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Good morning , I am Joseph Greensher , M . D . , Chairman of the American Academy of

Pediatrics ' Committee on Accident and Poison Prevention , Chief of the Pediatric

Department at Winthrop - University Hospital in Mineola New York and Associate

Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the State University of New York at Stony

Brook .

I am here today on behalf of the American Academy of Pediatrics , an international .

association of 27 , 000 pediatricians who care for infants , children and adolescents .

We have a longstanding commitment to protecting children .

The Academy in 1953

established the first organized effort to secure information on product - related

injuries to children .

We are greatly concerned about the increasing price our children are paying for the

thrill of moßility .

The desire to be carried at a speed greater than our legs allow continues to spur the

imagination of inventors and industry , leaving in their wake a stream of broken

bodies and an unacceptable death toll .

You have already heard testimony and more will be forthcoming today on the injuries

associated with three - wheel all - terrain vehicles ( ATV ) . The Academy ' s Committee on

Accident and Poison Prevention is concerned about the developmental appropriateness

of the ATV ' s for use by younger children and concerned whether there are sufficient

assurances that teenagers can use these vehicles without undue hazard of injury . Operation of these vehicles requires coordination , dynamic balance , quick reflexes ,

good visual and auditory perception and also a good sense of judgment . Such charac

teristics and developmental maturity are often lacking in the younger age group .

Given the variation among individuals with regard to skills and judgment , it is