Cuddle Up with a Stuffed ... E. Coli?

OK, I understand the mother's argument that having her child see some big stuffed heartworm might make the little guy less likely to freak out at every bit of dust found on the kitchen floor, but come on …

The woman in question was mentioned in a story about one of the latest cuddly-toy crazes making the rounds these days — Giant Microbes. Yep, you, too, can have a cuddly E. coli for your home, office, car, or church. Somehow I think they'll make their way into bars as well (but probably not for very long).

Why in the world would you want to have a stuffed germ hanging around the house? Don't we suffer from enough of the real ones? And wouldn't they attract as much dust as every other stuffed animal stuffed into random corners or drawers? If I get the chicken pox, the last thing I'm going to want to do is to cuddle up with a stuffed chicken (right) that represents the very thing that's making me want to scratch until my skin falls away.

I mean really. Can you just imagine the little girl making her bed really nicely and piling all the stuffed toys on the bed so they're all facing the door so you see their smiling faces when you walk in the room — and there, slightly to the left, of the favorite bunny rabbit with the floppy ears or the Mickey Mouse with the frayed arms is … Kevin the Common Cold (left).

Who wants this? Who needs this? It's one thing to remind parents that they house shouldn't be entirely possible because then their children will be even more susceptible to every virus and bacterial infection their classmates bring to school with them. It's quite another thing to climb into bed at night and cuddle up with an E. coli. I just don't even want to go there.

And yet, someone has, to tune of an entirely detailed list of toys (Watch them do tricks here). representing viruses (including HIV and certain others transmitted by more-than-hugging activity), diarrhea, and food poisoning. Surely there's a line that someone has crossed — big time.