URGENT GOVERNMENT WARNING: DON'T TOAST MARSHMALLOWS AT VOLCANOES You could be roasted alive! DON'T toast your marshmallows on the edge of volcanic craters. That timely warning comes from worried government officials who say American tourists are risking life and limb to toast marshmallows on the slopes of some of the world's most active volcanoes. Safety officials say three visitors from Kansas were severely burned while performing the traditional campfire ritual atop 10,990-foot Mount Etna in Sicily. "This is an active volcano and the marshmallows had scarcely turned brown before the toasters were showered with molten lava and red-hot rocks," says a State Department spokesman. "The two young men and a woman were rushed to a local hospital with third-degree burns. "Volcano Marshmallow Toasting, or VMT as it's known to aficionados, is a dangerous sport and President Bush is working with foreign leaders to discourage it." The sport, also known as "extreme marshmallow toasting," is most popular among young mountain climbers eager to outdo each other with shows of bravado. It was born when a pair of daredevils roasted marshmallows and wieners on top of Mount St. Helens in Washington state just hours before the volcano erupted on May 18, 1980. Since then, the trend has gradually spread. Now "marshmallow heads," as the thrill-seekers call themselves, often trot the globe, visiting faraway places like Indonesia, the Philippines and Guatemala, in search of volcanoes that are ready to blow. Enthusiast Marshall Griffin, who's writing a book tentatively titled The Zen of Volcano Marshmallow Toasting, downplays the dangers of the sport. "What makes the experience of eating a marshmallow memorable is the situation. That's why you remember doing it on your first stay at summer camp even many decades later," the 31-year-old New Zealander points out. "A marshmallow you know you risked your life to toast while taking a once-in-a-lifetime look into the gaping, red-hot maw of an active volcano tastes a lot better. The fumes give it a unique kick, of course, but it's mostly a psychological thing -- it just isn't going to taste like a marshmallow you toasted on your backyard grill." The trouble with books like Griffin's, experts say, is that ordinary families have been led to think the activity is safe. Now foolhardy yuppies bring kids as young as 5 and 6 with them on VMT jaunts, according to tourist officials in Hawaii. "People think this is a fun, safe, wholesome activity to do with their kids and it's absolutely not," says a volcanologist studying Hawaii's Mount Kilauea, a mecca for marshmallow heads. "Volcanic gases including sulfur can trigger serious respiratory problems -- even if you're lucky enough not to be there when the volcano explodes with the force of several atomic bombs." Published on: 11/12/2003