Swapping chicken pox-infected lollipops illegal

[webeagle12]

WTF :s

NASHVILLE (Reuters) - A federal prosecutor is warning parents against trading chicken pox-laced lollipops by mail in what authorities describe as misguided attempts to expose their children to the virus to build immunity later in life.

The warning came after media reports surfaced about a multi-state ring of parents, wary of vaccinations that prevent the disease, who were swapping lollipops licked by a sick child in a modern day incarnation of a chicken pox party.

In those so-called parties, parents purposely put sick children together with healthy children in order to spread the ailment and build immunity without having the children vaccinated. This new form of party shares the disease anonymously and long-distance.

"Sending a virus or disease through the U.S. mail (and private carriers) is illegal. It doesn't matter if it crosses state lines," said David Boling, public information officer for the Attorney in Nashville.

"Also, it is against federal law to adulterate or tamper with consumer products, such as candy."

Boling said the issue came to light after a television "news report out of Phoenix that involved a Nashville woman that was shipping and receiving adulterated products."

Sending chicken pox-infected lollipops, swabs or vials of saliva to parents who want to infect their children and avoid vaccinations is not only illegal, it can be lethal, said Dr. Tim Jones, Tennessee's state epidemiologist.

"They are putting at risk the people around them," said Jones, commenting on a controversy that has sparked anger in both the medical and legal communities.

An epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta agrees. "It's an incredibly bad idea for a variety of reasons," said Dr. Rafael Harpaz, of the CDC's Division of Viral Diseases.

The transport and sale of contaminated items has been linked to a Facebook group called "Find a Pox Party in Your Area," which helps people anonymously arrange for the swapping and sale of contaminated items.

"There are a substantial number of people involved in it," Boling said, referring to the ring.

Nashville-based U.S. Attorney Jerry Martin has been outspoken on the matter because he wants to warn "folks that want to continue to engage in this kind of activity that they are certainly exposing themselves to criminal prosecution," said Boling, who would "neither confirm (nor) deny existence of an investigation."

POX PARTIES

Jones said old-fashioned "pox parties" were bad enough, but shipping items to infect children "is utterly inexcusable. In this case, these are people who are buying and selling infected or contaminated body fluids from complete strangers."

"There are a bunch of things wrong with this," he said, adding that parents could also be inadvertently giving their children items contaminated with influenza or hepatitis, in addition to chicken pox.

CDC's Harpaz said one major issue is that giving children the chicken pox instead of a vaccine could be a fatal mistake.

"Before the vaccine was licensed, there were in the order of 100 kids (in the U.S.) who died of chicken pox per year. Now there are very few among vaccinated children... It's kind of like playing Russian roulette with your child."

In addition to exposing children to chicken pox, those who have it are more susceptible to getting shingles later in life than are vaccinated children, Harpaz said.

"The idea that it's safer to give your kid the infection than it is to immunize them is just wrong, completely misguided and puts your child at unnecessary risk," said Tennessee epidemiologist Jones.

First of all, he said, the vaccine is safe, while those who give the children the disease "are putting at risk people around them. There may be people they could infect that don't have a choice, who can't take the vaccine."

The CDC's Harpaz said symptoms of chicken pox aren't noticeable for "10 days to 21 days when you are exposed." But that doesn't mean children aren't contagious.

Children taking chemotherapy or other medications that affect the immune system are among those who can't take the vaccine and would be at risk if exposed to infected children.

"You could infect them and kill them," said Jones. "That's murder."

http://news.yahoo.com/swapping-chicken-pox-infected-lollipops-illegal-200633795.html

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

This is child abuse and is a dumb thing to do.

[c3ntury]

Moronic.

[jakem1]

I'm not sure if it's child abuse and it seems like the ban on posting the virus through the mail is (quite rightly) designed to protect adults who may not be immune.

By way of comparison, the vaccine isn't routinely administered to children here in the UK because it's not considered necessary. Most children contract the virus naturally (or through the sort of "parties" mentioned above) and it's not that big a deal. Here's the official guidance:

http://www.nhs.uk/chq/pages/1032.aspx?categoryid=62&subcategoryid=63

Although I hope the parents involved had the best of intentions, it does seem stupid to be deliberately sending viruses in the mail.

[Detection]

I`m sure people over here (UK) have chicken pox parties - not child abuse at all, but if your child does not catch it when they are young, and catch it in adult life, it can be extremely dangerous to them.

