Ann Loughran doesn't remember feeling the plastic bullet that struck her head, putting her in hospital for a month and leaving her with a perforated eardrum, a steel plate in her head and on medication for epilepsy.
Since the Troubles began, plastic bullets, and the rubber bullets that preceded them, have killed 17 people and left hundreds with scars that equal or exceed those carried by Ann, who was 15 when she was struck by one.
Only four people killed by plastic bullets were judged by inquests or court proceedings to have been involved in disturbances. Eight of those killed were children.
Baton rounds (as the security forces prefer to call them) have been a feature of life in the North for 30 years. Now they are being updated.
The new baton round will be bullet-shaped (where its precursor was blunt), as well as lighter, faster and stiffer than the older model.
Users will aim through a more accurate optical sight, and the Northern Ireland Office claims the increased accuracy will mean fewer serious injuries.
However, the very same characteristics that are said to make the new "L21A1" round more accurate will also make it potentially more lethal. British government research has found that its higher power makes the round more likely to ricochet off the ground, with unpredictable results.
More importantly, if the new bullet-shaped round struck perpendicular to the skull, the report found there was an in creased risk that "the projectile will be retained in the head".
The round's speed would also mean that greater injuries to the brain were likely.
The report says the consequences of an impact to the head "will be more serious with the L21A1" but insists "this is offset by a reduced risk of striking the head, both of the intended target, and of bystanders".
Nationalist commentators and politicians were outraged by the report. The United Campaign Against Plastic Bullets, the leading pressure group, says the introduction of the new round "beggars belief".
Ms Clara Reilly, the group's chairwoman, said she had hoped that with the implementation of the Patten reforms on policing plastic bullets would eventually fade out.
"Unfortunately that's not the case, and we have to begin campaigning again very strongly on this issue," she said.
"Every major human rights group throughout the world has condemned plastic bullets; the European Parliament has called on three occasions for all European countries not to use them." No one has been killed by a plastic bullet since 1989. The regulations governing the use of baton rounds have been tightened up since then, with fewer RUC officers and soldiers permitted to fire them in more limited circumstances.
Ms Reilly dismisses these measures. "People are still being hit in the head and upper body, and it is just a miracle that more haven't been killed."
In 1996, 600 rounds were fired at protesters at Drumcree while 6,000 were fired during disturbances in Derry. The security forces have said they were under more sustained attack in Derry, but campaigners seize on the difference in numbers as evidence that the police and British army are more willing to use plastic bullets on nationalists.
"My concern is not only with the bullet," Ms Reilly said. "My concern is with the people firing them . . . There are no guarantees with these bullets."
As well as tighter regulations on firing, the number of rounds used has fallen significantly. Defending their use, the Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid, last week reminded reporters that the number fired had fallen "from 7,000 used a few years ago to 26 last year".
Although they will be kept in the armouries of British police forces, baton rounds have never been used in Britain, leading to accusations of double standards.
Dr Reid rejected this, saying 3,600 people had not been killed in any other part of the United Kingdom.
"I think people do understand in the real world that Northern Ireland is in a situation that's slightly different from parts of Glasgow or parts of London."