Chicken Pox Lollipops Sent In The Mail (VIDEO)

These lollipops sound like less than a treat.

KPHO in Phoenix reports that a Facebook group is offering parents the opportunity to receive lollipops in the mail that have allegedly been infected with chicken pox. The parents seeking these disease-riden sweets want their children to get chicken pox when they're young so they can become immune to the disease and avoid getting it later in life.

KPHO also found parents looking for people to send measles, mumps and rubella.

KJ Dell'Antonia at Slate was dumbfounded:

"Let's try this sentence on for size: 'I just gave my kid a pre-licked lollipop sent to me by a stranger I met on the Internet!'"

HuffPost Parents blogger and author Hayley Krischer wrote that "the stupidity of passing infected chicken pox lollipops through the mail is terrifying."

Dr. Wilbert Mason, a professor of clinical pediatrics at USC's Keck School of Medicine, told the Los Angeles Times that the strategy of sending infected lollipops is unlikely to work. The chicken pox virus requires cells to live in and there probably wouldn't be enough of them on a licked lollipop, Mason explains.

But more dangerous diseases like hepatitis B, group A strep, and staph germs might survive a trip in the mail, Mason speculates.

Jerry Martin, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, confirmed to the AP that sending diseased treats in the mail is illegal.

Comments

[ZMP]

06:18 PM on 11/11/2011

Maybe they have eColi too as a bonus. Or HIV. It sure takes the sweet out of the pop and adds the SUCKER back bigtime.

[DmKrispin]

09:52 PM on 11/09/2011

People ignorantly and negligently refuse the varicella vaccine for their children, refusing them the protection that this safe, proven vaccine offers ... but they'll pay for a (supposedly) diseased, pre-licked food item from a stranger in an attempt to infect their kids ON PURPOSE????

*headdesk*

[VanTroi]

12:41 AM on 11/11/2011

The Varicella vaccine is covered under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Which means it has the potential to cause injury or death.
http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/faq.html

http://www.vaccineinjuryhelpcenter.com/varicella-vaccine-related-nerve-damage/
The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), the federal organization established by Congress in 1986 to document adverse reactions to vaccines, received nearly 10,000 reports involving the chickenpox vaccine between the months of March 1995 and December 1999, a period of less than five years. The FDA and CDC studied 6,574 of these reports — those filed between March 17, 1995 and July 25, 1998. Adverse events were occurring at a rate of 67.5 per 100,000 doses sold (note, this is not doses administered). Many of these reported adverse effects involved nerve damage.

[Dyson]

05:45 PM on 11/11/2011

VAERS is a subjective surveillance system where any supposed reaction, whether due to the vaccine of not, can be reported. Therefore it is common to see "side effects" such as death in a MVA recorded after vaccination, or suicide.

Vaccine side effect rates are dwarfed by the complications that are experienced by the diseases themselves. For instance, prevaccine over 100 people died from chickenpox each year, and 500 died from measles. Now tell us if you can how many deaths have been verifiably attributed to chickenpox vaccine, not in one year, but ever.
Similar for MMR.

The fact that rare side effects from vaccines are readily compensated is a good thing.

[mrkoe]

09:51 PM on 11/09/2011

Okay..... The crazy anti-vaccine people DON'T TRUST VACCINES, but they DO TRUST DISEASED LOLLIPOPS FROM STRANGERS purchased via an internet site....... Maybe they should do some research about the world before vaccines and how DANGEROUS life was and how many MILLIONS and MILLIONS of babies, children and adults died or were permanently maimed from these diseases.

[VanTroi]

12:41 AM on 11/11/2011

Millions and millions of people dont die form chicken pox, never did and never will. It has a very low rate for death or injury. On the other hand the Varicella vaccine has a rate of 67.5 per 100,000 for adverse events.

[mrkoe]

09:32 AM on 11/11/2011

I was including vaccines overall, as it was mentioned in the article that Chicken Pox was not the only "lollipop" offered. You should probably also check for more accurate facts on the history of the world before vaccines. I have some knowledge regarding this subject as my God child was exposed to Chicken Pox as an infant from a child whose parents chose not to vaccinate their child and infected my God daughter leaving her mentally handicapped as well as prone to several seizures a week. She and her parents are paying a HEAVY price for someone else's "crusade".

[Dyson]

05:51 PM on 11/11/2011

Millions die from measles. Millions die from Rotavirus.
Tens of thousands die from chickenpox (on a global basis) and in the US over a hundred have died each year.

