Saving kids and the hot dog

Pediatricians are raising legitimate concerns about choking hazards for children, but the American Academy of Pediatrics may have hurt its own good cause by going so far as to suggest a new shape for an American favorite food staple.

That's right, they want to redesign the hot dog.

One peg of the academy's new five-point policy on choking prevention recommends design of new foods and redesign of existing ones to minimize the risk of choking.

Tops on the list of foods it wants refashioned is the cylindrical hot dog, a bite of which can easily wedge itself like a plug in the airway. The hot dog's shape and its skin make it difficult to cough up.

But we disagree that warrants changing the look of a hot dog. What would they call it, anyway? A flat dog? A round dog? The new dog?

Better to educate parents and use common sense. Many hot dog manufacturers already label their products as choking hazards, according to the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council (yes, sausages are also on the pediatricians' choking-hazard food list, as well as hard candies, marshmallows, grapes, raw carrots, popcorn, peanuts and chewing gum). Hot dog makers suggest parents remove skin and cut hot dogs into small pieces before serving them to children.

With 10,000 children under the age of 14 visiting emergency rooms annually in this country because of food-related choking, the pediatricians have reason to sound the alarm. It doesn't seem reasonable, however, to redesign every food that could present a choking threat.

We do, however, support the academy's recommendation for warning labels on foods that pose the most serious choking hazards and its idea of creating a nationwide surveillance and reporting system to alert the public to food-choking risks.

Dr. Bernard Giserman, chairman of pediatrics at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London, also notes that being prepared to handle a choking emergency can prove crucially important.

While reluctant to talk about redesigning the hot dog, Giserman said he does support the Academy of Pediatrics' recommendation that parents, teachers and child-care providers learn CPR and first aid.

Knowing what kinds of foods and objects can lead to choking and being able to help in an emergency are two ways of preventing tragic childhood choking incidents.

But please, leave the hot dog alone.