Debra Jones-O'Brien will be delighted to hear the news.

So, does anyone know where all these peanut allergies came from?

I literally never remember hearing about one until the last 10-15 years. Was never an issue when I was a kid.

So, does anyone know where all these peanut allergies came from?

I literally never remember hearing about one until the last 10-15 years. Was never an issue when I was a kid.

Don't know when they first became noticed, but they're real, and they're spectacular.

So, does anyone know where all these peanut allergies came from?

Jimmy Carter.

I literally never remember hearing about one until the last 10-15 years. Was never an issue when I was a kid.

I'm 41 and we had one kid in our school who had a peanut allergy but no one ever made a big deal out of it, he just didn't eat peanut butter. Now it seems to be a major problem. It's not like kids in the 70s weren't scarfing down PB&J pretty regularly. Are peanuts being processed differently in the last two decades or something?

I'm not saying they aren't legitimate and it isn't a serious concern but what the hell happened?

Debra Jones-O'Brien

I had never heard of her. I'm not sure what the deal is with that one but...thank you.

are you familiar with the "hygiene hypothesis"?

Cleanliness is next to Deadliness.

. I'm not sure what the deal is with that one but...thank you.

Its a parody account, from some normal guy who happens to be pretty funny.

Good for the Brewers.

My son, who's 4 years old, has the peanut allergy, and is at significant risk of anaphylaxis. There's definitely a major hereditary component -- I have a good number of less-severe allergies, though not to foods.

I believe the hygiene hypothesis applies to Polio. One reason it was such a high-profile issue was its prevalence in the middle class and above.

To the Mayor of Diamond, Missouri:

Dear Mr. Mayor:

I am an individual who suffers from peanut allergies. I would like to visit your community but I must avoid your town because of your statue of George Washington Carver. Could you please have it removed to allow me to visit your town.

iterally never remember hearing about one until the last 10-15 years. Was never an issue when I was a kid.

I knew a couple of kids with peanut allergy 25 years back. Maybe it's the internet's fault, bet you never heard of furries either until 10-15 years back.

EDIT: And to all teams, I would pay a premium for a mustard-free section, make it happen.

I knew a couple of kids with peanut allergy 25 years back. Maybe it's the internet's fault, bet you never heard of furries either until 10-15 years back.


The worst of both worlds.

"Peanut-controlled area" reminds me of my recurring Mr. Peanut nightmare.

Can we all agree that banning PB&J from school because one kid might have a peanut allergy is kind of, well, nuts?

If your kid is unfortunate enough to be in danger if he/she touches someone who had a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, maybe your family takes the hit and does private school or homeschooling instead of the other 500 families taking the hit by denying their kids the best school lunch out there.

Yeah, I know, what an #######. How dare I. He/she didn't choose to have...whatever. Go for it.

There's definitely a major hereditary component -- I have a good number of less-severe allergies, though not to foods.

My personal theory (not backed up by anything scientific) is that is a form of reverse evolution. At first I thought that maybe 100 years ago so many children died early that a kid who had a peanut allergy probably died young and we just didn't know about it. But after talking to quite a number of parents at our kids' school, it seems that many children with peanut allergies have parents who have other allergies. So my theory is now that many (not all of course) people with other (non-peanut) allergies would not have made it out of childhood and reproduced. Which is why we're seeing more peanut allergies now, a generation or two after the medicine advantages that enabled us to survive other items.

Team executive Rick Schlesinger said the team’s goal is to make Miller Park accessible to as many fans as possible.

which is why they are doing it for only three games this year.

My personal theory (not backed up by anything scientific)

Isn't it accepted science that humans are weaker genetically now for the very reasons you mentioned?

which is why they are doing it for only three games this year.

I give them credit for doing it even three times. In this day and age, it seems like a huge liability. Unless they set aside a luxury suite and escort people in and out of it, it seems tough for a team to guarantee an entirely peanut-free atmosphere in a huge baseball stadium.

My personal theory (not backed up by anything scientific) is that is a form of reverse evolution. At first I thought that maybe 100 years ago so many children died early that a kid who had a peanut allergy probably died young and we just didn't know about it. But after talking to quite a number of parents at our kids' school, it seems that many children with peanut allergies have parents who have other allergies. So my theory is now that many (not all of course) people with other (non-peanut) allergies would not have made it out of childhood and reproduced. Which is why we're seeing more peanut allergies now, a generation or two after the medicine advantages that enabled us to survive other items.

Your theory's been discussed, at least part of it. Kids with anaphylactic level allergies died from choking or some such at a very young age and weren't registered as an allergy death, but as a choking death. Much like autism, there's more allergy diagnosis happening as there's more awareness among the laity and medical professionals about its prevalence. I forget in which book he mentions this, but Oliver Sachs writes about how he suddenly "saw" a ton of people on the NYC streets with a condition that he previously thought was rare (Tourette's? Parkinson's? I forget the details) once he'd learned that it was more common in the general population than previously thought.

