CHRISTMAS comes but once a year. And that’s probably just as well—not
just for those of us with Scroogish tendencies, but for doctors, fire-fighters
and loss adjusters. The season of joy is also the season of strange accidents
and unusual injuries. Never mind the perils of poorly cooked poultry and
high-velocity corks—which are year-round hazards these days. Almost
everything that makes Christmas festive lands hundreds of people in hospital
each year.
Christmas trees are a menace—real or artificial, with their fairy
lights and candles, paper chains, tinsel and baubles. Boughs of holly, ivy
wreaths and sprigs of mistletoe: poisonous every one. Artificial snow? It
irritates the lungs. An open fire to roast the chestnuts on? Forget it if you
want to stay safe. Crackers? Only if you’re wearing safety goggles: the “bangs”
can burn and airborne novelties inflict serious eye injuries. Even the pudding
can put you in the emergency ward. Silver coins concealed among the currants can
choke a child, while adults face the danger of “Christmas pudding flashback”.
This has nothing to do with memories of puddings past, but a lot to do with
Christmas spirits. If your pudding isn’t perfect without some flaming brandy,
remember to stop pouring before you strike the match.
“In terms of accidents, home is the most dangerous place of all,” says Roger
Vincent, a spokesman for Britain’s Royal Society for the Prevention of
Accidents. “We tend to see home as a safe haven. We relax and forget about
safety. And at Christmas we relax even more.” RoSPA reckons that over the 12
days of Christmas around 80 000 people in Britain end up in hospital—and
130 will die.
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Some injuries, particularly falls, burns and scalds, are inevitable when
crowds of people make merry in unfamiliar rooms, armed with hot drinks or
glasses of sherry, surrounded by piles of slippery wrapping paper and stray
toys. The kitchen is especially dangerous, with dishes of hot fat and sharp
knives in the hands of a tipsy and distracted cook.
Other accidents are linked to the more frivolous features of Christmas. For
instance, in a report published in 1990, Britain’s Consumer Safety Unit
estimated that nationwide there were 2000 injuries caused by Christmas trees,
fairy lights and decorations. Decorations were to blame for just over half the
injuries. And almost half of these were the result of falls as people balanced
precariously on tables, chairs and other unstable pieces of furniture to hang
trimmings or fix the fairy to the top of the tree. The remainder were mostly
internal injuries to children who had chewed on glass baubles or other tempting
decorations.
Around 34 per cent of accidents were linked to trees, and ranged from a poke
in eye with a stout twig to cuts and bruises from inexpert attempts to lop off
branches. Only to be expected perhaps. But there are some accidents you can’t
foresee. “In one case the victim was a 28-year-old male who was walking past a
Christmas tree when an insect flew in his ear,” says the report.
The final 12 per cent of injuries were attributed to fairy lights
—burns, electric shocks and internal injuries to toddlers who chewed the
bulbs. “Lights are safer than they used to be,” says Vincent. But Christmas is a
time for tradition and if you only use them once a year, those ancient lights
should last for ever, shouldn’t they? Not when they are crumpled into a heap in
the attic for the rest of the year, the wires bent and knotted. Damaged wires
can electrocute. Some older lights have large bulbs which become hot enough to
burn hands or ignite tinder-dry pine needles. And, while fire brigades say fake
trees are safer, that doesn’t include the metallic sort. Faulty wiring on the
fairy lights can electrify the whole tree.
And that’s not all. According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission in
Washington DC, trees are responsible for about 500 fires in the US each
Christmas, causing some $20 million worth of damage to homes. The risk of
a fire in the home is 14 per cent higher over the Christmas holiday in the US
and these fires are 30 per cent more likely to result in death, says the US Fire
Administration.
Christmas trees are full of inflammable resin and covered with
kindling—in the form of fine needles that quickly dry out in a heated
house. The fresher the tree, the safer it is. “Bounce its butt before you buy,”
advises the US Consumer Safety Commission: a newly cut tree won’t leave a pile
of needles on the ground. Assuming the tree lasts until Twelfth Night, what
then? Enough people have attempted to get rid of their tree by feeding it into
the fire to prompt a deluge of warnings each year from fire departments. One
American family lost everything but received no sympathy from their
insurers.
“They decided to push the pointy end in first,” says a friend of the family.
“They thought they could push the trunk in and burn it bit by bit.” When the
house was razed to the ground the insurance company was reluctant to pay up.
“Tantamount to arson”, was the loss adjuster’s verdict.
In Britain, too, the number of house fires soars over the Christmas holiday.
