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Halloween: Danger! Danger!

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Fall is here! And sure as the end to daylight saving time come warnings of dire hazards in releases peppered with assurances that you can have a ‘ghoulish good time, etc.,’ if you do things right.

Those zany decorative contact lenses that some people don for Halloween: They can graze your eyes, even blind you, the FDA warns.

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That candy: It has sugar in it, and too much sugar can make you fat.

‘Park Avenue Diet’ author Dr. Stuart Fischer ‘wants to remind parents that Halloween can actually be a great time to teach kids about good nutrition, while still keeping the holiday fun for everyone,’ perhaps by telling them, as the release continues, that ‘obesity causes 40 different illnesses in nine organ systems.’ Fun indeed! What better time than Halloween?

Among Fischer’s tips: Ditch the ice cream at the Halloween party and give the kids fruit, ‘yummy bits of granola, raisins or fresh-baked pumpkin seeds’ as well as antioxidant- and vitamin- packed greens bars. Formulated from ‘organically grown superfoods, whey protein, high energy herbal extracts and a little agave nectar’ they are 240 calories per 2-ounce bar, according to this website. (Classic Milky Way bar: 260 calories in a 2-ounce bar.)

We haven’t yet received any suggestion that you give kids toothbrushes when they come to your door this Halloween night, but it is just a matter of time.

Accidents do happen, and the streets and costumes are dark, so check out a safety video featuring Dr. Tony Woodward, chief of emergency medicine at Seattle Children’s Hospital.

And if you want to ditch your kids’ excess candy after a day or so of gorging, here’s one local place you can do a trade: Torrance Dental Arts will give kids gifts and glowing toothbrushes in exchange for candy, which ‘must be unopened. Please no bites. It will then be shipped to troops overseas.’ The event takes place Nov. 2 between 2 and 5 p.m. They’re at 23326 Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 190, Torrance, Calif.

-- Rosie Mestel

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