Just when you thought ghosts and goblins were your worst worries on Halloween, now there is news that there may be other dangers lurking in the shadows on an evening that should be best known for candy, trick or treating, and costumes.
The Food and Drug Administration is warning parents to be very careful when selecting a face paint for children to use. While a painted mask, as opposed to an actual mask, can make it easier for the wearer to see through, new findings indicate that some of the more popular face paints are made with toxins that are bad for the health and may even cause serious injuries.
According to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, the 10 face paints it examined all tested positive for lead. Nickel, chromium, and cobalt were found in several of the paints.
If you’ll recall from the massive toy recalls that the Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued over the last few years over products containing excessive levels of lead, lead poisoning is especially bad for kids. Exposure to lead can cause learning disabilities, aggressive behavior, impaired physical and neurological growth, and brain damage.
Product manufacturers can be held liable if someone gets hurt, sick, or dies because a product was defective, dangerous, or toxic. An experienced Boston products liability law firm can help you with your case.
Scary face paint isn’t the only horror kids and parents have to worry about when trick or treating. Safe Kids USA reports that children are over two times as likely to die in a pedestrian accident on Halloween than they are on any other night. Why, you ask?
• Trick or treating runs into the night, when pedestrians, especially child pedestrians, are harder for motorists to see. Dark costumes and children’s generally smaller stature doesn’t help for driver visibility.
• The excitement of rushing from one house to the next for more candy can make a child careless, causing him or her to cross the street without looking or waiting to arrive at a pedestrian crosswalk.
• Adults like Halloween too. Some party participants may opt to get drunk and then drive.
• The usual careless or distracted driving habits: Drunk driving, speeding, failure to obey stop lights or traffic signs, texting while driving, cell phone use, etc.
If you or child was hurt in a Boston pedestrian accident, you may have grounds for a Boston injury case.
Warning: Halloween Face Paint Can Be Scary, The Daily Green, October 19, 2009
Real horror of Halloween: Pedestrian deaths, USA Today, October 26, 2009
Related Web Resources:
US Food and Drug Administration