Hot dogs are an American pastime. They are front and center at summer barbecues. And who hasn’t ordered one at a baseball game? Stuffed in a bun, slathered in ketchup, mustard, or whatever topping your prefer, they scream American summertime.  But a group of pediatricians wants to fundamentally change the hot dog because they say its shape poses a choking risk to children. Sadly, hot dogs are the cause of 17 percent of asphyxiations in kids under 10.

Now I’m all for protecting children from choking, but try for a minute to picture a less-round hot dog. All I end up picturing is some strange hamburger-like patty.

The group also wants the government to mandate that food manufacturers label products such as hot dogs with a warning label that they pose a choking hazard.

I think with common sense most people know hot dogs are a choking hazard. It’s certainly not new information. Maybe the solution here isn’t changing the hot dog itself, but instead educating parents and kids about the choking risks a hot dog poses. Maybe parents need to cut their kids’ hot dogs (and all food really) into smaller pieces or just feed them hot dogs less often. Maybe parents should be trained in the Heimlich Maneuver.

Before we all start banging the evil-hot-dog drum, I think we need to step back and look at some educational things we can do to prevent choking.

Related posts:

1. Letsmove.gov: Healthy Choices One Day at a Time Alright, confession time: I watch a lot of bad reality TV. Please don’t judge me. For many reasons, one of my favorite shows is the Biggest Loser. I’m a health nut; I love watching the transformations; and I get a kick out of the trainers screaming their heads off. But the fact that such a [...]...
2. Medicare, Medicaid, Medical Information on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder My nephew was making my sister and her husband crazy. He was fidgety, he couldn't keep his hands to himself, and he was always losing things. His grades weren't very good and his teachers were frustrated because he was constantly distracting other kids. He would do impulsive things that ended up with him breaking things or getting hurt. ...
3. Babies on Airplanes – Making Plans to Travel While on Medicare I may be a good friend, but that doesn't mean I'm not bitter. So, because it was 4am, and because I'm not a morning person, and because I'm insanely jealous, as I dropped my pal off I told him I hoped he was seated in-between two teething infants on the flight....
4. Prom Night Safety Tips – Watching Your Medicare Benefits Increase? My neighbor was telling me about her daughter's excitement over her upcoming prom. I felt a tug of regret. I never went to my high school prom. I'll be honest, I was never asked. I was not the type of girl to inspire crushes from guys in high school. I like to think of it as being a late bloomer. I figure I will begin to bloom when I am 80... just in time for the “senior” dance!...
5. Needle-less Vaccinations, Getting Medicare Help Needles are hands down one of the things I'm scared of most in the world. Anytime I need to get a shot or have blood drawn there's a 50-50 chance I'll pass out. I get all lightheaded and start to hyperventilate. It's really not a pretty picture. So needless to say, the news that scientists figured out a way to give vaccinations without needles made me smile. ...
6. Help from Medicare? Sleep Disorders: My Life as a Zombie The other night, I was awake the whole night. I haven't had a night like that in a long time, but it reminded me of my past issues with insomnia....
7. Pool and Spa Safety: Medicare Help When I was a little kid I can remember my mom warning me not to swim too close to the drains in pools and not to put my head under the water in hot tubs. She was concerned that my ponytail would get caught and I would drown. I always thought that was a little [...]...
8. Avoid Sports Injury This Spring – Is This A Medicare Benefit Coverage The start of spring means the start of Spring Training. The major leaguers start warming up for the season, and it's not long before little leaguers follow suit. Tons of kids play on youth baseball and softball teams every year and right about now they are in their spring training....
9. Medicare Decisions Can Provide Healthier School Lunches The peanut butter and jelly sandwiches served at my high school were epic. Using THREE slices of white bread with peanut butter spread on both the top and bottom, it was like a little slice of heaven at 11:30am. Looking back, it's a marvel that I made it out of there alive....
10. Medicare Benefits, Swimming and Water Safety When I was growing up I spent most of the summer in some state of wetness. My town had a pool that was easy for us to walk or ride our bikes to and it was the center of summer social activity. I took swimming lessons, I swam on the swim team, I became a [...]...
11. Medicare, Medicare Card, Study Finds Two Sling Surgeries, Equally Effective for Bladder Control in Women Two common operations for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) help women achieve similar levels of dryness, according to a team of urologists and urogynecologists who compared the treatments in a large U.S. trial supported by the National Institutes of Health. The study is being released online May 17, 2010, by the New England Journal of Medicine [...]...
12. Medicare, Medicare Card, NIH and Wellcome Trust Announce Partnership To Support Population-based Genome Studies in Africa The National Institutes of Health, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Wellcome Trust, a global charity based in London, today announced a partnership to support population-based genetic studies in Africa of common, non-communicable disorders such as heart disease and cancer, as well as communicable diseases such as malaria. [...]...
13. Medicare, Medicare Card, Receptor Variant Influences, Dopamine Response to Alcohol A genetic variant of a receptor in the brain’s reward circuitry plays an important role in determining whether the neurotransmitter dopamine is released in the brain following alcohol intake, according to a study led by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health. Dopamine is [...]...
14. Medicare, Medicare Card, Government Grants It’s late at night, the TV’s on and you see a commercial. It tells you that if you just buy this wonderful book, you’ll learn the secrets to get free money from the government to pay your credit card bills, renovate your home, and start a business! It sounds so wonderful, but is it too [...]...
15. Medicare Card Information – Federal Student Financial Aid Program If you are a parent of a college-bound senior, your life is probably consumed these days with talk of college. First, there is the drama of your child deciding on which college(s) to apply to for admission. ...