Reaction to candy warning mixed in Vegas

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Thursday, Oct. 6, 2005 | 8:04 a.m.

Despite government warnings and relatively widespread publicity about the risk of lead poisoning from Mexican candy, stores in the Las Vegas Valley still sell it and families still buy it.

That has Clark County health officials ready to add a warning about the candies to their annual announcements advising parents to be careful of what they let their children accept on Halloween.

But when the Sun talked to local Hispanic families in the past couple of weeks, we found that if they've heard about the issue at all, it's from Spanish-language television shows or because they moved here from California, where the issue was heavily publicized.

And many are still buying the candy in local stores and eating it.

Maria Alcantar, 43, said her family "saw a program a few months ago on Univision that said those candies weren't good for children and ... they had taken a lot of them off the market.

"We didn't believe it," she said, adding "we're from there," meaning she grew up eating the candy in Mexico.

Alcantar's 20-year-old daughter, Olivia, said she doesn't give sweets to her son.

"We like them more ourselves," her mother said.

The Clark County Health District bought copies of the Orange County Register's "toxic treats" poster and distributed them to hospitals, the Culinary Union, Sierra Health and 180 elementary schools. It also has a brochure in English and Spanish on lead poisoning but has not issued a notice to retailers about the candy.

Alberto Ramirez, manager at Mariana's Supermarket on Eastern Avenue -- one of a chain of three in the valley -- sells at least five of the candies in question.

Ramirez, who moved here from California, remembers that health officials there gave talks to him about the candies and lead when he was an assistant manager at a Baldwin Park Hispanic supermarket.

"Here they (officials) haven't told me anything about this," he said.

Ramirez thought unsafe candies had somehow been prohibited for sale in the United States.

When told the Food and Drug Administration had recommended last year that parents "and other responsible individuals" not give children candies with chili powder, he said, "we take this very seriously. It isn't a good thing to be selling a product that isn't recommended."

Timothy Pratt can be reached at 259-8828 or timothy@lasvegassun.com.