Media Advisory

A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill pediatrician will describe a study she and colleagues did showing that children are at greater risk over the holidays from gun injuries and hazardous household products on Wednesday (Dec. 15) at a media briefing on the UNC campus.

The embargoed study, which will appear in the January issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that parents with small children at home, on average, do a poor job of storing guns and chemicals out of the reach of children. Grandparents, other relatives and friends the children are likely to visit over the holidays, however, are significantly worse at securing such hazards safely. Dr. Tamera Coyne-Beasley, assistant professor of pediatrics at the UNC School of Medicine, hopes to bring the problem to public attention. That’s because small children naturally explore new surroundings eagerly, and each year, thousands are injured or killed in this country by guns and various chemicals.

The UNC Injury Prevention Research Center briefing will begin at 10 a.m. in the lower (basement) level Commons Room (Rm 39) of the Graham Memorial Bldg., which is at the west end of the Morehead Planetarium parking lot and just off Franklin Street on campus.

Reporters can park in the gated Morehead planetarium parking lot in spaces reserved for the briefing in Graham Memorial.

News Services contacts: David Williamson, (919) 962-8596; Karen Moon, 962-8595 (broadcast).