Oh gawd something else to worry about!
:>
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Doctors in the South Pacific Solomon Islands have warned of a threat to people's health on the islands comparable to vigorous exercise or the motor car - coconuts.
Writing in the Australia New Zealand Journal of Surgery, a consultant surgeon in the Solomons' capital, Honiara, says people should pay more attention to the range of injuries and economic damage caused by the nuts.

Dr Hermann Oberli said most of the casualties had fallen out of trees while collecting them, but others had been hit by falling coconuts.

In about 10% of cases, he said the injuries were severe.

Coconuts can weigh up to four kilos (8.8lbs) and may fall 25 m (80 ft) with an impact velocity of 80 km/h (50 mph) - resulting in a force greater than a tonne.

Children are particularly at risk when they climb trees to pick coconuts, the doctor said.

Common problem

The study was prompted by the admission to hospital of a child suffering from severe brain damage as a result of being hit by a coconut.

Dr Oberli's database now has 122 patients with coconut-related injuries, including six with severe head injuries and five with spinal injuries.

An average of 1.5 patients a month are treated in Honiara hospital for such injuries. This makes them as common as traffic or sports-related injuries on the islands.

Other cases could have gone unnoticed in remote areas, Dr Oberli said.

Similar studies in Papua New Guinea have detected a comparable rate of coconut injury.

Copra, the dried kernels of coconuts, is a major export from both countries.