I think the hygiene theory's been sort of dismissed with respect to allergies. FWIW, my son was found to have severe, anaphylaxis level allergies to eggs, dairy and nuts as an infant. With time and treatment he's now "only" severely allergic to nuts, and moderately allergic to eggs and dairy (he's 9). We don't feed him cheese omelettes or pizza with cow cheese, but he can eat a cupcake or a brownie every so often. The reduction in severity isn't uncommon; a lot of allergies seem to dissipate for unknown reasons with age. Nuts are the exception to this rule, apparently.

We've never asked kids or parents not to give their kids peanut butter sandwiches, or to eat peanuts in the seat next to us at a ballgame. I might switch seats with him if he's next to a drunken idiot who scatters the peanuts like a hyperactive squirrel, but odds are I'd have done that even without the allergy.

Our 3 year-old daughter has a severe peanut allergy. Both my wife and I have no allergies at all. When she was pregnant, she was sure to eat some but not too much PB, because we read that you were supposed to ingest some so that the baby was exposed to it. I don't know if that's all bunk but it sure didn't work for us.

Unless they set aside a luxury suite and escort people in and out of it, it seems tough for a team to guarantee an entirely peanut-free atmosphere in a huge baseball stadium.

A few years ago Manny Ramirez did just that for a kid at a Red Sox game. Funny looking at the date on the story he was traded the next day in part for being a "bad guy."

Hitler liked animals too. WHAM! YOU BEEN GODWINKED!

Any theory as to whether immunization is involved? Not the vaccines themselves, but the idea that kids just don't get the diseases anymore because they've vaccinated.

But I don't WANT Manny Ramirez to be more than one thing!

Much like autism, there's more allergy diagnosis happening as there's more awareness among the laity and medical professionals about its prevalence.

Is this actually true about autism, or have cases actually been rising?

I saw a pretty convincing piece focusing on clusters of autistic kids in high-tech hotbeds. The thesis was that autism has increased due to lots of very midly autistic people congregating in the tech sector, and marrying other similar people, basically selective mating among those who had the autistic genes.

The theory was that before tech, these people would have either not married (i.e. the slightly eccentric spinster aunt or bachelor uncle), or wouldn't have married others similar to them.

Any theory as to whether immunization is involved? Not the vaccines themselves, but the idea that kids just don't get the diseases anymore because they've vaccinated.

I don't know the lit, but I think that's not it. At the risk of overgeneralizing from the specific, we learned of the dairy allergy during Night 1. After birth he had troublesome blood sugar issues so he drank a bottle of formula while his mom slept off the morphine. That night her milk/colostum wouldn't come in/he couldn't nurse so we gave him another bottle of formula. It was scary how quickly his entire head broke out in hives in seconds, accompanied by the most god-awful squalling imaginable. No vaccines had been administered at that point.

His mom still feels residual guilt that maybe the allergy was due to her copious ice cream eating while pregnant. That wouldn't explain the nuts, though.

His mom still feels residual guilt that maybe the allergy was due to her copious ice cream eating while pregnant. That wouldn't explain the nuts, though.

Butter pecan?

I think the hygiene theory's been sort of dismissed with respect to allergies

no it hasn't-- here's a review published about 10 days ago

no it hasn't-- here's a review published about 10 days ago

I stand corrected.

Not Butter Pecan, but there was a lot of Haagen Das Vanilla Swiss Almond now that I think about it. Hmm. Ice cream has eggs too, which led to one of my favorite TV quotes from the last few years, from Justified.

Raylan: I was just gonna pick up some ice cream.
Tim: Ice cream for breakfast?
Raylan: Yeah, it's got eggs, milk.

I think the hygiene theory's been sort of dismissed with respect to allergies

no it hasn't-- here's a review published about 10 days ago

I've definitely seen studies that say having a pet in the house decreases the incidence of asthma significantly.

I've definitely seen studies that say having a pet in the house decreases the incidence of asthma significantly.

there is very strong epidemiological evidence that growing up around farm animals also decreases allergies

there is very strong epidemiological evidence that growing up around farm animals also decreases allergies

Whenever I see mothers dousing their little kids with hand sanitizer I always think about the potential effect on the immune system.

Out of curiosity, I read the wikipedia discussion of peanut allergies. Besides the hygiene theory as a hypothesis, it also mentions that some studies suggest that the delayed exposure to peanuts among young children may contribute to differencea in the prevalence of peanut allergies among countries. The article mentions that a university scientist has developed a non-allergic strain of peanuts, without any diminishment of taste, that totally eliminates the allergen.

there is very strong epidemiological evidence that growing up around farm animals also decreases allergies

Along with civilization creating an environment that is more accomodating to those with innate physical issues fundamentally this is a world where folks are too godd&mn; germ hysterical. Just because folks in hospitals should wash their hands doesn't mean the whole f*cking planet needs to go apesh*t. Doctors/nurses are exposing folks in a weakened state to a host of germs. A 5 year old should be eating dirt. Rolling around in dirt. cover themselves in dirt.

This is a pet peeve of mine because 1 of 4 candy*ss sumb*tches who visit my home fret about being 'exposed' to country germs.

Get the f*ck out of here with that bullsh*t. If you weren't such a priss you would know that the best way to build immunities is exposure. And what milder environment than a farm? and like we keep a sty of a home.

Morons

I read about the allergies/animals connection years ago in National Geographic. I plan on bringing my infant to a petting zoo and rubbing her on the animals. My wife isn't in favor of this idea.

