Which Halloween Health Hazards Are Factual? Which Are Just Scary Stories?

October 2015:

A Parent Asks
This year my 10-year-old son plans to go trick-or-treating with his friends without my supervision. What Halloween health hazards have been reported? What are some Halloween safety tips?

The Parent Coach Advises

Participating in Halloween is popular among children of all ages. In 2013, the estimated number of potential trick-or-treaters—children aged 5 to 14 years—in the United States was 41.2 million.1 The age at which it is safe for a child to trick-or-treat without supervision should be determined on a case-by-case basis based on the child’s maturity level and the maturity level of the other children in the group. A 2011 national survey found that 12% of children under the age of 5 trick-or-treated without adult chaperones, and only 35% of parents talked to their children annually about Halloween safety concerns.2

Reported Halloween Health Hazards

Pedestrian Injury. While many parents worry about strangers and candy that has been tampered with, the true danger during trick-or-treating is pedestrian injury. Halloween is ranked as the No. 1 day of the year for child-pedestrian accidents and fatalities. One analysis of data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System3 found that 115 child-pedestrian fatalities occurred on Halloween from 1990 to 2010. This average of 5.5 pediatric fatalities per year on Halloween is more than double the average of 2.6 pediatric fatalities on all other days of the year. The group at highest risk is 12- to 18-year-olds, who accounted for 32% of the fatalities, followed by the 5- to 8-year-old age group at 23%. The majority of these fatalities (60%) occurred during the peak trick-or-treating hours between 5 pm and 9 pm. The deadliest hour of trick-or-treating was from 6 pm to 7 pm. The drivers of the vehicles involved in one-third of the accidents were young adults between the ages of 15 and 25 years.

Tampered Candy. The fear of candy that has been tampered with is media-driven and is a common concern among parents nationwide. The results of a 2011 Harris Interactive poll showed that 24% of parents with children under the age of 12 years worry about poisoned treats.2 To date, five reported deaths have been linked to Halloween candy: two in the 1970s that eventually were attributed to the direct actions of family members rather than strangers, one when a child ingested heroin that a relative had stashed among the candy, and one when a father murdered his son with cyanide-laced Pixy Stix candy in order to collect on a life insurance policy. Other fatalities in 1978 and 1990 later were determined to be associated with preexisting cardiac disease and natural causes. The 2001 case of a 4-year-old in Vancouver, Canada, who died a day after ingesting trick-or-treat candy was widely reported in the news media. After police ordered children and families across the area to dispose of their Halloween candy, it eventually was determined that the cause of death was streptococcal infection unrelated to Halloween candy. ..Continued..