Experts warn trick-or-treaters about cars and allergies

As Halloween approaches, tips often circulate advising parents to check their children’s Halloween candynot for a tasty one caramel center, but for potentially unsafe objects, such as razor blades.

But this year, experts are urging parents and caregivers to consider other more common Halloween dangers, such as car traffic and food allergies.

On average, children are more than twice as likely to be hit by a car while trick-or-treating than on any other day. Safe children worldwidean international non-profit organization dedicated to the safety of children, reports.

Here’s what adults and kids need to know before trick-or-treating on Thursday.

Stay safe when the sun goes down

To protect children from traffic incidents as they walk the streets on Halloween night, Safe Kids Worldwide provides the following tips:

Carry glow sticks or flashlights; use reflective tape/stickers on costumes and bags; and wear light colors so that small children can be seen by drivers.
Join children under 12 for trick-or-treating.
Remind children to cross the street at corners and crosswalks.
If you are driving on Halloween night, turn on your car headlights early in the day to see children ahead and drive more slowly in neighborhoods.

The non-profit organization also advised parents to consider what types of face coverings their children wear, as masks can obscure a child’s vision while walking.

Avoiding food allergies, on both sides

Food allergies can also be dangerous around the Halloween season.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advises parents who have children with allergies to check candy labels to ensure allergens are not present. Parents should also never allow children to eat home-made baked goods that they may have been given.

In general, children should also never accept or eat items that are not commercially packaged FDA advises. If parents are concerned about possible tampering, they should look for unusual appearances or discolorations of the packaging, small holes or tears in the packaging.

In an effort to help children navigate food allergies, Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) created Teal Pumpkin Project. The project encourages households to offer non-food items to trick-or-treaters so that allergens can be avoided altogether. FARE recommends items such as glow sticks, bubbles, bouncy balls, finger puppets, playing cards, stickers and other Halloween toys as options for non-food items.

Those wishing to participate should visit the FARE websitewhere they can add their address to the Teal Pumpkin Project Map and find information on how to let their neighbors know.

When did parents first become afraid of what was in their children’s Halloween candy?

Spreading fear about dangerous objects, such as razor blades and poisonin Halloween candy dates back to the 1960s.

In October 1964, a New York woman was arrested for handing out ant poison and dog treats to trick-or-treaters, US police said. History Channel. When questioned, the woman said she was just joking and handed out these items to children she thought were too old to participate in trick-or-treating. Fortunately, no children were poisoned.

Perhaps the most notable Halloween poisoning occurred in October 1974, when a Texas man named Ronald O’Bryan handed out “cyanide-laced pixie sticks” to five trick-or-treaters, including his own son, according to the History Channel. Only O’Bryan’s son ate the candy and he died shortly afterwards.

No one saw O’Bryan stringing the fairy sticks, but investigators discovered he had taken out a life insurance policy on his children. According to the American newspaper The Guardian, he was convicted of murder in 1984 and executed by lethal injection History Channel.

University of Delaware sociology professor Joel Best has studied these cases of dangerous objects in Halloween candy, which he calls “Halloween Sadism,” for decades. In 1985 he was co-author “The Razor Blade in the Apple: The Social Construction of Urban Legends,” a research article that largely discusses the history of dangerous treats given to children on Halloween.

Continuing his research on this topic, Best said Between 1959 and 2012, 85 incidents of “Halloween Sadism” were reported in the United States. his website.

A recent example occurred in 2015, when an Ohio child found a disposable razor blade in a Snickers candy bar he received while trick-or-treating, as previously mentioned. USA TODAY reporting. Fortunately, the child and others in the area were not injured.

Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretalcross. Story idea? Email her at [email protected].