There were 213 fires a day in December 1996, 8 per cent more than the daily
average during the winter months. The Home Office, which is responsible for
Britain’s fire service, puts the blame squarely on Christmas, pointing the
finger at faulty fairy lights and trees placed too close to hot coals or
candles.
Trees are not the only fire risk. “There’s been an increase in candle fires
as decorative candles have become popular,” says Vincent. Piles of wrapping
paper will ignite in a flash. And of course, there’s that real fire. For most of
winter, central heating is fine, but come Christmas and suddenly there’s nothing
to compare with a warm hearth and a glow in the grate. Put the cards on the
mantelpiece and hang a stocking or two for Santa, and the risks of a fire
multiply. And if you have a fire just once a year, the chances are that the
chimney hasn’t been swept and no one has checked the flue.
The fire needn’t set the house alight to put you at risk. If your flue is
faulty, there is a danger of carbon monoxide poisoning. Around 50 people in
England and Wales die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning. Many more people
suffer the effects of poisoning but the symptoms are often mistaken for flu or
food poisoning. A few Christmases ago, a London family decided to light their
fire as a special Christmas treat. They were found gathered around
it—unconscious. Tall buildings around the house prevented the escape of
exhaust gases, which flooded back down the chimney into the room. Fortunately,
this particular family was discovered in time.
Carbon monoxide is a stealthy killer, but it’s not the only poison to worry
about. Badly thawed and undercooked turkeys lay hundreds low with food poisoning
each Christmas. Last Christmas, the Medical Toxicology Unit in London received
around 100 calls about children who had eaten holly berries, 30 inquiries about
mistletoe, 80 about the Christmas cherry, 10 about poinsettias and one about the
Christmas rose. Mistletoe berries contain a mix of toxic proteins and alkaloids
which irritate the stomach and slow the heart and, in bad cases, can induce
hallucinations. Holly berries might be popular with birds but they are not good
for humans, although they were recently downgraded as a poison. “Holly is not as
toxic as we thought,” says Virginia Murray, deputy medical director of the
Medical Toxicology Unit. “But I wouldn’t recommend you make jam with it.”
Ivy’s not too good for children either, but it tastes so bad that few
children eat the berries. There seems to be some confusion about how poisonous
poinsettia is, but the leaves contain unpleasant irritants. “If you chew them
you’ll get a nasty mouth rash and an upset stomach,” says Rose Ann Soloway of
the American Association of Poison Control Centers in Washington DC. The
Christmas rose, Helleborus niger, causes such severe diarrhoea that the
ancient Greeks used it as a chemical weapon in the sixth century BC. Another
popular pot plant at this time of year is the orange-berried Christmas cherry,
Solanum pseudocapsicum. Like its close relatives, the nightshades and
the potato, this plant contains alkaloids that cause sickness and stomach
pains.
The most common poison of all is alcohol. While most adults suffer nothing
worse than the whirling pits, a mouth like sandpaper and a bad headache,
children are at much greater risk. Every year, a small number of children suffer
alcohol poisoning, usually after draining the dregs left by adults. “People have
a party and it’s not surprising they don’t clear up at 2 am,” says Vincent. “But
then the children get up early, go downstairs and drink the leftovers.” Children
suffer worse effects than adults, and not just because they are smaller. “Weight
for weight, children are much more susceptible,” says Murray.
And if you think there can’t be anything else to worry about, don’t forget
the presents. Leaving perfumes and chocolates under the tree is asking for
trouble if you have children or pets (chocolate can kill a dog). And toys can
kill. According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, in 1996
toy-related injuries put 140 000 children in hospital in the US; 13 died from
their injuries. In most cases, accidents happen when small children get hold of
toys intended for older ones—not just the chemistry sets, says Soloway,
but toys with small parts that can choke a toddler. Lead painted toys are rare
these days, but doctors still see a few cases of poisoning. Button
batteries—the sort that power many toys—pose a different threat. “A
swallowed battery,” says Soloway, “is a real medical emergency if it lodges in
the oesophagus.” The charge around the battery burns a hole in the soft tissue.
If the battery reaches the stomach, it is probably safe—as long as it
doesn’t break up and shed its load of mercury.
So how does anyone survive Christmas? There is plenty of advice around on how
to stay safe. Buy an artificial tree and invest in a new set of lights. Wrap the
mistletoe in safety netting—or better still stick to plastic sprigs. Empty
the egg nog immediately the last guest has gone. Or perhaps you’d be better off
on an Australian beach, where Christmas Day sees turkey-stuffed crowds soaking
up the sun. No worries there. Except, that is, for the big jump in the number of
drownings, barbecue burns and shark attacks. Happy Christmas.