A Few Simple Tips to Keep Halloween from Playing Tricks on Your Health

Taking a few simple precautions on Halloween can help prevent your evening of treats from playing tricks on your health.

Face paint is the perfect accessory for lots of costumes, but could it be hazardous to your health? The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics recently released a report titled Pretty Scary: Could Halloween Face Paint Cause Lifelong Health Problems? The report detailed researchers' scary findings from testing 10 different face paint products that are widely available via the Internet or in craft or Halloween stores. All 10 face paints contained low levels of lead, and six out of 10 contained the potent allergens nickel, chromium and/or cobalt. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is recommending that face paints be avoided until safety standards are put into place.

Trick-or-treating can also be "tricky" for kids with food allergies. Food manufacturers are required to disclose, in plain English, the top eight food allergens (milk, egg, wheat, peanut, tree nut, soy, fish and shellfish) as the source of ingredients in their products, but there are no regulations regarding advisory labeling (such as "May Contain").

Studies have shown that consumers with food allergies are increasingly ignoring advisory labels or misunderstand the risks associated with terms such as "shared equipment," "shared facility" or "may contain."

The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network offers a safe trick-or-treating alternative for children with food allergies. Their Trick-or-Treat for Food Allergy encourages children to obtain special bags to use while trick-or-treating for coins instead of candy. The funds that are raised are put toward FAAN's food allergy education and and research programs.

From all of us here at ProMed, have a safe and fun Halloween!