagel as an "esophageal terrorist."

Self-defense: Buy a bagel slicer. For $10 to $20, your hands will be safe. If you use a cutting board, slice the bagel away from your body with a good-quality serrated bread knife. If no cutting board is available, use your palm to hold the bagel flat on a counter, being careful not to curl your fingers around it. Slice parallel to the counter and away from your body.

Also: Never try to slice a frozen bagel -- thaw it first.

BOOKS

Each year, more than 10,000 Americans suffer book-related injuries, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. Some people fall while reaching for them on high shelves, and others hurt their backs moving boxes of books or wearing overloaded backpacks.

Researchers in Bogotá, Colombia, also have discovered that book dust causes allergic reactions in 12% of librarians. If you have shelves of old books in your home, you could be creating an unhealthy respiratory environment.

Self-defense: A typical hardcover book weighs three to four pounds, so don’t fill a box with them and then try to lift it. If you have respiratory problems, removing old books from your home may help.

COTTON SWABS

Cotton swabs carry warnings on their packaging that caution against putting them in ears -- yet that is exactly how most people use them. In 1999 alone, 6,500 people in Britain went to the hospital for cotton-swab accidents -- more than twice the number that hurt themselves with razors, the seemingly more dangerous grooming item.

Figures on total injuries aren’t kept in the US, but there were at least 100 documented cases of "serious" eardrum injuries caused by cotton swabs in this country between 1992 and 1997.

Self-defense: Never insert a cotton swab in your ear. Even if you don’t pierce your eardrum, you may push earwax further in, which can do serious damage to the lining of your ear canal and eardrum. Earwax generally will work its way out on its own through the actions of the jawbone. If it doesn’t, consult your doctor, who can remove it safely.

CRUTCHES AND WHEELCHAIRS

These devices, designed to help us cope with injuries, can lead to new ones. Crutches are involved in some 74,000 injuries in the US each year... wheelchairs account for about 95,000. Many of these injuries occur when the crutches or wheelchairs are used on slick or uneven surfaces. Stairs are particularly challenging.

Self-defense: Learn to handle these rehabilitation aids properly before you use them in challenging conditions. Using crutches can be tiring, so rest often. Even if you don’t feel tired, prolonged crutch use can cause nerve damage in the armpits and numbness in the hands, leading to falls. Crutches become even more hazardous when set to the wrong height -- the proper height is two inches below your armpit while standing.

Don’t let anyone carry your wheelchair up or down a flight of stairs while you are in it unless there are no other options and you trust the carriers’ strength and coordination.

Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Laura Lee, a researcher based in Rochester, Michigan, and author of eight books, including 100 Most Dangerous Things in Everyday Life and What You Can Do About Them (Broadway).