Gentlemen, you are of course correct, a 1 cm deep laceration can be fatal if it is in the right spot.  My comment was, 
	Quote:
	
	
		| reliably cause lethal damage | 
	
  in other words lethal without having to hit one of those key spots. Kino, your comment about winter dress in the Philippines is also very pertinent. I have some experience of knife wounds having worked in ED departments, I recall treating 7 stabbings on one particularly busy Saturday night.
cheers
DrD