# Paranoid parents and Halloween candy. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 27, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranoid-parents-and-halloween-candy/702694 "2014-10-27T22:13:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MsKaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@MsKaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsKaren)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranoid-parents-and-halloween-candy/702694/41 "2014-11-01T04:14:52Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I’d call that crazy. Couldn’t the dentist just give out free toothbrushes on Halloween, or something? Is candy that bad if your child doesn’t normally eat a lot, and brushes his teeth afterwards? > > What does the dentist do with all the candy? > > [snip] [http://www.halloweencandybuyback.com/about.html](http://www.halloweencandybuyback.com/about.html) The dentists have an organization that sends the candy to troops overseas. I guess they figure soldiers can handle the sweet stuff. When I was a kid round the end of the Dark Ages, we got homemade treats jncluding donuts, caramel apples, popcorn balls and brownies as well as lovely candy. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranoid-parents-and-halloween-candy/702694/42 "2014-11-01T04:25:18Z")
On Thursday’s episode of _The Goldbergs_, Mrs. Goldberg wouldn’t let the youngest son eat any of his Halloween candy until it had been X-rayed. They also referenced other urban legends like Pop Rocks mixed with cola will kill you, etc. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranoid-parents-and-halloween-candy/702694/43 "2014-11-01T04:51:02Z")
Well, if you dump the poprocks in your ear and then dump soda in your ear your brains will blow out! Then you might be dumb enough to eat the fast food hamburgers that are made of worms. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranoid-parents-and-halloween-candy/702694/44 "2014-11-01T14:38:20Z")
> [@Double\_Foolscap](#): > > It’s the drug dealers doing it! To get the kids hooked on the drugs! > > Everybody knows that the best way to get new clients is to give out products for free, disguised as something else, so nobody knows what they’ve been given or by whom. After another really cold Halloween, walking around for 2 hours, I have noticed a disappointing lack of Reese’s Percocet Cups in my kids’ haul. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranoid-parents-and-halloween-candy/702694/45 "2014-11-01T17:03:18Z")
> [@bizerta](#): > > My daughter had a 5th grade friend who has a mother that’s a bit paranoid. When the daughter goes trick-or-treating, daughter is not allowed to eat any of the candy for 48 hours. During those 48 hours, mom checked to see if any child in the neighborhood had been poisoned by their candy. Excellent plan. We should force everyone to adopt it for universal safety. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranoid-parents-and-halloween-candy/702694/46 "2014-11-01T17:34:40Z")
> [@KRC](#): > > Well, if you dump the poprocks in your ear and then dump soda in your ear your brains will blow out! > > Then you might be dumb enough to eat the fast food hamburgers that are made of worms. …or chew the Bubble Yum bubble gum that contains spider eggs. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranoid-parents-and-halloween-candy/702694/47 "2014-11-01T17:44:18Z")
Perhaps this year she’ll make her kid wait three weeks to make sure nobody in the neighborhood caught Ebola from their candy. ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranoid-parents-and-halloween-candy/702694/48 "2014-11-01T18:37:10Z")
> [@Edward\_The\_Head](#): > > Not only stupid, but really, really not true. I just came across [this article](http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2013/10/31/309911.htm) today that said they’ve never found ONE case of it happening. He’s been answering this question for 25 years and looked back more 25 years before that so 50 plus years of looking, none, not a one. It’s not taking longer then we thought, it’s taking forever. I knew someone personally that it happened to (work acquaitance) it is possible there were extenuating circumstances like where the article entions a parent poisoning a child. I don’t remember the names of the people involved in this case as it was 30 years but the mother told me that her child was given candy that had lye in it and he was in the hospital. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranoid-parents-and-halloween-candy/702694/49 "2014-11-01T19:29:38Z")
There are some stories out today about kids being hit by cars while trick-or-treating. Still rare, but actually happens. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranoid-parents-and-halloween-candy/702694/50 "2014-11-01T19:51:11Z")
> [@adhemar](#): > > I knew someone personally that it happened to (work acquaitance) it is possible there were extenuating circumstances like where the article entions a parent poisoning a child. I don’t remember the names of the people involved in this case as it was 30 years but the mother told me that her child was given candy that had lye in it and he was in the hospital. Sometimes food gets adulterated in the manufacturing process, and it could happen to Halloween candy as much as anything. If caustic agents (or maybe even soap) from washing down equipment didn’t get thoroughly rinsed, candy could get adulterated, and possibly end up registering as “lye” when a sick child’s blood was examined for poison. I suppose 30 years ago, when people still gave out homemade stuff occasionally, it was possible to get oven cleaner accidentally mixed in with something. I don’t know if oven cleaner still has lye-- I just remember it being notorious for having it when I was a kid. Unless the kid’s stomach was pumped, though, or he had more of the candy with him, there was really no way to be sure that the lye came from the candy, especially if it was a little kid. A kid could get into something in the house out of a parent’s view, and then eat candy within a parent’s view, get sick, and the candy get blamed. IIRC, that would be particularly true of lye, since I think you can get poisoned by inhaling it, or even through your skin (making it kind of a bad choice as a candy contaminant, because you don’t want something that will eat through the paper). If the police really suspected that a neighbor had deliberately put lye in candy, I think you would have remembered newspaper articles. Just because the mother speculated that the candy was poisoned doesn’t make it so. I’m not questioning that you are reporting the story as you got it, nor that the mother believed the kid had been poisoned by candy. I’m just saying she could well have been wrong. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranoid-parents-and-halloween-candy/702694/51 "2014-11-01T19:54:51Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > There are some stories out today about kids being hit by cars while trick-or-treating. Still rare, but actually happens. That’s actually probably the biggest danger, since a lot of kids have masks that limit their vision, and a lot of the kids are not used to being out after dark by themselves, plus, they’re excited, hyped up, and not being as careful as usual. Drivers need to be extra-cautious on Halloween. And don’t get your kid the [“Invisible Pedestrian” costume, even if he isn’t blind.](http://vimeo.com/77732818) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranoid-parents-and-halloween-candy/702694.md?page=2)