So exposing them early on gets it out of the way - but letting your kid suck a lollipop you got in the mail that some other kid(s) had already been slavering all over is pretty rank

[FloatingFatMan]

Yeah, and what if what they're infecting their kids with isn't pox, but something far far worse?

This is base stupidity of the worst kind.

[bjoswald]

That's disgusting and should've been illegal anyway.

[Seizure1990]

All thanks to one or two stupid reports that "prove" vaccinations are bad for your child, and have a chance of causing autism.

Since then, no matter how many reports have come out that completely dismantle the previous ones, droves of retarded, paranoid parents subject their kids to "chicken pox parties" and stuff like this, so that they don't have to get the vaccine.

Yay for human stupidity.

[team_NOOB]

Who the f*ck thinks of this crap in the first place but then to make it worse has the balls to sell the idea to a bunch of morons?

[Sir Topham Hatt]

Huh?

You guys are kidding me right?

I had chicken pox when I was a kid, hell millions of people have been having pox-parties for decades in the UK and I suspect the majority are for the better now. While I agree posting lollies is a bad way to do it, exposing children to the virus when they are young (when most kids get it anyway!) could very well save their life in the future.

Do you guys even know how dangerous chicken-pox is for adults?

If they have a vaccine these days then that is great no need to infect kids with pox-parties. I am sure when I was a id, the only vaccination was to get the infection. However, reports will always find a link. If you look at data hard enough, you can find a link with anything.

This is a great example of the state telling people how to run their lives and how to parent properly. The best parenting advice comes from your own parents.

Let's look at this another way... kids in the 1900's were fairly good. Kids in 2000 aren't that great.

The more governments stick their noses in, the worse society gets. Sometimes they get it right, sometimes... not quite so.

This will still go on regardless of what the law is, so now makes the government look like they have little power.

Please Note: I am from the UK. Post number 4 explains how our culture is.

[monkey13]

How dare you Mr Spoon don't you know that making kids sick is bad. How dare you advocate the harming of our little kiddiewinks.

Even if their immune system can deal with it much better and getting it as an adult could leave you scarred and infertile and dead and other consequences kids aren't at risk of.

How dare you use a reasoned argument like this. Won't someone please think of the children and their poor little fevered brows.

All the parents who protect Junior will be in for a shock. When the kids grow up they can either get is adults and end up infertile or dead. Alternatively they may even have kids, catch it off them and then end up dead. Leaving their grandchildren parent less.

Yes much better than making a few kids sick.

All thanks to one or two stupid reports that "prove" vaccinations are bad for your child, and have a chance of causing autism.

Since then, no matter how many reports have come out that completely dismantle the previous ones, droves of retarded, paranoid parents subject their kids to "chicken pox parties" and stuff like this, so that they don't have to get the vaccine.

Yay for human stupidity.

Oh and vaccines can be bad for anyone. Every government puts aside money to cover vaccine damage claims (read up on this to find out more). However the risk of this is much, much, much less than the risks from the disease in question. Otherwise why bother to vaccinate. Unfortunately stupid parents use this kind of thing (and the whole autism stuff) as an argument against vaccinations as a whole.

However they will all soon die from diseases everyone else is vaccinated against. So it will all work out.

[Scott Hellewell]

I`m sure people over here (UK) have chicken pox parties - not child abuse at all, but if your child does not catch it when they are young, and catch it in adult life, it can be extremely dangerous to them.

So exposing them early on gets it out of the way - but letting your kid suck a lollipop you got in the mail that some other kid(s) had already been slavering all over is pretty rank

The problem is that there is really no reason to not get the vacination.

[Wolfbane]

The reaction will be hilarious if someone accidentally gets HIV or a similarly dangerous disease off one of these anonymously donated diseased lolipops.

[DocM]

Giving kids chicken pox is NOT a good idea. Besides the illness itself they can end up with scarring, a small percentage die, and later in life up to 20% can develop a painful disorder called shingles - a reactivation of the virus which has been hiding in the nervous system. Getting the vaccine is a far better way to go.

[Sir Topham Hatt]

You only get tiny scars if you pop or burst the pox :p

I have a few on my body but they aren't really noticable.

Strange how different our cultures are. I'm starting to see it more and more these days what with the cash machine post and now this.