Death by bra...

We live in dangerous times when the threat of terrorism, war and environmental disaster is ever present. But the authors of a new book have identified far more deadly hazards lurking in everyday objects and practices.

Here, we detail the threat concealed in your underwear drawer and the assassin in the kitchen cupboard. Read on. . . if you dare!

Bras

Four hundred underwear-related injuries are recorded in Britain every year. In 1999, two women were killed in London when a massive bolt of lightning hit the metal underwiring in one of their bras and acted as a conductor.

Scientists have also discovered a link between bra-wearing and breast cancer. A 1991 study of pre-menopausal women who never wore bras showed they had half the risk of breast cancer of those who did. Researchers found those who wore ill-fitting ones or who wore bras for unusually long periods were most at risk.

They concluded that a constriction of lymph nodes in the bra area caused a build-up of harmful toxins.

And it's not just women who are at risk. Another study revealed that a 27-year-old man had sustained a fracture and ligament damage when he twisted his left middle finger while trying to unclasp the bra strap of a female companion.

What you can do: Take heart in a contradictory study. The American National Cancer Institute disputes a link between bra-wearing and breast cancer, noting that larger-breasted women (and, therefore, those most likely to need bras) are more at risk of the disease because they have more breast tissue.

And if you're a man? Practice, practice, practice.

Fish and chips

A quarter of all house fires are started by chip pans, and in the year 2000, 447 people died trying to fry chips and 14,400 were injured.

Nearly a third of all chip pan fire injuries occur between 10pm and 4am - the time at which drunken revellers are most likely to try to prepare a late-night snack.

What you can do: Oven-bake or microwave your chips - and always keep a pair of damp underpants nearby. Ten people were recently saved from a chip pan fire in Walsall when a quick-thinking resident smothered the flames using a pair of knickers (and other clothing) drying nearby.

Cotton buds

Believe it or not, these innocent-looking, soft white swabbers are not designed to be used in the ear. Doing so merely pushes the wax further down the ear canal. And over-enthusiastic ear-cleaning can lead to a tear in the eardrum.

If you trip and bump your arm while swabbing your ear you can force the bud so far into the ear canal that it hits the small bones in the middle ear - leading to deafness.

As a result, twice as many people end up in hospital with cotton bud injuries than razor blade or electric razor injuries.

What you can do: Talk and eat more. Your ear canals are self-cleaning. Actions of the jaw such as chewing and talking help to massage the wax out of the canals.

Washing dishes

More than 200 people sustain scouring pad injuries each year in Britain and a further 90 hurt themselves on drying racks.

But by far the most dangerous dish-washing device is the dishwasher. Opening the machine while it's running can lead to severe burns from the steam, and reaching in to retrieve dishes has proved fatal.

Many people have cut themselves on knives and forks while unloading the machine. In 2003, 31-year-old Jane McDonald from Airdrie, Lanarkshire, died when she slipped in her kitchen and fell on top of a knife protruding from her open dishwasher.

What you can do: Load the dishwasher with the sharp ends pointing downwards.

Teddy bears

More people are killed annually by teddy bears than by real-life grizzly bears.

Small parts - buttons, eyes and bows - can cause young children to choke. Adults usually end up in hospital after tripping over cuddly toys.

Teddies can also spread infection. One study found that 90 per cent of soft toys in GPs' waiting rooms had moderate to heavy bacterial contamination - including lice and herpes.

What you can do: Encourage children to tidy their toys away and, when possible, prise them off their young owners and put them in the washing machine.

Gardening

Almost 70,000 people are injured every year in Britain while doing the garden - including an estimated 4,000 flowerpot injuries. Most are cuts to the hands and feet from hedge-clippers or poorly placed spades. Gardening also causes muscle strains.

If you live in a city, there is another hazard - pets and wild animals use city gardens as toilets, depositing parasites and germs such as toxoplasma, which is especially dangerous to pregnant women.

What you can do: Reduce the chance of sprains by stretching your muscles before digging, and wear a sun hat, hard-toed shoes and gloves.

Corned beef

In 1994, 28,000 people in Britain needed hospital treatment after cutting themselves on tins.

The biggest culprit was the corned beef version with the little key on it. Because the key often drops off when the lid is only half-open, the meat is difficult to get out, so people try to prise the tin apart with their fingers.

Tins have also been known to explode. And tin-openers, if not washed properly, can carry potentially fatal bacteria.

What you can do: Practise good tin-opener hygiene, or eat fresh food.

Vegetables

Sometimes greens aren't good for you. Each year more than 11,000 Britons are injured by vegetables.

Most of the accidents happen while trying to cook them (boiling and frying can lead to burns), but some people deliberately use vegetables as weapons.

A recent craze for homemade potato guns (placing a spud in a pipe then igniting an explosive mixture at one end which can cause the vegetable to fly out at speeds of 1,000ft per second) has led to a deluge of injuries including blindness and broken bones.

Children also have a fascination for pushing foreign objects (the pea is a favourite) up their noses.

What you can do: Lift up pan lids so the underside rises away from you, thus any escaping steam does not hit you in the face. Keep knives sharp when chopping vegetables; you are more likely to put added pressure on a blunt knife and cause it to slip.

Vending machines

Picture the scene: you sneak away from your desk for a sugar-boosting bar of chocolate from the machine in the corridor. You put your money in the slot, make your selection and the item inches forward - then stops.

You bang on the side and nothing happens. If only you could tip the machine forward... you could be crushed under 1,000lb of metal and glass.

A Canadian study found that since 1978, at least 35 Canadians have died and 140 been injured doing just that.

Young men with a short fuse are most at risk from falling vending machines, but a ten-year-old boy in the U.S. also died at a recreation centre. The young swimmer, dripping wet, was electrocuted when he put his money in the slot.

Investigators later discovered that the machine was sitting on top of the flex of another machine which was damaged, causing a surge of electricity to rush into it. The boy acted as the earth.

What you can do: Don't steal: in 1995 both of those killed in the U.S. by falling machines were trying to steal drinks at the time. Encourage the vending industry to print warnings and to make sure there is nothing wet on the ground nearby.

Leaves

The autumn explosion of red, orange and gold is one of nature's most dazzling displays. It is also one of her most hazardous. When leaves decompose, they emit chemicals which affect our lungs, immune system and eyesight. Fallen foliage in streams also fills the water with poison.

A study of rivers filled with leaves in Minnesota found levels of mercury and concentrations of methylmercury (the organic form of mercury) which were as high as those near industrial pollution sources.

Methylmercury gets into the human food supply when people eat tainted fish. It can lead to neurological deficiencies in children who have been exposed to it in the womb.

Burning leaves produces carbon monoxide, which deprives the body of oxygen.

What you can do: Mulch leaves, don't burn them.

If reading this has made you too depressed to get out of bed, consider the book's final entry...

Life

The only thing guaranteed to end in death is being alive.

What you can do: Nothing. Just make the most of it.