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Dec 20, 2007 10:21 pm US/Central
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New Products Help Open Pesky Plastic Packaging
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Have you ever tried to open one of those hard plastic packages everything seems to come in these days? Almost everyone has a story about getting hurt trying to open one.
Now, as CBS 2 Medical Editor Mary Ann Childers reports, some new devices are claiming they can help ease your suffering and put an end to package peril.
"My fingertips were numb and bruised from all the twisting that I did," Michele Pyle said.
"Oh my hands are like battled," said Mary Dinkel.
"I did end up with a cut," Cynthia Jones said.
Pyle, Dinkel and Jones aren't alone in comparing their Christmas wounds after trying to open packages encased in hard, plastic clamshells.
"During this time of the year when people are rushing to open packages, it's not uncommon for us to see lots of hand injuries in the emergency department," said Dr. Derek Robinson, M.D., a member of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Robinson sees about four or five package-related injuries a day in the Ingalls Memorial Hospital emergency room during the holiday season.
"You could even nearly take a fingertip off depending on what type of object you're using," he said.
Many people get hurt because they reach for dangerous tools such as razor blades or knives or even pointy scissors to conquer the clamshell.
But recently new devices have come on the market that are designed to safely and easily open those packages.
We asked four CBS 2 employees to try four of those devices: the
Open It, the
OpenX, the
Pyranna and the
Open-sezz-me.
Pyle, Dinkel and Jones, all from the northwest suburbs, helped Open It's maker design that product after their experiences with package peril.
"You can tell that the offset jaw is really keeping that plastic away from my hands," Pyle said.
Our testers were split evenly on the Open It and Open-sezz-me as their favorite devices. All of the devices cost under $12.
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