The dark side of Halloween...

2007-10-27 16:23

Washington - As some 36 million costumed American children prepare to take to the streets of towns and cities around the United States to trick or treat, officials issued stark warnings about the dark side of Halloween.

Horror stories about costumes that go up in flames as a child walks past a Jack O'Lantern, or of sweet buckets and drink mugs with excessive levels of lead, have been making the rounds, justifiably scaring the heebie-geebies out of parents.

Earlier this month, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recalled 63 000 green plastic Frankenstein cups because they contained scarily high levels of lead.

Then last week, 42 000 skull-shaped, candy-filled plastic buckets were pulled from shop shelves. And on Thursday, more than 140 000 plastic buckets with a green silhouette of a witch against a moon were recalled, again because of high lead levels.

Even with those hazards out of the way, the CPSC warned of other dangers associated with Halloween, in particular homemade costumes.

"Parents may not use flame-resistant material to make their children's costumes. We encourage them to use flame-resistant fabrics such as nylon or polyester and avoid billowy costumes that could easily catch fire when the child passes over a lit pumpkin," CPSC spokesperson Patty Davis told AFP.

Davis said that 120 000 "Creepy Capes" were recalled last year before Halloween, because they were a fire hazard.

But no costumes have been recalled this year - despite independent consumer product tests, aired on television, showing popular outfits such as pirate costumes going up in flames within minutes.

Alcohol a concern

Another fright came from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which warned that Halloween is dangerous not only because there are hordes of excited children running around outdoors during the evening rush hour, but also because it has "become an adult holiday, and alcohol consumption is high".

Doctor James Jeng, associate director of the burns unit at the Washington Hospital Centre, which treats adult patients, said drinking, open flames and the booming popularity of Halloween were pushing up the number of accidents, most of which are avoidable.

"Open flames are the kiss of death given all the flowing garments people are wearing," Jeng said.

"It's a common sense thing: you probably don't want to put on something that looks like tinder for a fire if there are open flames around and you probably don't want to get drunk if you're going to be around open flames," he said.

"Halloween in this country is becoming more and more of a big deal every year and that will translate into more injuries, which can be devastating."

- AFP