Business idea: microbe farms in urban areas. Pay $40 for your child to roll around in hay with chickens and adorable pygmy goats for an hour. Our board-certified allergy specialists have chosen the best possible blend of dirt, bugs, shrew feces and donkey mucus.

Besides the hygiene theory as a hypothesis, it also mentions that some studies suggest that the delayed exposure to peanuts among young children may contribute to differencea in the prevalence of peanut allergies among countries.

It's funny, I don't think I've eaten more than a few dozen peanuts in my life. I only like them at all if they are heavily glazed and salted. Can't stand peanut butter. But no food allergies, hayfever only.

My wife was heavily allergic to food as a small child, especially milk. She subsisted on boiled beef and near rotten bananas for a good while. But now no allergies for her either.

I read about the allergies/animals connection years ago in National Geographic. I plan on bringing my infant to a petting zoo and rubbing her on the animals. My wife isn't in favor of this idea.

I think getting a cat would be simpler.

Business idea: microbe farms in urban areas. Pay $40 for your child to roll around in hay with chickens and adorable pygmy goats for an hour. Our board-certified allergy specialists have chosen the best possible blend of dirt, bugs, shrew feces and donkey mucus.

PF:

I am guessing you wrote for comedic effect, but my daughter (ob/gyn doc who like an internist needs to know a lot of topics to treat patients which includes allergies) has proposed something similar.

She is head of her dept now and one of her efforts is to get patients to ease their germophobia.

My wife and mother of our two girls, ate a lot of PBJ before, during and post-pregnancy. Our 3 year old loves it, and cashews, pecans and walnuts. I was thrilled, as every cookie or brownie is better with peanuts, etc. In exchange for that little household win, my 5 month old just had a nasty reaction to amoxocillin (penicillin). Even steven?

Separately, I've sold thousands of bags of peanuts at County Stadium, and once ate a 24 oz. bag of salted in the shell goodness during the Orange Bowl one year.

Morons

Yeah...my six year old recently started the whole "Did you/he take a bite? I don't want to eat after you."...then he'll play with coins for an hour straight.

and once ate a 24 oz. bag of salted in the shell goodness during the Orange Bowl one year.

You eat peanuts shell and all? Me too!

I am guessing you wrote for comedic effect, but my daughter (ob/gyn doc who like an internist needs to know a lot of topics to treat patients which includes allergies) has proposed something similar.

I was half joking. But I could easily imagine something like that being successful here in San Francisco. If there are enough hippy parents to refuse vaccines and cause whooping cough outbreaks... and hell, I'd take my kid there just because petting zoos are fun.

Get the f*ck out of here with that bullsh*t. If you weren't such a priss you would know that the best way to build immunities is exposure. And what milder environment than a farm? and like we keep a sty of a home.

This highlights one huge difference between my son's mother me, with me in the role of Pigpen. She's a child of an MD, and to call her and her siblings hypochondriacal is only a bit of an overstatement.

Your theory's been discussed, at least part of it. Kids with anaphylactic level allergies died from choking or some such at a very young age and weren't registered as an allergy death, but as a choking death. Much like autism, there's more allergy diagnosis happening as there's more awareness among the laity and medical professionals about its prevalence.

Well, that's not exactly what I meant. I do think that identification is an issue, but my theory might explain why things like peanut allergies have increased more recently. In 1910 the kid with the allergy to dogs died after an attack when he was 10. In 1970 that kid was diagnosed and didn't die. So then when he grows up and gets married, his kids are more likely to have some sort of other allergy, like peanuts.

I know it's anecdotal but I really have talked to a lot of parents who have mild allergies and their kids have major ones, often to different things.

It probably doesn't help that there are fewer younger women having babies these days. We know there are many complications in children that arise from older women having babies; I would not be surprised to find out that immune system problems are one of those complications.

If you weren't such a priss you would know that the best way to build immunities is exposure.

I have a four year old niece who enjoys eating her boogers. My brother does not discourage this because eating boogers builds up your immune system and yields a higher chance of not getting sick later on in life. His baby-momma actively discourages the little one from eating boogers because it's "gross." My brother and his baby momma get along quite well for two people in their situation, but they constantly bicker over whether or not it's okay for my niece to eat boogers.

Growing up in the '70s and '80s I knew one or two kids who didn't eat peanut butter or peanuts, but there was never a big deal made out of peanut allergies...certainly didn't know any kids who were at he level of suffering reactions to foods that were processed in the same plant as peanuts.

My wife and I are big fans of the kids getting dirty and exposed to darn near anything that isn't going to kill or maim them. My mother went nuts with anti-bacterial soaps, cleaning, etc., after I had a nasty staph infection that persisted for almost a year. I subsequently grew up regularly ill (I think I missed an average of 15-20 days of school per year from about 2nd grade until 6th) and suffered from loads of dust mite-related allergies. Didn't really grow out of them until moving to the dorms in college.

