Halloween Dangers

[talon]

The candy's pretty safe. In 30 years of X-Raying for razor blades and all the rumors of candy poisoning, only 2 confirmed cases of poison candy are documented - and those were done by family members hoping the Halloween scare would shield them. It didn't, of course.

The biggest danger Halloween candy poses is that the kids will eat too much too fast and suffer tummy aches from it - or perhaps allergy reactions. Parents should screen the candy to remove any with known allergens (if your child has celiac's disease, is lactose intolerant, has a soy or nut allergy, for example), but there's no need to worry about razor blades in the caramel apples or poison in the Peanut Butter Kisses.

No, the true danger of Halloween is traffic. More children are hit by cars on Halloween than any other time of the year. I firmly believe this is because parents don't let their children walk places anymore and so haven't taught the children safe street crossing behavior. Add in the limited vision from masks, costumes so long the child trips, shoes that fall off at the wrong time, and the fact that many parents drive their children to unfamiliar "rich" neighborhoods in order to score better candy (now there's an urban legend for you!), and the risk increases dramatically. Parents need to accompany their children, especially if they don't normally let the children walk around the neighborhood on their own or they've carted their kids to a strange neighborhood.

Other real dangers for Halloween include allergic reactions to the make-up and costume materials or injuries from the costumes. Allergic reactions are most commonly rashes and hives - miserable enough but hardly scary. No, the scare comes from burns caused by flammable costumes getting too close to those candle lanterns and candle-lit carved pumpkins, or from eye injuries caused by people handing out pencils, or kids tripping on curbs and breaking arms or ankles, twisted ankles from uneven lawns, falls from porch steps, getting beaten by older kids, or attacked by stray or wild animals.

There are lots of reasons to be cautious and careful at Halloween, but the candy? That's safe.