Choking 'game' claims 82 young lives in US
Pastor Dale Morgan
Choking 'game' claims 82 young lives in US*
* Mike Stobbe in Atlanta
* The Guardian,
February 16 2008
At least 82 youths in the US have died from a "choking game", according
to the first official tally of such fatalities.
In the so-called game, a leash or rope is wrapped around the neck to
temporarily cut the blood supply to the brain. The goal is a dreamlike,
floating-in-space feeling when blood rushes back into the brain. Up to
20% of teenagers and pre-teens play the game, sometimes in groups,
according to some estimates based on local studies. But nearly all the
deaths were of those who played alone, according to the count compiled
by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
It took reports in the media and by advocacy groups from 1995 to 2007,
and found 82 fatalities of young people aged from six to 19 - 90% of
whom were boys. The CDC did not include cases in which it was unclear if
the death was from the choking game or if it was a suicide. They also
did not include deaths that involved autoerotic asphyxiation, which is
self-strangulation during masturbation.
The authors of the report said the real total is probably higher - but
they were unable to rely on death certificates, which do not
differentiate between choking-game deaths and other unintentional
strangulation deaths.
The CDC started the study after receiving a letter last year from a
doctor in Tacoma, Washington, who said her 13-year-old son died from
playing the game in 2005. CDC officials urged parents to be aware the
fad exists.
Many of the children who died from the choking game were described as
bright, athletic students who apparently were intrigued by a method of
getting high that does not involve drugs or alcohol.