There were a couple of serious Halloween warnings from police this week, along with some big recalls that had readers concerned about what’s in their homes.
1. Halloween-themed fentanyl blotters seized
Winnipeg Police seized potentially deadly fentanyl blotters with the image of a witch on a broom, just before Halloween.
While they “appear to be harmless pieces of paper,” Const. Rob Carver said “This is a huge concern. If a child touched these, it could be lethal. I can’t stress it any more strongly.”
Readers had a lot to say, and shared this story widely — with close to 38,000 interactions so far.
2. Police warn of cannabis-laced candies
Quebec provincial police seized a shipment of cannabis-laced gummy bears just before (again) Halloween.
OK this one might not seem like a killer, but police did say they still don’t know how much of the drug is in each candy and are treating the issue as a potential poisoning risk.
While not intended for Halloween distribution, readers were quick to weigh in with their thoughts.
Others considered the warning fair.
The story generated 10K interactions across the board.
3. Check your grapes for potentially deadly spiders
Exotic spiders makes an appearance in bags of Canadians’ grapes a handful of times each year.
An Edmonton family had to find that out the hard way, when they discovered a black widow spider in their fruit.
With nearly 25,000 reactions, shares and comments in under a day, it seems like our audience had a lot to say about this.
4. Chicken breast strips recalled after reports of illnesses
Maple Leaf Foods recalled its frozen chicken breast strips because it might contain a toxin produced by Staphylococcus bacteria.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) warned food contaminated with Staphylococcus toxin may not appear to be or smell spoiled and the toxin is not easily killed at normal cooking temperatures.
This story had people worried, with more than 15,000 interactions (including more than 1,100 shares each on Global BC and Global News) in 14 hours.
5. Massive fire extinguisher recall
A total of 2.7 million Kidde-brand fire extinguishers were recalled in Canada this week.
It’s part of a larger recall of 40 million devices in North America.
The recall in Canada involves 134 different models sold from as early as 1973 until Aug. 15, 2017.
The extinguishers “can fail during a fire emergency” and one death has been reported.
“Epi-Pen” for diabetes patients
A 15-year-old Canadian student and his partner came up with a product that helps diabetes patients get an immediate shot of glucagon, which is critical when blood sugar levels dip dangerously low, within seconds.
In Toronto, Ryerson University’s Digital Media Zone awarded the students $5,000 to help them move forward with the product.
Here’s how some of our audience reacted to this innovation:
And the story was even shared on a popular diabetes meme page: