Chefs up in arms because doctors want long pointed kitchen knives banned

May 29 2005

In an article in the British Medical Journal, specialist registrar Dr Emma Hern and emergency medicine consultant Dr Mike Beckett say long pointed kitchen knives should be banned as part of a concerted effort to reduce the terrible injuries and deaths caused by stabbing attacks.

Dr Hern says that many assaults are impulsive, often triggered by alcohol or misuse of other drugs, and the long pointed kitchen knife is an easily available, potentially lethal weapon, particularly in the domestic setting.

The doctors say the knives are used in as many as half of all stabbings, and accident and emergency medics claim the knives serve no useful purpose in the kitchen but are proving deadly on the streets of Britain.

According to the doctors they consulted with leading chefs over the issue and the chefs said the knives were not needed for cooking. But other chefs dispute this claim.

Latest figures show that in 2003, 55 of 108 homicide victims were stabbed by a sharp instrument very often a kitchen knife.

The doctors say that a short pointed knife may cause a substantial superficial wound if used in an assault, but is unlikely to penetrate to inner organs. However, a pointed long blade pierces the body like "cutting into a ripe melon", and internal organs can be badly damaged, causing serious injury or death. The doctors said long knives with blunt ends, such as bread knives do far less damage.

Dr Hern said the long pointed kitchen knife is an easily available, potentially lethal weapon,and government action to ban the sale of such knives would drastically reduce their availability over the course of a few years.

Professor Anthony Busuttil, Scotland's most respected pathologist,says that all the statistics show that for the last 15 years, victims of stabbings, whether fatal or seriously injured, are caused by kitchen knives such as steak knives, rather than knives bought specially for the purpose.

However restaurateurs and chefs have reacted angrily to suggestions of banning kitchen knives.

Malcolm Duck, chairman of the Edinburgh Restaurateurs Association, says kitchen knives are designed for a purpose,and it would be the equivalent of asking a surgeon to perform an operation with a bread knife instead of a scalpel. He says anything in the house could be used as weapon in the hands of an idiot.

Chief Superintendent Tom Buchan, president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, said although a ban on sharp, pointed kitchen knives would be welcome, it would be difficult to enforce.