Prosecutor to parents: Mailing chickenpox illegal

[Warren Stupidity]

Source: AP

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Parents fearful of vaccinations are being warned by a federal prosecutor that making a deal with a stranger who promises to mail them lollipops licked by children with chickenpox isn't just a bad idea, it's against the law.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hZPTOwdahjYmdW-P5rzeiq5ErHww?docId=f79eb95ce8434458b4175b83c99aa78d

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I give up. We may be the stupidest people on the planet. Seriously, the war is over and stupid won.

[Ship of Fools]

1. jeebus.

[rpannier]

2. WTF?

Yep. We are
Devolution is happening in our time

[midnight]

3. K&R

[Atman]

4. Sorry, I understand why someone could think was okay...

...if they thought they were taking precautions to seal them. Is it dumb? Yeah. But I'm not willing to go so far as chalking this up to Americans' vast stupidity. Many parents WANT their kids to get chicken pox. The younger they get it, the less severe it tends to be and the less disruption it will cause, as the child develops immunity before being thrown into the school environment, where the parent has no idea when the child will be exposed. When my kids were in grade school, parents would arrange play dates for their kids with kids who had broken out with chicken pox. So, while mailing lollipops isnt the smartest idea, it's a bit much to say it's because of the decline of society.

[ejpoeta]

5. well it's stupid, but when i was a kid, they would get all the kids together and purposely

expose them to chicken pox via a child who had it so they would all get it at once and be done with it. I had chicken pox when I was a kid. Not sure if it was that method or not. My oldest sister is the only one who never had it. I can see trying to expose your kid so they have it and get it over with, but chicken pox lollipops? Uh, not the best idea. I have had my kids vaccinated and they seem fine.... except for the talking back and not cleaning up after themselves... somehow I don't think the vaccinations are to blame for that.

[LeftishBrit]

6. Good to know. I wouldn't have thought you'd *need* a law against that, but it seems that there's

nothing so idiotic that you won't find someone prepared to do it!

Apart from the dangers to your own kids, I should think this could be a danger to postal workers and anyone else who comes in contact with the parcel.

[Atman]

9. There isn't "danger" to the kids...it is intentional.

Read my other post above, and the response to it. Parents WANT their children exposed. Most people have either had chicken pox as children and are therefore immune now, or they've been vaccinated. The real danger is to that somewhat rare adult male who has not ever had it or been vaccinated. Chicken pox in adult men can be quite serious.

[14thColony]

10. But it appears to be doomed to failure anyway

According to a pediatric infectious diseases specialist quoted in the article chickenpox is primarily spread via inhalation, not via saliva. So this method will have a low chance of reaching the desired outcome, but an unknown chance of exposing the child to something unintended that IS able to spread via saliva.

[Atman]

11. No argument there.

Who knows what other disease the little rug rat's parent are mailing you -- if the viruses even survive the mailing. Look, as I stated, I think it's a generally dumb idea, but hardly evidence of the fall of America, as some here are saying.

[14thColony]

14. You're right and I agree

that it's hyperbole to point to this one thing (dumb as it is) as being "the thing."

Although when taken together with a whole lot of other data, it does seem to indicate a general regression in the overall American intellect.

[surrealAmerican]

13. There's a sucker born every minute.

I guess it's possible that the people mailing the lollypops don't know how chickenpox is spread, but they might just be trying to take advantage of the ignorant.

[Warren Stupidity]

18. There isn't a danger to kids? Really?

So you would allow your child to eat a used lolly-pop? Seriously? No risk there at all?

[beac]

22. What about the "danger" that some sicko mails them a lollipop with

poison instead of chicken pox? The OP did says this was a deal with "strangers."

And what about all the adult males who could come in contact with the parcel in the mailing process?

[LeftishBrit]

26. But getting saliva in an envelope from a total stranger?

Who knows what other germs may be in that saliva? Or that some unscrupulous person may not have laced it with some poisonous substance?

And what about the adult postman, or male visitor to the house, who also gets exposed to the germs (by the way, I think chickenpox is bad for adult females too; it's mumps that are particularly undesirable for a man).

When I was a young child, there was no vaccination against rubella, and, as it is relatively mild in most children but a big danger to pregnant women, little girls were often allowed or encouraged to play with friends with the illness. But I don't think ANYONE even then would have dreamt of sending or getting infected material by post!

[dipsydoodle]

7. Sounds fowl to me

.

[Heywood J]

8. Didn't you know that top bio-labs use only the best sandwich bags

to transport their germs and viruses?

Link with more info:: http://www.wsmv.com/story/15954675/mail-order-diseases

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. They use to have chicken pox parties.

Actually put kids together with sick kids in order to contaminate them.

[trof]

15. I remember that.

"Hi, Marge. Johnny has the chicken pox. Send your kids over."
Back then (no vaccine) it was not a question of 'if' you'd get 'em, it was 'when'.
Might as well get it over with.
I had them.
Now at risk for shingles.
:-(

[Lars39]

20. There's a shingles vaccination now.

I'm going to get that the nano second I'm eligible.

[trof]

25. It's not easy to find or get, at least not in my area.

It's about $250 a shot.
Medicare MAY cover part of the cost.
If you have a drug plan, it may or may not cover part or any of the cost.

We have to get the prescription from our doctor, then take it to a pharmacy. None of our local pharmacies stock it, so they have to order it. We put our request in 3 weeks ago and still haven't heard anything.

The vaccine has to be refrigerated, so you'd better show up with an ice chest when you do get it.
The druggist won't give the shot, so back to the doc to get stuck.
bother
:eyes:

[MedicalAdmin]

16. This Is rank hyperbole.

Does the OP really see this as a sign of the apocalypse or whether "the sky is falling" they are singing. It's stupid and it's dangerous ( possibly or minimal risk during mailing, but still a bad idea), but it's hardly all that.

[Warren Stupidity]

17. I see it as symptomatic of a wider problem.

The anti-vac nonsense, which this is a direct consequence of, is all part of the War on Reason and Science, and they are winning that war.

But yes how astute of you to notice that my comment was over the top. Gosh I hadn't considered that.

[The Backlash Cometh]

24. Well, here's the thing about the lollipop stick.

How can you be so sure that the donor doesn't have another opportunistic illness tagging along with the chicken pox germs?

[meow2u3]

19. What if an adult who never had chickenpox gets hold of the lollipops?

Chickenpox can put an adult in the hospital, if not kill him or her.

I know because I contracted a "mild" case of it when I was 29! I was sick in bed for two weeks with chickenpox. I was very lucky I survived.

[Javaman]

21. Yeah, the "old pox parties", they used be called, "kindergarten".

I was six months old when I got them back in 1964. I had one of the worst cases ever recorded on long island. It's still a miracle wasn't blinded or had gone deaf. How did I get them? From my older brother. He got it from a kid in his second grade class. He had a mild case, I got the lion share.

And last time I checked, chicken pox is spread via airborne and touching the exposed pox. Sucking on a germ covered lolli-pop probably will get you some other kind of sick, not the pox kind.

news flash, people are stupid.

Here are some basic facts...

http://www.dhpe.org/infect/chicken.html

[Odin2005]

23. The fact that we need a law to keep people from doing this idiocy blows my mind.

The anti-vaxers are full-on stupid.