We are buying shredders at record rates to protect ourselves from identity theft, but many of us don&39;t realize the potential danger in that little piece of household equipment.

I recently received a forwarded email warning about the dangers of shredders to pets. The email recounted a horrifying incident in which a dog lost its tongue (and ultimately its life when it had to be euthanized) in a paper shredder. As I always do when receiving mass forwareded email warnings, I checked it out at TruthorFiction.com and Snopes.com. The Snopes evaluation of this true rumor was even more horrifying than the original post, as it pointed out dangers to pets and small children of seemingly harmless shredders -- even those that are turned off.

I also took at look at the US Consumer Product Safety Commission website where I learned that from January 2000 through September 2005, CPSC received 50 reports involving finger amputations, lacerations, and other finger injuries from paper shredders. The majority of injuries were to young children under the age of 5 years.

The CPSC warned that paper shredders can pose a risk of finger injury to children because of their small finger size. With no force applied, a child&39;s finger would not likely penetrate the shredder opening since their finger diameter is typically larger than a paper shredder opening. However, depending on the design of the shredder, the shredder opening may enlarge as the shredder pulls in the paper and child&39;s fingers. Based upon information presented in in-depth investigation reports, injuries often occurred when children were feeding paper into a shredder (under adult supervision!!) and did not release the paper in time to prevent their fingers from entering the shredder opening.

While various groups are calling for voluntary redesign in the standards for shredders, in the meantime, please use caution:

Do not let your child use a shredder, even under your direct supervision. It is not a toy.

Always unplug your shredder when not in use and store it out of reach from small children.

If you have pets, you should also unplug your shredder when you are not using it and keep pets away when it is plugged in or in use. There have been reports of pets accidentally turning on a shredder then curiously licking it, with tragic results.