In response, we take our kids to farms to play with horses, pigs, goats, and go into fields whenever possible. Seems to work great...no bizarre allergies in our kids, and while our twins were frequently sick (though nothing unusual) to about age 5, they've been paragons of health since, and their younger siblings have basically never been notably ill. Admittedly, our 3 boys have all proven to be allergic to dairy products while young, but we basically are the only critter that still drinks milk after weaning, so I don't consider this to be anything unusual. In the end, the prognosis is that all 3 will have no problems --- our 9-year-old has almost completely grown out of it, our 5-year-old is mostly there, and our 2-year-old can now eat some (generally white) cheese. Our 9-year-old girl never had a problem. Moving out to an agricultural area just after #3 was born has probably also helped the youngest two be good and healthy --- thanks to my neighbors: deer, wolves, foxes, raccoons, coyotes, and wild turkey!

I know it's anecdotal but I really have talked to a lot of parents who have mild allergies and their kids have major ones, often to different things.

This could be the hygiene idea again though. Parents with allergies are going to avoid the things they are allergic to, so their children will not be exposed to them either. In addition, I would guess that those parents are going to tend to be more careful about exposing their children to anything that could cause an allergic reaction, due to their own personal experience.

Ice cream has eggs too, which led to one of my favorite TV quotes from the last few years, from Justified.

Raylan: I was just gonna pick up some ice cream.
Tim: Ice cream for breakfast?
Raylan: Yeah, it's got eggs, milk.

That's pretty much exactly an old Bill Cosby bit, except it's chocolate cake instead of ice cream.

It probably doesn't help that there are fewer younger women having babies these days. We know there are many complications in children that arise from older women having babies; I would not be surprised to find out that immune system problems are one of those complications.

you may be right

I'm not allergic to peanuts, though I do get mild reactions from mushrooms and lobster. Strangely not other shellfish, just lobster. While I've only had a mild rash from lobster and some tingling, my grandfather had the same thing and he almost died suddenly in his 50s at a restaurant, so I'm not taking any chances.

I have a ton of seasonal allergies, which only seem to be fixed by Benadryl. Not from lack of exposure, I spent my childhood years playing in a muddy forest in my neighborhood and I'd come up covered in mud, bugs, and red eyes thanks to pollen.

I have a couple of weird drug reactions, too. Benadryl still knocks me out quickly, but strong painkillers tend to be very ineffective. Local anesthesia is also just about worthless.

I have a reaction to hippies, slackers and mooching Methodist ministers.

I read about the allergies/animals connection years ago in National Geographic. I plan on bringing my infant to a petting zoo and rubbing her on the animals. My wife isn't in favor of this idea.


Back in 2000, a local beloved farm, petting zoo and dairy/convenience store had trouble with e coli. A little common sense about washing hands before eating your ice cream cone would be a worthy lesson.

http://articles.mcall.com/2001-04-20/news/3361301_1_petting-zoo-coli-zoo-operators

there is very strong epidemiological evidence that growing up around farm animals also decreases allergies

Of course there's a tradeoff: exposure to farm animals also increases the opportunity for contracting species-jumping viruses, doesn't it?

I have a couple of weird drug reactions, too. Benadryl still knocks me out quickly, but strong painkillers tend to be very ineffective. Local anesthesia is also just about worthless.

did my wife put you under? I love her stories when she tells me of patients who run off a list of things that 'don't work', or their preferred forms of anesthesia. Its as if these people have surgeries on a monthly basis.

One of my daughters has a severe allergy to peanuts. Neither my wife or I do. We both love peanut butter, but we can't keep it in the house. We also have a cat (used to be 2) and a dog. Thanks to my efforts, the house is not that clean. Still she has the allergy. Who knows why.

As for school, the pre k she went to banned peanuts, because it is hard to tell kids not to share. Once my daughter got some peanut M&Ms; from a friend and had a nasty reaction. She needs to keep meds near by, just in case. Once she got to elementary school, she ate a a segragated peanut free table for the first couple of years. Now she is 8, they sit where they want to and she is old enough to know not to eat peanuts. You still have to be careful, as some things you wouldn't think have peanuts, or even are made on a processing line that processes peanuts can get her sick. And if she ate enough peanuts, she would die without treatment.

So

Can we all agree that banning PB&J from school because one kid might have a peanut allergy is kind of, well, nuts?

Depends on the age. If they are old enough, sure. For younger kids, there are enough other foods that your kids can eat. Kids can also eat peanut butter at night and on weekends to your hearts content. Besides risking my daughters death, your only other solution for me would be to home school my kids. That seems a bit extreme.

FWIW:

Both my wife and myself were allergic to dog and cat fur when we were youngsters. I remember some severe outbreaks in my youth related to those animals. My younger brother was the same way.When I was older (in my teens) my mom brought a dog which didn't shed into our household. The dog lived its full life in our house.

When I moved out on my own, I eventually got a dog. My kids have grown up in a household with a dog and have never experienced an allergic outbreak related to either dog we owned despite their parents history.

I'm not saying they aren't legitimate and it isn't a serious concern but what the hell happened?

we've shared our precious bodily fluids with the wrong people, mandrake.

33/Harveys: Was that the first ever case of a codger yelling "Get on my lawn"?

As for the microbe farm idea, I'm reminded of stuff like this.

though I do get mild reactions from mushrooms
Me too (my only "allergy") - I've never met another person who claimed this. (Apart from my spouse, but I think that's some sort of sympathy response to my reactions.)

