Strollerderby : anaphylaxis

Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

Shannon LC Cate — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:00:00 GMT

LA Times Columnist Joel Stein had a piece in yesterday's paper claiming (based on his opinion and about an NPR-listener level of information) that peanut allergies are an invention of rich white people because said people just want to feel "special."

Now let me tell you, I am as happy to gang up on rich white people and their narcissistic parenting styles as anyone, but my daughter's good friend--an African American friend, a member of a population Stein claims doesn't have serious issues with peanut allergies--has been to the ER 3 times in four years after accidentally eating something with peanuts. She might well have died on at least one of those occasions if not for her father's quick epi-pen action.

I know that one example does not break a rule of thumb and perhaps it is true that there are fewer peanut allergies found among racial minorities and the poor. But perhaps that is because racial minorities and the poor--as another rule of thumb--have crappy access to healthcare. And I am more than willing to buy the idea that most allergic reactions don't lead to death, and poor people suffer allergic attacks and deal with them at home, because they can't afford to see an allergist for a round of testing.

I myself have food allergies that cause anaphylactic shock. But every single incidence of exposure to the allergen won't kill me. It's more a case of Russian roulette: maybe 12 times out of 13 I'll survive an attack with mere discomfort and anxiety (which I don't doubt makes the attack worse) but there is no real way to know if this time will be the 13th time, and I'll be dead in minutes.

Because I know how serious these allergies can be, I have a peanut-free household. We don't go to the extreme of banning things "made in a factory that also manufactures foods containing peanuts" but I have switched out my peanut oil for soy oil; my peanut butter for cashew butter, because when my daughter's friend visits I don't want her getting another epi-pen, ER visit, or god forbid, 13th allergic reaction on my watch.

"Peanuts: Serious Allergen or Good-Old-Fashioned Americana?" is not a proper topic for an "opinion" piece. We don't get to vote on whether or not such allergies exist. Peanut allergies are real and even if they only cause death as often as a lightening strike, they cause enough pain and suffering short of death to be taken seriously by those lucky enough not to have them.

image: planters.com

Death By Peanut: Epidemic or Urban Myth?

Kate Tuttle — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:29:00 GMT

Everybody knows that peanut allergies are the most deadly known to man, and that an affected child can die from even the slightest airborne contact -- that's why we have nut-free daycare centers and schools, and bake sales and playdates filled with anxiety, right? Well, maybe, wrong. Like killer bees or tainted Halloween candy, the virulence of deadly food allergies is way, way overstated, according to a piece in Wednesday's Huffington Post.

Turns out that most articles you read or experts you hear discussing the issue cite a number of deaths per year from food allergies -- 150 to 200 -- that comes from a tiny, flawed study touted by a lobbying and advocacy group, the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, hardly an unbiased source. So what's the real number? According to Meredith Broussard, author of the HuffPo piece, it's in the high single or low double digits (in 2005 it was 11 people).

Even if the actual number were in the low three digits, it wouldn't warrant the extreme reactions seen in many schools, daycare centers, and other organizations, writes Harvard Medical School's Dr. Nicholas Kristakis, whose work was reported this week in the New York Times's Well blog (the piece was titled "Are Nut Bans Promoting Hysteria?" and the comments section revealed a blend of common sense, bad jokes of the "what a bunch of nuts" variety, and, yes, some hysteria).

My guess is that this kind of fear -- essentially groundless, sourceless yet pervasive, trivial yet all-consuming -- flourishes during economic good times and recedes when things are grim. In our current lousy economy, can any of us afford to scorn peanut butter any longer? And as we say goodbye to an anti-science, anti-intellectual President and swear in his polar opposite, might it be time for American parents to start thinking independently and skeptically, instead of following each new irrational trend that comes along?

More by this author:

Is This Baby Obese? Aussie Mom Says No
Baby Nearly Starves to Death, Diluted Formula to Blame
Grandmother’s Right? Or Totally Obnoxious?
Health Scam: Crisis Pregnancy Centers
Mama’s Got a Brand New Bag

Parents of Snackless Kindergarteners Complain

Karen Murphy — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 11:53:00 GMT

When parents start referring to the time period their kids have gone snackless at school by the exact count of days, you know they're pretty ticked off. And parents of some kindergarteners in my state of Pennsylvania are complaining to the school board because their kids have been missing their afternoon snacks since the beginning of the year. While I can certainly relate, having contended with some hungry, grumpy kindergarteners myself, I'm thinking there could be a little more compassion here. You see, the reason these kids have gone snackless is because one student among them has severe allergies, so severe that they could go into anaphylactic shock if they consume or even come near one of the potential foods they're allergic to.

It almost looks, though, like a classic case of "he said, she said." The school contends that they submitted a list of "safe" snacks that can be brought into the classroom for parties, holidays and on every Friday, while the parents claim they have seen no such list. But meanwhile, you've got a classful of hungry kids and one that could die if the wrong food is brought in. What to do, what to do....

What my kids' school did was to ban the offending substances, not only from the classroom of the allergic child but from the entire school. Yep, because one child is severely allergic to peanuts and tree nuts, all the other kids are eating Sunbutter (made from sunflower seeds and actually quite tasty!) and soy butter. No big deal, you get used to it. And at least you know you're not going to inadvertantly cause a death one day when you send lunch along with your kid at school. I'm wondering if perhaps a little education about anaphylactic allergies could help these parents, and maybe a big dose of compassion.

What do you think? Have nuts or other foods been banned in your child's school to accommodate someone with allergies? How do you feel about that?