Hingham Kids Exposed to Irritant, Possibly from Halloween Candy

Two local Hingham children were exposed to an irritant which may have come from their Halloween candy.

Sunday night, the child’s parent told police that she had returned home from South Shore Hospital after taking her 5- and 9-year-old kids to the hospital to be examined. Members of the hospital’s emergency room staff told the parent that it appeared the children had been exposed to an irritant.

Earlier in the day, the children began trading and handling their Halloween candy. The children’s eyes instantly became swollen, red and glassy and began to sting, according to a press release from the Hingham Police Department. The parent applied water to the kids’ eyes which helped initially, but the symptoms returned after an hour.

The parent described the symptoms as similar to conjunctivitis

Police said the resident contacted several parents of children who had been trick-or-treating with her children and none showed any similar symptoms. The resident’s kids were trick-or-treating in the Liberty Pole neighborhood of South Hingham.

The resident said she had quickly examined the candy after they had finished trick-or-treating.

An officer removed the candy from the house at the request of the family. Police in Hingham have not received other complaints but the incident remains under investigation.