On an average weekend, the emergency room at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford treats 67 children for injuries sustained in accidents.
On two recent weekends, however — June 21, 2003, and July 16, 2005 — only 36 children needed treatment. Can you guess why?
|
SelectClick for Answer |
Each of those weekends saw the release of a new Harry Potter book (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in 2003 and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in 2005). So presumably many kids were too busy reading to get into accidents.
This may spark a new trend in public health. “It may … be hypothesised,” wrote a team of researchers in the British Medical Journal, “that there is a place for a committee of safety conscious, talented writers who could produce high quality books for the purpose of injury prevention.”
|