I'm in the midst of checking out various elementary schools (my daughter starts kindergarten in the fall) - it was interesting seeing certain classrooms, etc. designated as peanut free areas. Our daycare has banned them outright.

did my wife put you under? I love her stories when she tells me of patients who run off a list of things that 'don't work', or their preferred forms of anesthesia. Its as if these people have surgeries on a monthly basis.

Well most people have had novacaine many times, at the dentist. And drug resistance/senstivity is extremely common in biology, due to small variations in genotype.
When my wife had breast cancer, she had several surgeries. Usually the anesthesia made her very ill afterwards and took her many extra hours to recover. But one technique/dosage (by "the good" ansthesiologist) did not have this effect. So she began requesting this specific person, since MEDICAL SCIENCE is not great at transferring this type of information (as they are with say, drug "allergies"), because it's not like they are going to run a Morphine dose-response curve on every patient before their surgery.

As for peanut allergies... I am not sure that lack of negative selection could explain it, although it's plausible. According to "peanutallergy.com" incidence of peanut allergy increased 18% from 1997-2007. The estimated prevalence in the US is 1.1% (1999). So, if these numbers are good, it's now about 1.3%. It doesn't seem likely (as in the autism theory above) that people with peanut allergies are more or less likely to breed (although they COULD avoid the same restaurants, etc.). I guess could be checked to see if the deaths from peanut allergy DECREASED ... during some period of time 70s'-80s'? Hard to say, really.

Oh, hey Barry Starr who is in my dept. wrote an article about this in 2007

Also "innoculation" works in reverse for "true" allergies that cause anaphalatic shock (peanuts, bee stings) - exposure to the antigen makes the reaction WORSE, not better. You don't (typically) get used to peanuts, or bee stings, each exposure increases your immune response (not all "allergies" are like this).

If you think about it - an allergy is an over-reactive/cross-reactive immune responses. With a "real" antigen (i.e, viral, microbial) you want to trigger the response stronger the second (and subsequent) time so that you don't get the disease. Same thing happens "on accident" with peanuts.

Note that lots of "allergies" aren't really allergies, or use a different immune response. For example, I have heard ancedotally that cat (and I suppose other pet dander) allergies actually improve with exposure... but it's extremely rare to get anaphalactic shock from a cat allergy. Without much research, I would guess that these responses use different immunological pathways. Also, there may be developmental effects - different genes (including antigen binding ones that drive the immune response) are turned on and off as you age, so allergies can "go away".

Biology is complicated.

Oh, and I expect the "peanut free" tables, pre schools, and Brewer games (also "Fielder free") is most likely just "bike helmet ism". In the 70s and 80s no one wore a bike helmet (or skiing helmet, or batting helmet in little league, etc., etc.) and now we do. Pretty sure our skulls didn't get softer, our brains more senstive nor our bicycling accident avoidance skills weaker in 40 years.

Also "innoculation" works in reverse for "true" allergies that cause anaphalatic shock (peanuts, bee stings) - exposure to the antigen makes the reaction WORSE, not better. You don't (typically) get used to peanuts, or bee stings, each exposure increases your immune response (not all "allergies" are like this).

Yeah, I went from being a kid who got stung a few times with no problems to a guy who has to have an epinephrine kit on him at all times after a very scary trip to the ER.

Autism diagnoses have certainly increased. It's debatable how much the incidence has. Ever since No Child Left Behind (and somewhat before it in some school jurisdictions), an autism diagnosis is now a ticket to all sorts of special personalized services from the school district. So a lot of parents basically harangue different doctors until they get it. Thirty years ago, these parents would accept that their kid was dull but mainstreamed, or else the district would shuffle him off to a special-ed class that was more babysitting than educational. Economically, if you hand out benefits for anything, you get more of it.

Peanut allergies don't follow that model so much; there's no particular ramification to getting officially diagnosed. The only thing that's increased is the overreaction. Thirty years ago, the mom would just tell the kid to avoid peanuts, endure a mild episode, accept the notion of an ER trip for a serious incidence once or twice in the kid's life, and societally we'd accept the rare one-in-a-million death. Now it's "YOU COULD KILL MY BABY SO BURN BURN BURN ALL THE PEANUTS AND THE PEANUT SINNERS!".

Of course there's a tradeoff: exposure to farm animals also increases the opportunity for contracting species-jumping viruses, doesn't it?

Those are much rarer than depicted in movies. Humans have been living with domesticated animals for hundreds of millenia and any virus jumping reached equilibrium hundreds of thousands of years ago. Also, vis a vis zenbitz #58 "true allergies" are IgE/mast cell/histamine mediated. Immunity to "real antigens", as you call them, are T cell and B cell/IgM/IgG-mediated.

Yeah, I went from being a kid who got stung a few times with no problems to a guy who has to have an epinephrine kit on him at all times after a very scary trip to the ER.

same thing happened to my Dad when he was in his mid-70s

Depends on the age. If they are old enough, sure. For younger kids, there are enough other foods that your kids can eat.

Just curious, do I get to tell you what your kids can and can't have for lunch or is it just a one way street?

