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

Elizabeth Edwards Speaks Out about Healthcare; Leaves Her Wedding Ring Home

Shannon LC Cate — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:30:00 GMT

This morning's Washington Post covered Elizabeth Edwards's recent appearance at the George Washington University to speak about the healthcare crisis at the behest of the Center for American Progress.

While acknowledging her own privilege to receive excellent care, Edwards focused on the dangers of the current system to people without millions of their own. Of John McCain's plan for healthcare reform she warned:

"Under McCain's health-care proposal, she argues, many employers would likely drop health insurance, prices would continue to skyrocket, insurers would replace doctors as the primary decision makers. And people like her -- and McCain -- couldn't even get insurance because of their "preexisting conditions."

She also criticized Barack Obama for failing to promise to cover every American in his proposed plan.

Notably, Edwards was not wearing her wedding band, something folks were looking for after John Edwards's admission of an affair last summer. She neither referenced the scandal, nor accepted any interview questions about it or anything else, sticking instead to the topic at hand.

As baffling as political wives can sometimes be, I have to admit Elizabeth Edwards has all of my respect. What she is or isn't forgiving or forgetting is her business. She's leaving it at home. But neither is she shunning the public, which she could do with more than understanding and sympathy from everyone who knows her story. Instead she is spending what is undoubtedly precious time serving the public by sharing her knowledge and experience.

Hats off to you Elizabeth. You're a class act.

Strollerderby : healthcare crisis

Peanut Allergies Peanut Schmallergies?

Elizabeth Edwards Speaks Out about Healthcare; Leaves Her Wedding Ring Home