A study by Harvard University researcher John Graham in the Journal of the American Medical Association concludes that automobile air bags are just too dangerous for children. Graham found that children under 10 years of age in cars with dual air bags had a 34 percent increased risk of dying in frontal crashes.

Drivers or passengers are sometimes killed by air bags, usually in low-speed crashes they would have otherwise survived.

• Ten adults are saved for every child killed by air bags -- a benefit-risk ratio that Graham says is worse than for any other mandatory health measure in the U.S.

• Federal government statistics put the total airbag death toll at 49 children and 38 adults.

• Officials are investigating the deaths of at least another 16 children believed to have been air bag victims.

• Although the federal government at one point claimed the systems would cut auto fatalities by 40 percent, experts now say that they reduce chances for an accident being fatal to a belted driver by only 9 percent.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates that air bags cause injuries 42 percent of the time they deploy. While the injuries are usually minor, the more serious ones range from broken arms and ribs to torn heart valves and bruised lungs.

Research indicates that air bags mainly kill infants, children, short women and the elderly.

Since the federal government first proposed allowing car owners to disconnect the devices over a year ago, 34 adults and children have been killed by them. Most deaths are the result of severe injuries to the brain, spinal cord or heart.

Graham questions "whether it is appropriate to maintain a mandatory policy that causes a net increase in mortality risk to children."