Besides risking my daughters death, your only other solution for me would be to home school my kids. That seems a bit extreme.

Teach them what they need to do to be safe and if they are too young, bite the financial bullet and do private school until they are old enough. It's just hard for me to believe how presumptuous people are. 'So we are at this school now, here's what you all are and aren't allowed to do.'

For the record, the elementary school my child goes to does not allow nut products to any student K-5. None of my daughter's immediate classmates have ever had a nut allergy. One day she smuggled a Reece's Peanut Butter Cup in her pocket and all hell broke loose. I actually had to go down to the school and meet with the principle. I don't usually curse that much.

If you weren't such a priss you would know that the best way to build immunities is exposure

That's exactly why I spent all that time in brothels.

Parents need to let their kids pick their nose and eat their boogers until they go to kindergarten.

haven't none of youse guys remember that all these allergies - AND all the gluten stuff really took off when monsanto started with genetically modofied organisms

you are talking wheat soy corn peanuts and they feed all this GMO stuff to the cows and chickens and pigs we eat

and people eating and drinking a lot of chemicals and preservatives in soda, gatorade, packaged foods too

my husband always was/is allergic to cats. i got to change clothes after i been at my mama's house

I expect the "peanut free" tables, pre schools, and Brewer games (also "Fielder free") is most likely just "bike helmet ism". In the 70s and 80s no one wore a bike helmet (or skiing helmet, or batting helmet in little league, etc., etc.) and now we do. Pretty sure our skulls didn't get softer, our brains more senstive nor our bicycling accident avoidance skills weaker in 40 years.

For years & years of recreational riding and bike commuting, I only wore a helmet occasionally. Got in some crashes, but kids are basically made of rubber, no big deal.
As a young adult, though, a friend went face-first through the back window of a police car, that had stopped suddenly in front of him on a downhill. His helmet had a big dent in the top of it where it hit the metal rim at the top of the window, and he was picking bits of glass out of his face for months afterwards.
So, yeah, now I always wear a helmet.

Just curious, do I get to tell you what your kids can and can't have for lunch or is it just a one way street?

Sure. If your kid could die just from being in the same room with a particular food, knock your self out. I have a friend who's son cannot literally (and I mean actual literally, not Chris Traeger literally) be in the same enclosed space with peanuts. he can have a serious reaction to peanut dust in the air. This child is severely allergic to most nuts, but with all but peanuts he has to ingest them to cause a reaction. With peanuts, all he has to do is breathe the air.

33/Harveys: Was that the first ever case of a codger yelling "Get on my lawn"?

HAR!

It's the vaccines. Kids are getting shots you never heard of 50 years ago, even 25 years ago. That's why you see such an increase in these problems. I know people that refused vaccines, and their kids have no allergy problems at all! Of course, Big Pharma and Big Medicine will make billions off these families and the kids as they grow older, so nobody is going to come out and fix it, or even attempt to tell you the real cause.

For the record, the elementary school my child goes to does not allow nut products to any student K-5. None of my daughter's immediate classmates have ever had a nut allergy. One day she smuggled a Reece's Peanut Butter Cup in her pocket and all hell broke loose. I actually had to go down to the school and meet with the principle. I don't usually curse that much.

I think I'm allergic to you.


As a young adult, though, a friend went face-first through the back window of a police car, that had stopped suddenly in front of him on a downhill. His helmet had a big dent in the top of it where it hit the metal rim at the top of the window, and he was picking bits of glass out of his face for months afterwards.
So, yeah, now I always wear a helmet.

I was totally this way with seatbelts when I started driving, about 50% of the time, if I remembered. Then, I had to go off the road to avoid a careening car heading straight at me on a snowy, curvy road and I hit a tree dead on at about 35 mph the day after my 18th birthday. I have little doubt that without my seatbelt that day (I beat the odds!) pieces of my skull would still be in that tree; and now I won't even move until every libertarian in my car is wearing one.

I've been allergic to peanuts my whole life, and I never met another kid who had it back then (50's, 60's). I had severe asthma and other allergies as a kid, too, but outgrew everything but the peanuts.

I didn't think much about it growing up. Our family didn't eat unusual foods. I brown-bagged school lunch until I was in high school, and I had a couple bad reaction from them, but didn't seek medical care. In adulthood, my reaction has seemed a lot worse, and I've gone to the ER maybe 8 times.

I used to get laughed at by waiters when I said that peanuts could kill me, and those who didn't laugh had never heard of such a thing. I've "discovered" peanut butter in guacamole and a few other unexpected carrier foods.

I think the rarity has decreased, the incidence from somewhere around 1% of the US population to 2%. My stock line is that I attribute the change in attitude of food providers and others to the increased incidence and more aggressive personal injury attorneys, but I imagine the greater severity of reactions and deaths has a lot to do with it.

For the record, the elementary school my child goes to does not allow nut products to any student K-5

So if you are smart enough to pass Grade 5, peanut allergies aren't an issue?

Ice cream has eggs too, which led to one of my favorite TV quotes from the last few years, from Justified.

Raylan: I was just gonna pick up some ice cream.
Tim: Ice cream for breakfast?
Raylan: Yeah, it's got eggs, milk.

