Suffocation game kills 13 children

A PLAYGROUND game that deprives a child’s brain of oxygen has caused more than a dozen deaths in the past year, a parents’ group has warned.

Child safety groups have called for vigilance by parents and teachers over the jeu du foulard, a suffocation game that can trigger hallucinations. They say children as young as four are involved. Another variation - le jeu de la tomate - involves holding the breath as long as possible.

There are no reported deaths from the game in schools, although teachers are said to sometimes hesitate to intervene, but children have died trying to reproduce the effects at home.

Apeas, an association of concerned parents held its first conference last month with officials from the Health and Education ministries. It claimed 13 children died as a result of the games at home this year (an inquest said a recent suspected 14th case in Grenoble was a pure accident, not connected to the game). Often such deaths are mistaken for suicide.

Even if not lethal, playing suffocation games in any context may cause irreversible health damage, they warn.

A former director of the A&E department at the Necker children’s hospital in Paris, Jean Lavaud, warned of what happens when children try it on their own at home. “If they lose consciousness, no one is there to help free them.”

They are boys in 80% of cases, he said. “They are just testing their limits and have no idea of the risks they are taking.”

He said parents should watch out for certain warning signs – a child frequently complaining of headaches, a noticeable drop in school performance, the appearance of bruising, or bloodshot eyes.

Two MPs, Cécile Dumoulin and Patrice Verchère produced a research paper in October calling for an inter-ministerial taskforce to be set up to tackle dangerous playground games.

They recommended better training for teachers and an agreement with video-sharing websites, where children have published clips of the game taking place.