Varicella vaccine has a side effect rate of one per 1500 vaccinations. These side effects mainly consist of a sore arm or short fever. Varicella on the other hand can be a serious illness, and regularly hospitalized thousands of kids every year prevaccine, and killed hundreds. In the 17 years or so the vaccine has been in use, it has saved the lives of around 1500 US kids, and prevented thousands of cases of brain damage from varicella encephalitis and tens of thousands of cases of pneumonia.

[honestthought]

04:54 PM on 11/09/2011

Never accept candy FROM a stranger!

[honestthought]

04:53 PM on 11/09/2011

Another reason NOT to send your child Trick or Treating or door to door. Never accept candy from a strager, should apply to adults, also. Very disturbing, especially since this woman who was interviewed was so nonchalant and unaware of what harm she could cause others, and oblivious to the fraud she was perpetrating.

[only1nik]

10:35 AM on 11/09/2011

wow....just wow!

[mrsvonii]

09:54 AM on 11/09/2011

Is VanTroi the one selling the lolipops?

[VanTroi]

12:43 AM on 11/11/2011

I never stated that I believe the pops would even work or condone sending such things through the mail. Do not misquote me or make things up.

[Dyson]

05:53 PM on 11/11/2011

She is certainly selling something, FUD I'd say.

[fmd]

09:45 AM on 11/09/2011

Could the virus survive the trip in the mail? I bet it doesn't. A fool and his money...

[VanTroi]

12:46 AM on 11/11/2011

Highly unlikely

[anakaterina1784]

08:21 AM on 11/09/2011

These people should be prosecuted for child abuse because of 1. how stupid they are and 2. they actually want to cause harm to their child.

[honestthought]

04:55 PM on 11/09/2011

Absolutely, and fraud, and practincing medicine without a license, and interstate commerce, etc etc......Too bad "stupidity" cannot be prosecueted

[BeautifulWorld]

06:37 PM on 11/12/2011

And we can do the same to the medical community who harm people everyday? These people were attempting to PROTECT their children with the only known guaranteed protection for later in life; by contracting chicken pox a children. Do you have any personal experience with chicken pox? Two of my kids had it before the vaccine came out, thank God, and you could hardly tell they had anything at all. I've never had it unless it was so incredibly mild that there were zero expressed symptoms. Chicken pox is usually no big deal at all.

[honestthought]

02:57 PM on 11/16/2011

I had Chix pox. my child had chix pox before the vaccine. I also had measles, German and Hard Red as they are known. Trust me I was very sick, and my sister should have be hospitalized....However, we did survive.

The medical community that does do harm ABSOLUTELY needs to be prosecuted, however, the medical team that saves your life, and the lives of millions needs to be recognized as doing a great job. if not an amazing job..

[Endogenous Light Nexus]

06:54 AM on 11/09/2011

Chicken pox is caused by a type of herpes virus. It never leaves your body once infected, but your immune system does usually knock it down so that it retreats and hides somewhere. In later life chicken pox can reemerge as another unpleasant disease called shingles. With a vaccine available nobody should be deliberately exposing their kids.

[MIMom]

06:29 AM on 11/09/2011

That is seriously messed up. I'm glad I vax.

[VanTroi]

03:01 AM on 11/09/2011

http://vimeo.com/31036452

[VanTroi]

02:47 AM on 11/09/2011

None of those viruses would survive the trip through the mail.

[Dyson]

05:55 PM on 11/11/2011

That isn't the point.

[BeautifulWorld]

05:08 PM on 11/12/2011

Do you know what the point is? It's that we're talking about their kids and not yours.

[Kendra Kroll]

11:45 PM on 11/08/2011

this has to be one of the stupidest things I've ever heard

[honestthought]

05:28 PM on 11/09/2011

The ones who bought these contaminated candies are even more stupid, or evil/ What parent knowing would want their child to be sick.

[jemteku]

09:36 PM on 11/08/2011

People are intentionally trying to make their children sick so they can be immunized? WEIRD.

[VanTroi]

02:48 AM on 11/09/2011

Yes because the vaccine doesn't work well, kids still get chicken pox, and it wears off. Natural immunity never wears off.

[jemteku]

02:37 PM on 11/09/2011

You have a valid point. That's a cute kid in your icon. If that baby is yours, you are a very lucky mommy to have such an adorable little baby. :o)

[tooncesrocks]

08:19 AM on 11/10/2011

some points of correction. vaccines don't "wear off"... but the # of immune cells in your body that respond to the infectious agent does go down with time, and to be safe you should get a booster (that is if you believe that being healthy is a good thing).

the same process happens for people infected "naturally"