That's pretty much exactly an old Bill Cosby bit, except it's chocolate cake instead of ice cream.

Dad is great! Give us the chocolate cake!

vaccines are indeed teh evilll

it is much better to have your babies and kids die or get deaf from the spinal menengitis so we need to back to the way it used to be.

I've "discovered" peanut butter in guacamole and a few other unexpected carrier foods.

I assume this is just a case of someone failing to wash the utensils used in preparation?

Because otherwise, meh.

"Confirmation bias" is what all you "I never saw <x> when I was little but now it's everywhere" people are experiencing.

I was totally this way with seatbelts when I started driving, about 50% of the time, if I remembered. Then, I had to go off the road to avoid a careening car heading straight at me on a snowy, curvy road and I hit a tree dead on at about 35 mph the day after my 18th birthday. I have little doubt that without my seatbelt that day (I beat the odds!) pieces of my skull would still be in that tree; and now I won't even move until every libertarian in my car is wearing one.

Yea, and if they don't like it they can "vote with their feet!" Ha!

Accent, no, they put PB in guac to make it smooth. I am not one of the hypersensitive allergics, thank God, so contaminated utensils wouldn't bug me a lot..

salajander, I know all about confirmation bias, but I promise you, it wasn't the case with me.

Unless they set aside a luxury suite and escort people in and out of it, it seems tough for a team to guarantee an entirely peanut-free atmosphere in a huge baseball stadium.

The Minnesota Twins have done it probably 8 to 10 times over the past couple of years at Target Field. They actually use the areas outside of the offices down the left field line for families. Works pretty well.

Wake me up when the Brewers have a 'Gluten-Free Night'.

In the 70s and 80s no one wore a bike helmet (or skiing helmet, or batting helmet in little league, etc., etc.) and now we do.

There were little leagues that didn't require batting helmets in the 70s and 80s? Was Bob Montgomery the commissioner of these organizations?

They were definitely wearing helmets at the LLWS in Williamsport in this 1975 photo.

In the early 1970s, big league teams were giving away souvenir (non-protective) helmets to kids. And there were warnings inside about not using them when actually playing baseball. Because, THERE WERE REAL HELMETS to wear.

In the early 1970s, big league teams were giving away souvenir (non-protective) helmets to kids. And there were warnings inside about not using them when actually playing baseball. Because, THERE WERE REAL HELMETS to wear.

Yes. I got one of these at the Astrodome, in 1980, warning and all.

If you watch the 1975 WS on DVD, one of the Reds players is a grandfathered-in no-helmet guy, and the announcers never say a word about it. Definitely strange feeling, because it looks for all the world like he just forgot to put his helmet on.

My dad had a somewhat rare condition: allergies to every nut but peanuts. (Some guesswork there but if he ate anything with nuts ground into the dish he'd bust out in hives within minutes, and as a kid had had a bad enough attack that it might have killed him.) In restaurants if the dish was at all suspicious he'd take a small bite then wait five to ten minutes and go from there.

I wonder how common that is? I don't think its been mentioned so far.

I'm one of those that grew up happily in the age of running around all day with no supervision, no bike helmet, and so on. We did have a neighborhood kid who lost an arm by way of electrocution after reaching over the six foot high fence running along the sidewalks on the two lane bridge over our local railroad track; he did this in spite of the big warning sign that said, in effect, Don't Fool Around with This! Poor kid.

There were little leagues that didn't require batting helmets in the 70s and 80s? Was Bob Montgomery the commissioner of these organizations?

The Henderson, KY Little League wore batting helmets in the early 1960's, and probably before that. However, for every sanctioned LL at bat I'm sure I had 250 (at least) sandlot at bats with no safety equipment at all; we just found an open space and played ball. We rode our bikes without helmets and no one used seatbelts in cars because cars back then didn't have seatbelts. As Something Other said above, kids in my era were free to roam around outside unsupervised and nearly all of us survived to adulthood.

Now my second cousin
His name was Callaway
He died when he'd barely turned two
It was peanut butter and jelly that did it
The help she didn't know what to do
She just stood there and watched him turn blue

We rode our bikes without helmets and no one used seatbelts in cars because cars back then didn't have seatbelts. As Something Other said above, kids in my era were free to roam around outside unsupervised and nearly all of us survived to adulthood.

Talk about your confirmation bias...

haven't none of youse guys remember that all these allergies - AND all the gluten stuff really took off when monsanto started with genetically modofied organisms

Amen to that.

I've been allergic to peanuts my whole life, and I never met another kid who had it back then (50's, 60's). I had severe asthma and other allergies as a kid, too, but outgrew everything but the peanuts.

I didn't think much about it growing up. Our family didn't eat unusual foods. I brown-bagged school lunch until I was in high school, and I had a couple bad reaction from them, but didn't seek medical care. In adulthood, my reaction has seemed a lot worse, and I've gone to the ER maybe 8 times.

I used to get laughed at by waiters when I said that peanuts could kill me, and those who didn't laugh had never heard of such a thing. I've "discovered" peanut butter in guacamole and a few other unexpected carrier foods.

