(Dear Friends, with the ecological move to reduce plastic waste on our planet, metal straws (instead of plastic) have become more popular. However, indirectly perhaps more dangerous to those who may use them. Alex)
Elena Struthers-Gardner, 60, who was known as ‘Lena’, suffered brain injuries in the accident at her home in Broadstone. She was carrying a mason-jar style drinking glass with a screw-top lid in her kitchen when she collapsed. The 10-inch stainless steel straw entered her left eye socket and pierced her brain. Her death has led to a coroner warning that metal drinking straws should never be used with a lid that fixes them in place, and “great care should be taken” while using them.
Metal straws have increased in popularity to replace single-use plastic straws since the screening of David Attenborough’s Blue Planet. Mrs Struthers-Gardner was fatally injured at her home in Cannon Close on the evening of November 22 last year.
The cause of death was a traumatic brain injury. Recording a conclusion of accidental death, assistant coroner Brendan Allen said: “Clearly great care should be taken taken when using these metal straws. There is no give in them at all. “If someone does fall on one and it’s pointed in the wrong direction, serious injury can occur.(bournemouthecho.co.uk)