It’s come to this: a federal prosecutor is warning parents concerned about vaccinations that mailing a chicken pox lollipop is illegal.
“It’s a serious offense,” U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Jerry Martin told TPM. “It’s also extremely dangerous.”
The Associated Press reports that some parents have turned to a Facebook group — “Find a Pox Party in Your Area” — to connect with people and share the virus through lollipops or other objects that have an infected child’s saliva.
But a Nashville pediatrician says that the virus isn’t likely to survive shipment, unless it’s very fresh and sent very quickly. Martin said mailing a virus could amount to a federal offense, carrying a punishment of anywhere from one year to 20 years in prison. But as a health issue, Martin said it just seems reckless.
“You are dealing with complete strangers,” he said, “so you’re just going to receive a package that purports to be spit from another child and have your child ingest that? It’s not good common sense.”
David Boling, public information officer at the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Middle District of Tennessee, said that various local media reports brought the issue to authorities’ attention.
“Because of the nature of it, the U.S. Attorney thought it was important to make a statement,” Boling told TPM. But Boling did not comment on any investigations that “may or may not” be forthcoming.
Read more here.
(Photo from Keith A. Frith / Shutterstock.)
David Taintor
David Taintor is TPM’s News Editor. He contributes to TPM’s Livewire coverage, among other areas. David is from Chanhassen, Minnesota, where, yes, it gets very cold. Reach him at taintor [at] talkingpointsmemo.com
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