Same with me . . . I'm 38 and I was always allergic to peanuts, but anaphylaxis didn't kick in until I was a senior in HS. I think it is much easier to deal with now as opposed to only a few years ago. Most restaurants are now prepared and understand when I ask what kind of oil they use, and security checkpoints no longer question my epipen. My number one rule: never eat a dessert or baked good that I didn't make myself or that doesn't come in a sealed package with ingredients.

Personally, I think it is up to the parents who have a kid with a problem that can result in a fatality to do something about it rather than the thousands of parents with kids who don't.

Kind of reminds me of the IBB incident a couple years back with the sickly kid that was way undersized for his age group and if he got hit the wrong way he could die but yet his parents wanted him to have a normal life. Well, tough, he can't.

I have two allergies. Hayfever and Pine Nuts. I've always assumed I have hayfever because I grew up in a desert and wasn't exposed to grass pollen until I was seven or eight years old.

Used to be allergic to animal hair and suffer from asthma, both of those had faded away by the time I was 20.

I expect the "peanut free" tables, pre schools, and Brewer games (also "Fielder free") is most likely just "bike helmet ism". In the 70s and 80s no one wore a bike helmet (or skiing helmet, or batting helmet in little league, etc., etc.) and now we do. Pretty sure our skulls didn't get softer, our brains more senstive nor our bicycling accident avoidance skills weaker in 40 years.

I think it's more that bike helmets are available and socially acceptable. Virtually any serious rider has a few gnarly crash stories or has friends who do. The people who don't wear helmets are the ones who bike to the park twice a year.

Kind of reminds me of the IBB incident a couple years back with the sickly kid that was way undersized for his age group and if he got hit the wrong way he could die but yet his parents wanted him to have a normal life. Well, tough, he can't.

I think being able to play Little League and being able to get an education are two pretty different things. I can agree that there are certain optional activities that a kid probably just loses out on but an eductation isn't one in my mind. I don't think making other kids unable to eat PB&J is such a hardship that a kid shouldn't be allowed to get educated.

One of the benefits of schooling is that a child learns not just the three Rs but also gains valuable social skills that wouldn't be available in a home schooling environment.

Dad is great! Give us the chocolate cake!

Then mom appeared. And she said, "WHO GAVE YOU CHOCOLATE CAKE!!!"

And the kids who ten seconds ago were singing praises to their father turned on me. "We wanted eggs and toast and milk but dad insisted on giving us chocolate cake."

I'm one of those that grew up happily in the age of running around all day with no supervision, no bike helmet, and so on. We did have a neighborhood kid who lost an arm by way of electrocution after reaching over the six foot high fence running along the sidewalks on the two lane bridge over our local railroad track; he did this in spite of the big warning sign that said, in effect, Don't Fool Around with This! Poor kid.

Yeah, it's always a tradeoff between freedom and safety, but I'm glad I grew up in an era of little or no adult supervision, no batting or bike helmets, and concrete playgrounds with metal jungle gyms. I fully realize that it's safer to ride with a helmet, and that on today's playgrounds you're less likely to break a leg, but I'm still glad that I didn't have to grow up dressed like Barry Bonds every time I just wanted to play ball or ride a bike, or even run across the street a step ahead of speeding cars, just to prove to myself that I could do it. AFAIC that's one way that kids develop the sort of physical self-confidence that they're going to need later on in other areas, and IMO it's much better if parents aren't always there fretting about what might happen.

Just go watch the damn thing already, it's awesome.

My dad had a somewhat rare condition: allergies to every nut but peanuts.

Too, mrsidiom. She has a strong allergy to walnuts, a weak allergy to other nuts, and none to peanuts.

She is also allergic to many raw fruits and vegetables, but not to the same when cooked. She is not allergic to strawberries per se, but she is allergic to a pesticide commonly used on strawberries. She is allergic to pet dander and goose down. She has seasonal allergies. Her skin is allergic to her sweat. Combine all that with the effects of her stroke, and essentially her own body is her worst enemy.

Our two kids have presented no allergies to date, nor have I. Of the four of us, the one who had spent childhood in an environment least like a protective bubble was mrsidiom.

EDIT: Oh, and I grew up in the 70s; in that time I always was required to wear a batting helmet in LL, never wore a bike helmet, and often rode in the back of the station wagon - no seat belt? Hell, no seat.

There were little leagues that didn't require batting helmets in the 70s and 80s? Was Bob Montgomery the commissioner of these organizations?

Indeed. From '67-'72 I played in a really tiny league -- rural county with a total population of 8,000 or so, 2 towns represented, only 3 teams in each of two age divisions -- & we always had batting helmets. Zenbitz must've grown up on the island of Yap, or something.

My only allergy appears to be penicillin. If I'm allergic to it ... I broke out in a rash from heat to toe while taking it while I had mono at age 19, but I was away from home (at an sf con in Little Rock, geekily enough) at the time, & by the time I was able to see my doctor it was gone. He figured the rash was caused by either penicillin or the mono itself, but by that time I guess it wasn't obvious which one was at fault. (Or maybe he wasn't much of a doctor. Still, he was a step up from his partner, who had earlier diagnosed me as suffering from depression & put me on Elavil. Ten years later or so that would've been spot-on, but not then ...)

I'm in no particular hurry to find out, I guess, since alternatives to penicillin appear to be common.