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Tainted Halloween Candy Is Not As Common As People Think

By Joel Hardy

10/25/2013

(KAIR)--Each year, parents are repeatedly warned to check their child's Halloween candy for poisons, razors, and other harmful objects. However, tainted Halloween candy is not as common as you may think. Dr. Joel Best is a Criminologist and Sociologist at the University of Delaware, and he says that he found a way to find out if this myth is true or not. He went to major newspapers such as the New York times and the Chicago Tribune and researched their Halloween coverage going all the way back to 1958. What he found was that there was not one single story about a child who had been killed or seriously hurt as a result of consuming tainted candy.

Best says that parents should be concerned about other hazards when they send their kids out to gather candy this October 31st. He says that it can be a very dangerous night. It is a time when you send millions of kids out into the dark, and they do get hit by cars, and they do get tangled up in their costumes, so dangerous candy is not what parents should be worried about.

Best suggests that if you are genuinely worried about the possibility of your kids receiving tainted candy, then you should either not let them go, or go with them. Other alternatives include church sponsored Halloween events and trick or treating sponsored by local malls and shopping centers.

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