Examiner.com

The traditional British pint glass could be an endangered species.
Photo by Charlie Papazian

Earlier in February the British press reported there were 87,000 violent incidents involving glass.  The BBC news reported:

Thousands of people are hurt each year in violent attacks where broken beer glasses are used as weapons. Could two new pint glass designs be the answer?

Nearly 87,000 injuries are caused by glass attacks each year in England and Wales, according to the Home Office. Many more are hurt as a result of accidents.

The worrying figures have prompted a redesign of the classic pint glass, with police, facial surgeons, pubs and brewers all voicing concern about the high number of glassings.

There were claims that this behavior cost National Health Service $4.2 billion.

A new shatterproof glass was designed.

But the reporting was not so accurate according to Melissa Cole (Photo below left),  British freelance beer & food writer/broadcaster and member of the British Guild of Beer Writer and BlogSpot writer of Girls Guide to Beer.  

Melissa reveals, “after speaking with the people at the Home Office press office, I discovered this figure was obtained by the simple expedient of taking the total figure of ALL violent crime from the British Crime Survey 2007-08 and then applying data on how much of that involved violence with any glass or bottle in any environment, which was 4%, and arriving at the number of 87,000.
 
The real figure of people injured through violent incidents involving glass in pubs is actually 5,500 a year, which obviously still needs reducing but isn't even close to the truly horrendous figure disingenuously used by our beloved leaders!”

Public be aware!  There is too often hysterical news about alcohol related incidence occurring on foreign soils.  Much of it is suspect, with political, moral and/or financial motives behind exaggerations. 

Watch a demo of the shatterproof pint glass