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All five spinal cord injuries for which we cared , involved persons 18 years of age or younger and this disproportionately high number reflects only those of which we were aware . . . only those admitted to our hospital . On a national basis , the frequency of these kinds of injuries seems to have reached epidemic

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proportions and we believe something substantive must be done to curb the carnage . It is not only humane to do so , it is cost - beneficial and fiscally prudent . The expense associated with the acute care , rehabilitation and life long maintenance needed by many spinal cord injured persons , coupled with the indirect costs resulting from lost opportunities for both the patient and their families make doing nothing about this problem a non - viable option . Simply , the price of not taking immediate action is too great to pay both in human and

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financial terms .

To my knowledge , the Consumer Product Safety Commission is the only public or private sector agency with extensive information on ATV safety . According to their reports which we have analyzed and incorporated into a scientific paper that will be published shortly in a major medical journal , the number of hospital emergency room treated injuries resulting from ATV accidents has risen from 2 , 984 cases in 1979 to 27 , 554 cases in 1983 . Now , the CPSC estimates 30 , 000 injuries with ATVs occurred during the first half of 1984 .

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Of the estimated 27 , 554 ATV hospital emergency room treated injuries during

1983 , 11 % required hospitalization and at least 15 deaths were documented .

During the same period , the CPSC estimates 30 , 437 minibike / trailbike hospital emergency room treated injuries occurred of which only 5 . 8 % required hospitali zation ; seven deaths were noted through death certificates reviewed .

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