Editorial: Halloween’s scariest threats? Not razor blades or ‘rainbow’ fentanyl, but rumors and lies
FAMILIES, some of them, believe that vampires and magic can be avoided by using a spray or a bottle that “blasts the demons away.” Some communities have even named their annual Halloween festivities, in a nod to the scare tactics of urban legends.
For example, in the suburb of New Milford, NJ, where I grew up, people have traditionally used a can of paint to scare away witches. While the original intent might have been to cleanse the atmosphere with a dose of magical fear, the spray and can have just as much potential to produce as dangerous chemicals.
In fact, some of the chemicals used in these scare tactics could be very harmful to people’s health.
The most disturbing part of this story is the possibility that these chemicals could be hidden in a bottle with a funny name. The name of many paint, insect spray, and cleaning agents can be seen easily online. So what if the spray contains a chemical which may cause cancer, infertility, birth defects, or some other disease?
Some chemical companies have started to call their products, even chemicals that are not supposed to be in the products, “natural aromas.” What if someone says that their spray of a chemical that you don’t want in your body as a human being can be “natural aromas” and they’re completely telling you to take a pill that you can’t even get in the US?
The list of these scary claims and scary chemicals looks a lot like one that is in a comic book or a game, and you can buy or download the “pulp” version of these things on the internet. The best way to avoid them is to make sure that you know what you are buying. You don’t want to be caught being tricked by the scare tactics of a friend or a salesperson.
One scare tactic that many people don’t consider is the fear of germs. Even though we know that germs can cause diseases and infections, it is hard for us to grasp the concept that there could be a “killer” germ in our food, or that there could be a germ on the skin and it could cause a disease.
It is so easy to buy or download a “pulp” version of the germs that can cause these diseases and infections. “All you have to do