LA Times writer says kids' food allergies invented by their parents.....

[Guest guest]

Someone posted this in TerrificKidsWFA, and I thought I'd share it

here as well. Apparently the comment section at the end of the

article is closed, so letters can be written directly to the LA Times.

 

 

 

> JOEL STEIN:

> Nut allergies -- a Yuppie invention

> Some kids really do have food allergies. But most just have bad

reactions to their parents'

> mass hysteria.

>

> http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-stein9-

> 2009jan09,0,6887202.column

>

>

> JOEL STEIN:

> Nut allergies -- a Yuppie invention

> Some kids really do have food allergies. But most just have bad

reactions to their parents'

> mass hysteria.

> Joel Stein

> January 9, 2009

> » Discuss Article (42 Comments)

>

> Your kid doesn't have an allergy to nuts. Your kid has a parent who

needs to feel special.

> Your kid also spends recess running and screaming, " No! Stop! Don't

rub my head with

> peanut butter! "

>

> Yes, a tiny number of kids have severe peanut allergies that cause

anaphylactic shock, and

> all their teachers should be warned, handed EpiPens and given a

really expensive gift at

> Christmas. But unless you're a character on " Heroes, " genes don't

mutate fast enough to

> have caused an 18% increase in childhood food allergies between

1997 and 2007. And

> genes certainly don't cause 25% of parents to believe that their

kids have food allergies,

> when 4% do. Yuppiedom does.

>

> I first had this thought seven years ago, when I wrote a short

story that very few people

> read because, unlike most people, I was kind enough not to show it

to anyone. In one

> pointless digression, I described a future allergy epidemic in

which not only nuts but malt,

> guar gum, gluten and corn cause kids to blow up like balloons in

Macy's Thanksgiving Day

> parade. It subsides only after the FDA declares the allergies

entirely psychosomatic.

>

> You can see why I didn't send that story to the New Yorker.

>

> But an essay by Harvard doctor and social scientist Nicholas

Christakis in the British

> Medical Journal -- which I read in between my perusal of Classical

Philology and the IEEE

> Journal of Quantum Electronics -- makes more or less the same

argument. Christakis,

> who did a famous study showing that having fat friends makes you

fat, wrote that

> parental responses " bear many of the hallmarks of mass psychogenic

illness. "

>

> If you don't think allergic reactions can be caused by mass

hysteria, then you don't know

> about the uncontrollable dancing that gripped thousands of

Europeans between the 14th

> and 18th centuries, or that the South Korean government recently

issued a consumer

> safety alert saying that electric fans can asphyxiate you if left

running overnight, after

> news reports of several deaths. You, in short, have never looked

up " mass hysteria " on

> Wikipedia.

>

> Since food allergies kill about as many people as lightning strikes

each year, we probably

> don't need to ban peanuts from schools or put warnings on every

product saying it was

> " made in a factory that also has a break room where a guy named

Dave often sneaks in a

> King Size Snickers despite this 'diet' he says he's on. "

>

> When I talked to Christakis, he made it clear that -- unlike me --

he doesn't think peanut

> allergies represent a mass hysteria. That's because scientists

believe in rigorous study and

> proof, while opinion columnists believe in saying something

outrageous to get attention.

>

> But we did agree that it is strange how peanut allergies are only

an issue in rich, lefty

> communities.

>

> " We don't see this problem much in African American or poor

communities. So there's

> something going on here. We don't see them in Ecuador and

Guatemala, " Christakis said.

>

> A study of Jews of similar demographics and genetics in Britain and

Israel found that

> British kids were 10 times more likely to have peanut allergies

than Israelis. That's

> probably because Israeli kids have other things to be afraid of. I

would like to see a study

> that measures one's increased likelihood of peanut allergies if

you're an American kid

> named Oliver, Aidan, Spencer or Finn.

>

> Parents may think they are doing their kids a favor by testing them

and being hyper-

> vigilant about monitoring what they eat, but it's not cool to freak

kids out. Only 20% of

> kids who get a positive allergy test result need treatment. And a

2003 study showed that

> kids who were told they were allergic to peanuts had more anxiety

and felt more physically

> restricted than if they had diabetes. " It's anxiety-producing to

imagine that having a snack

> in kindergarten could be deadly, " Christakis said. Remember, this

is a demographic so

> easily panicked that, equipped with only circles and dots, it

invented an inoculation to

> cooties.

