Wod Nov 10

Comments

1. Steve C says:

   2009/11/10 at 2:54 pm

   This article has caused a HUGE amount of controversy. I actually work in the Allergy industry and there have been numerous rebuttals sent to Chatelaine from key opinion leaders in the field, physicians, and heads of public advocacy groups. I have posted a response from the editor of Allergic Living magazine, on the CBC.ca website. Allergic Living has become a primary source of data to approximately 30,000 Canadians with an interest in Allergy and Asthma.

   http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/11/09/f-vp-smith.html

   The problem however is dissemination of information, teachers and schools now have “Sabrina’s law” that they are required to enforce, however, have yet to be properly trained about the when’s and the why’s certain actions are taken. I have heard a number of instances where parents are “scolded”, without warrent (no child with peanut allergy in the school). Personally, I think the media has done a great job creating controversy, as is the case with the Chatelaine artice. More than anything I think as adults we need to exercise responsibility, and although it may be an inconvenience sometimes, we need to be mindful of children with potentially life threatening conditions.
2. AndreaR says:

   2009/11/10 at 11:30 pm

   Thanks for the comments Steve. As a parent with two kids at risk of anaphylaxis, this is a pretty emotionally charged issue for me. I understand how challenging, and inconvenient it can be for parents with kids who have normally functioning immune responses to healty, natural foods. It is also mind blowing to think about how rapidly serious food allergies have been growing…without definitive explanation. All I can offer is our perspective, which is this: as a parent, to watch the look of sheer confusion and fear on your own childs face as they are having a severe reaction, and they are trying to understand why a “healthy” food (in our case its peanuts for our son, and all dairy and egg products and by-products for our daughter) is “unsafe” for them (causing full blown anaphylactic shock), you would go to the ends of the earth to make this world as safe as possible for your child, and for all other kids who have food allergies….so like I said: its an emotionally charged issue for me…call me rick mercer, but that’s my rant for the day…
3. Mark says:

   2009/11/11 at 9:52 am

   I agree it’s a serious issue, as a firefighter i’ve been to calls where people were suffering from anaphylactic shock. Just last week I was at a call where a woman died because of her allergy to sunflower seeds. I think Andrea is a case in point where there are more allergies than just peanuts and why has there been such a push to ban peanuts and not other products such as milk or eggs? Are we creating an artificially safe environment in our schools where we aren’t training or preparing our children to be careful about their surroundings and the food that is there? I think the more we talk about this the better we all are, and why has there been an increase in the amount of food allergies? What is it? environmental, diet or something else?
   Both Heather and I are thankful that our kids don’t have any allergies .
4. Jeff says:

   2009/11/11 at 3:45 pm

   Mark… I’d answer your question but I bailed on doing my Masters in Immunogenetics to become a web junkie true story actually. Allergies aren’t fun and our kids have to be careful but it’s cool – we’re quite thankful that that’s all we have to worry about. I believe that we are given what we typically can handle in life… It’s amazing to see the diligence that a 4 year has in knowing what he can and cannot eat.
5. Joe Mason says:

   2010/05/25 at 1:22 pm

   Most allergies can be treated by corticosteroids and also some antihistamine blockers.-`,