Mom Wendy Werkit of Nashville, TN is making headlines after getting caught selling chickenpox laced lollipops online, and advertising via Facebook. Lollipox anyone?
Wendy was selling the germy candy for $50 a pop (which Wendy says only covers the overnight shipping fee), advertising via Facebook, and accepting PayPal for payment. Local news station WSMV noticed the odd listings and interviewed Werkit. Here’s part of Werkit’s dialogue with reporter Kimberly Curth:
Kimberly Curth: “Have you been shipping it in the past? Contaminated bodily fluids to other states? ”
Wendy Werkit: “I’ve shipped suckers.”
Kimberly Curth: “okay, tell us about that those, lollipops, right?
Wendy Werkit: “Yes, they were sucked on by my kids.”
Kimberly Curth: “and why would you do that?
Wendy Werkit: “So that other peoples’ kids can get chicken pox . . .”
There are a number of parents who take their children to chickenpox parties purposefully so their child will contract the infection and develop an immunity for later in life. Still, children can still die from contracting chickenpox (especially if their immune system is already weakened by cancer treatments or if they have an immunodeficiency disorder,) and there’s been a safer alternative since 1995: a vaccine.
Werkit’s not the only person sending bodily fluid contaminated items to help spread Chicken Pox online, WSMV also found a Facebook page called “Find A Pox Party In Your Area,” that gave lots of tips not only about hosting “Pox Parties,” but also sending pox-laden items through the mail.
Besides any risks associated with the Chicken Pox itself, these items could transfer other germs which could cause more deadly infections that Chicken Pox.
Dr. Isaac Thomsen of Vanderbilt Children’s Hosptial expressing this very concern: “One of the other very concerning things about this is obviously an unregulated product that’s being bought and sold, we would have no idea what’s even in this and what those children are being exposed to.”
Would you buy a lollipox for your child?