>

> A few years ago, I was at a bar without food, so I started downing

peanuts. Around the

> third bowl, I started coughing and felt this itchiness in the back

of my throat, which I

> quickly treated with beer. Still, for a few minutes, I was

convinced that a peanut allergy

> was about to kill me. If the beer had not made me forget the

incident, I might have

> avoided nuts for the rest of my life. Or, worse, bored everyone at

the table with my

> questions about nut allergies.

>

> So bring back nuts to schools. If parents need to panic about a

food, at least go with

> seafood allergies. Those fish sticks are disgusting.

>

> jstein

[Guest guest]

I can't believe how ignorant people still are about allergies! This guy

should look up the death rates of kids with allergies who died from a

reaction!

I grew up in poverty and I know many poor minorities who have food

allergies! I wish doctors where more aware of allergies when I was growing

up because I lived most of my life in a state of mild anaphalactic shock!

Perhaps the increase is do to doctors pulling their heads out of their butts

and actually listening to and testing for food allergies!

I defiantly think that food experimentation and antibacterial everything has

created an epidemic of immunological problems. When we where aloud to be

dirty we had less health problems. Keeping kids too clean sets them up for

serious problems when a bug gets into their system. Scientist experimenting

with our food supply does not help the situation! We may have a lot more

food to go around, but what good is it if nobody can eat it?

Let kids play in the mud and stop scientist from experimenting with our food

sources an maybe the rates of sick and dying children will drop! In the mean

time, allergens should be banned from schools and daycares and children (as

well as ignorant adults) should be educated on the severity and reality of

the consequences of food allergy reactions! People can die! People have

died! It's not just a yuppy attention seeking mass hysteria joke! People

like this guy should be locked in a room with no oxygen for a full minute to

really see how fake it feels to not be able to breathe! I can't believe how

ignorant people still are about food allergies with all the facts and info

available and how many people, small children, die all the time from real

reactions!

 

Thanks for sharing this!

 

On Sat, Jan 10, 2009 at 7:55 AM, thomasnangie <thomasnangiewrote:

 

> Someone posted this in TerrificKidsWFA, and I thought I'd share it

> here as well. Apparently the comment section at the end of the

> article is closed, so letters can be written directly to the LA Times.

>

> > JOEL STEIN:

> > Nut allergies -- a Yuppie invention

> > Some kids really do have food allergies. But most just have bad

> reactions to their parents'

> > mass hysteria.

> >

> > http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-stein9-

> > 2009jan09,0,6887202.column

> >

> >

> > JOEL STEIN:

> > Nut allergies -- a Yuppie invention

> > Some kids really do have food allergies. But most just have bad

> reactions to their parents'

> > mass hysteria.

> > Joel Stein

> > January 9, 2009

> > » Discuss Article (42 Comments)

> >

> > Your kid doesn't have an allergy to nuts. Your kid has a parent who

> needs to feel special.

> > Your kid also spends recess running and screaming, " No! Stop! Don't

> rub my head with

> > peanut butter! "

> >

> > Yes, a tiny number of kids have severe peanut allergies that cause

> anaphylactic shock, and

> > all their teachers should be warned, handed EpiPens and given a

> really expensive gift at

> > Christmas. But unless you're a character on " Heroes, " genes don't

> mutate fast enough to

> > have caused an 18% increase in childhood food allergies between

> 1997 and 2007. And

> > genes certainly don't cause 25% of parents to believe that their

> kids have food allergies,

> > when 4% do. Yuppiedom does.

> >

> > I first had this thought seven years ago, when I wrote a short

> story that very few people

> > read because, unlike most people, I was kind enough not to show it

> to anyone. In one

> > pointless digression, I described a future allergy epidemic in

> which not only nuts but malt,

> > guar gum, gluten and corn cause kids to blow up like balloons in

> Macy's Thanksgiving Day

> > parade. It subsides only after the FDA declares the allergies

> entirely psychosomatic.

> >

> > You can see why I didn't send that story to the New Yorker.

> >

> > But an essay by Harvard doctor and social scientist Nicholas

> Christakis in the British

> > Medical Journal -- which I read in between my perusal of Classical

> Philology and the IEEE

> > Journal of Quantum Electronics -- makes more or less the same

> argument. Christakis,

> > who did a famous study showing that having fat friends makes you

> fat, wrote that

> > parental responses " bear many of the hallmarks of mass psychogenic

> illness. "

> >

> > If you don't think allergic reactions can be caused by mass

> hysteria, then you don't know

> > about the uncontrollable dancing that gripped thousands of

> Europeans between the 14th

> > and 18th centuries, or that the South Korean government recently

> issued a consumer

> > safety alert saying that electric fans can asphyxiate you if left

> running overnight, after

> > news reports of several deaths. You, in short, have never looked

> up " mass hysteria " on

> > Wikipedia.

