25-04-2025
People shocked to discover the real reason for holes in ballpoint pen lids
People have been left stunned after discovering the real reason that biro pen lids have a hole in the top of them.
Zach D, a popular American filmmaker who boasts 20 million subscribers on YouTube, posted a video revealing the truth in 2022 - shocking people across the internet with the revelation.
In the short clip, he said that while most people believe the reason is related to the ink, the holes in pen lids have a far more crucial function.
Zach - who makes and shares zeitgeist short videos to social media for his loyal band of followers - said the true reason is 'much more important'.
'Pen companies are actually required to add these little holes,' he said.
'You see, there's just enough space for airflow if the cap gets stuck in someone's throat.'
According to the Bic website, the reason for the hole in the top of biro pen lids is to allow the passage of air if someone accidentally swallows the cap and it becomes trapped in their windpipe.
The video continued to show a skeletal x-ray and how the lid design could allow air to pass through the throat if swallowed.
The clip has since been seen a staggering 3.1 million times, with many viewers baffled to have discovered the surprisingly practical reason for the hole.
'Oh my gosh, thank you I'll be careful next time no no actually even if I did swallow they invented those holes just for me to breathe!' one commented.
'I remember chewing this pen cap during my childhood,' one person commented.
'Wow hopefully that never happens to anyone,' another added.
But some Instagram user claimed to have known this for 'years'.
'I thought this was common knowledge,' one person wrote.
Another said: 'Everyone knows this by now.'
Global pen company Bic also confirmed the reason for the design choice in the FAQ section of the website.
'In addition to help prevent the pen from leaking, all our BIC caps comply with international safety standards that attempt to minimize the risk of children accidentally inhaling pen caps.
'Some of these vented caps, like that used for the BIC Cristal, has a little hole in the top to comply with the existing safety standards.'
A hundred people in the United States reportedly choke to death on the pen lids every year.
Fortunately, this figure has reduced ever since Bic and other rival pen companies added the hole design feature to pens around the world.
In 2007, a 13-year-old British boy tragically died after choking to death on a pen top.
Against all advice, the teenager, Ben Stirland, had been lounging on his chair and sucking his pen when he slipped off his seat and the lid became lodged in the back of his throat.
Despite frantic efforts by paramedics and hospital staff to free the plastic top from his throat he lost consciousness and died two days later.
A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents at the time, said that while instances of choking to death are rare, they normally only occur in very young or elderly people.
They added that the event of Ben's death was a tragic reminder for people to avoid sucking on pen lids.
While seemingly harmless, it would appear that pens have the potential to pose a number of surprising health risks.
Last year, a doctor was forced to issue an urgent warning after a DIY makeup hack that involved using a biro pen, went viral on social media.
Shelagh Kratz, from Philadelphia, racked up 10 million views on a clip posted to TikTok in which she revealed the makeup hack that involved using a ballpoint pen as eyeliner.
In the clip, she showed viewers her unique method, which involved simply gliding a Paper Mate ballpoint pen along her lash line to create the look of liner with a winged tip.
The influencer claimed her makeup looked 'the best' that day due to the ballpoint nib allowing for a 'super precise' application, and told viewers it was sweat-proof for a long night out.
It's a trick she learned when she was completely out of the eye product after she accidentally dropped her product down the toilet while on a trip to Albania - but doctors took a dim view.
In response to the video, optometrist Dr. Julian Prosia, issued a stark warning on the app, warning that it could pose a high risk of infection.
'Using pen ink on the eyelid is probably not a good idea, considering it's not meant for this cosmetic use, and it's extremely non-sterile,' he said.
'This could leave you at a higher risk for skin irritation and also infection if you do puncture the skin in the areas you're drawing over,' the doctor continued.
He later added that since eyelid skin is the 'thinnest skin in the body,' you could damage the eye even further due to the sharpness of the ballpoint pen.
'You could have puncturing wounds or you could have toxicity and inflammatory issues,' he said.
