Ban plastic pen caps



Well, that’s what the Stirland family wants to do, after their son Ben choked to death on one. He died after swallowing it while doing homework.

“What Ben was doing that day, chewing his pen, is what thousands of people do every day.”
“Our initial and main aim is to get the pen lids banned.”
“Our biggest concern is that the safety air hole and the clip, which you clip on to your jumper, acted almost like a fish hook and was difficult to remove from his throat.”

Moorside Community Technology College, the school Ben had attended, has already banned pen caps. So far the family has approached several organizations in England, such as the British Standards Institute and the Writing Instruments Association, in an attempt to stop the production of pens with plastic caps.

Okay, some advice to any parents reading this who have kids stupid or absent minded enough to swallow a pen cap: buy your kid some chewing gum. Or a pencil. Either one works, really.

I mean, I know it isn’t uncommon for people to scapegoat like this, but it seems a little over the top. I’m sympathetic about the loss of their son, but it was just a freak accident.

Besides, pen caps keep pens from leaking or drying out, as well as protecting the tip so you don’t accidentally stab yourself or someone else. I imagine if pens had no caps there would be lawsuits about people stabbed accidentally with ball point pens, and no one wants that.

EDIT: I should mention the son’s age. He was 13.

This child represents natural selection at it’s finest. The kid who swallows the most marbles shouldn’t grow up to have children of his own.

The news article.

Alternatively, we could go in this direction...




"Clement Eloy, a young French designer with a great sense of play in his designs, has come up with a hilarious product prototype. The design concept is to create a flavored candy pen cap which Eloy calls “Suck My Bic”. The idea is very perceptive because it recognizes people’s tendency to suck on their pen caps. For instance, I grew up using Bic pens in school, and I always ended up sucking and biting the pen cap when I’m concentrating on my writing. I would have much more enjoyed the flavor of cherry cream soda over plastic, so I think I would have bought the pen. The obvious drawback is that the cap, being a piece of candy, will only last for minutes. Whereas the pen itself will not run out of ink for weeks. If Eloy were to bring this product to the next level, he’d want to solve the problem of the everlasting candy pen cap, so it could last as long as the pen."

As Seen Here.