Name____________________________________                             Date_______________________
           EDITORIAL:  Hot-Dog Hysteria
Reading Comprehension Worksheet           

Directions:  Read the passage below carefully. When you have finished reading it completely, answer the questions that follow.

Big Brother takes a bite out of common sense - By THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Believe it or not, the government is about to regulate the shape of hot dogs. Bureaucrats at the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Agriculture and the Consumer Product Safety Commission are studying how to change the shape of hot dogs to prevent youngsters from choking. As a result, recent headlines have warned about "killer hot dogs" and "Doctors urging for a safer, choke-free hot dog." 

It's true that compared to some other foods, hot dogs seem to present a slightly higher risk. Of the 66 to 77 choking deaths for children younger than 10 in 2006, hot dogs reportedly accounted for about 11 to 13 deaths. But this claim of relative risk isn't conclusive because there has been no attempt to account for the fact that children might be eating more hot dogs than other types of food. 

Changing the shape of the beloved "tube steak" could reduce but not eliminate that number. Unfortunately, some kids will likely still choke on redesigned hot dogs, no matter what, just like some children choke on hamburgers, apples or other foods. 

The death rate per hot dog is incredibly small. American kids younger than 10 eat approximately 1.8 billion hot dogs per year, which works out to an average of about 45 hot dogs per child per annum. That pegs the death rate per hot dog from choking at 0.0000007 percent. If crossing a street were so safe, parents would breathe a sigh of relief. 

Any child's death is tragic, but the government cannot regulate everything and create a risk-free kindergarten utopia. Perhaps bureaucrats will go after bathtubs next. More than 90 children younger than 5 died from drowning in bathtubs in 2006. Forty-three children younger than 10 died riding bicycles. Even in extremely regulated areas, there are many more deaths. In that age group, more than 1,100 died as a result of motor-vehicle accidents that year. 

Life involves some risks. If government agencies don't have anything better to do than regulate hot dogs, their budgets should be cut to help them focus on essential duties. 

Hot-dog Hysteria - Washington Times - 3/15/2010

Questions:

1)   What is the tone of this selection?

2)   What is the setting of this passage?

3)   What seems to be the author's intent for writing this selection?

4)   What is the Main Idea of this passage?

5>   Define: conclusive, utopia 

6>   What type of article is this? From what perspective is it written? 

7>   Why might the shape of a hotdog lead to people choking on it? 

8>   What shape could we change hotdogs to? Would there be any drawbacks to such a shape? 

9>   Should people consider risks as small as .0000007%? Should government be concerned with this? Do you ever worry about such risks?
 
10>  Do you think that absent government intervention, there would be a market for differently-shaped hotdogs advertised as less likely to choke kids? 

11>  If not, why would parents as consumers evaluate the decision differently from regulators? 

12>  What agencies, according to this article, have authority to control the shape of hotdogs? Why do they have this authority? 

"If government agencies don't have anything better to do than regulate hotdogs, their budgets should be cut to help them focus on their essential duties." 

13>  Is this true? Is this issue part of the duty of a government? 

14>  What are the problems that might be caused if agencies lose focus on their essential duties? 

Bonus: Who is "Big Brother"?