> >

> > Since food allergies kill about as many people as lightning strikes

> each year, we probably

> > don't need to ban peanuts from schools or put warnings on every

> product saying it was

> > " made in a factory that also has a break room where a guy named

> Dave often sneaks in a

> > King Size Snickers despite this 'diet' he says he's on. "

> >

> > When I talked to Christakis, he made it clear that -- unlike me --

> he doesn't think peanut

> > allergies represent a mass hysteria. That's because scientists

> believe in rigorous study and

> > proof, while opinion columnists believe in saying something

> outrageous to get attention.

> >

> > But we did agree that it is strange how peanut allergies are only

> an issue in rich, lefty

> > communities.

> >

> > " We don't see this problem much in African American or poor

> communities. So there's

> > something going on here. We don't see them in Ecuador and

> Guatemala, " Christakis said.

> >

> > A study of Jews of similar demographics and genetics in Britain and

> Israel found that

> > British kids were 10 times more likely to have peanut allergies

> than Israelis. That's

> > probably because Israeli kids have other things to be afraid of. I

> would like to see a study

> > that measures one's increased likelihood of peanut allergies if

> you're an American kid

> > named Oliver, Aidan, Spencer or Finn.

> >

> > Parents may think they are doing their kids a favor by testing them

> and being hyper-

> > vigilant about monitoring what they eat, but it's not cool to freak

> kids out. Only 20% of

> > kids who get a positive allergy test result need treatment. And a

> 2003 study showed that

> > kids who were told they were allergic to peanuts had more anxiety

> and felt more physically

> > restricted than if they had diabetes. " It's anxiety-producing to

> imagine that having a snack

> > in kindergarten could be deadly, " Christakis said. Remember, this

> is a demographic so

> > easily panicked that, equipped with only circles and dots, it

> invented an inoculation to

> > cooties.

> >

> > A few years ago, I was at a bar without food, so I started downing

> peanuts. Around the

> > third bowl, I started coughing and felt this itchiness in the back

> of my throat, which I

> > quickly treated with beer. Still, for a few minutes, I was

> convinced that a peanut allergy

> > was about to kill me. If the beer had not made me forget the

> incident, I might have

> > avoided nuts for the rest of my life. Or, worse, bored everyone at

> the table with my

> > questions about nut allergies.

> >

> > So bring back nuts to schools. If parents need to panic about a

> food, at least go with

> > seafood allergies. Those fish sticks are disgusting.

> >

> > jstein

>

>

>

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Interesting assertions made by Mr Stein, but ofcourse I disagree on a

number of points. I do agree that not all food allergies manifest as

an anaphalactic reaction, however to say that because children don't

present with a closing airway, that they aren't allergic to peanuts

is misguided.

 

Allergies as we all should know, can instigate all manner of

insidious little health issues taking years to unfold. Asthma,

osteoporisis, celiacs, even type II diabetes etc, etc. Not to

mention that child do present with more chest colds, ear and nose

infections, and can have learning disabilities all associated with

food intolerances and allergies.

 

So to say it's a lightning strike kinda deal doesn't take into

consideration the people dying from the forest fire started by the

strike.

 

Nancy

, " thomasnangie "

<thomasnangie wrote:

>

> Someone posted this in TerrificKidsWFA, and I thought I'd share it

> here as well. Apparently the comment section at the end of the

> article is closed, so letters can be written directly to the LA

Times.

>

>

>

> > JOEL STEIN:

> > Nut allergies -- a Yuppie invention

> > Some kids really do have food allergies. But most just have bad

> reactions to their parents'

> > mass hysteria.

> >

> > http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-stein9-

> > 2009jan09,0,6887202.column

> >

> >

> > JOEL STEIN:

> > Nut allergies -- a Yuppie invention

> > Some kids really do have food allergies. But most just have bad

> reactions to their parents'

> > mass hysteria.

> > Joel Stein

> > January 9, 2009

> > » Discuss Article (42 Comments)

> >

> > Your kid doesn't have an allergy to nuts. Your kid has a parent

who

> needs to feel special.

> > Your kid also spends recess running and screaming, " No! Stop!

Don't

> rub my head with

> > peanut butter! "

> >

> > Yes, a tiny number of kids have severe peanut allergies that cause

> anaphylactic shock, and

> > all their teachers should be warned, handed EpiPens and given a

> really expensive gift at

> > Christmas. But unless you're a character on " Heroes, " genes don't

> mutate fast enough to

> > have caused an 18% increase in childhood food allergies between

> 1997 and 2007. And

> > genes certainly don't cause 25% of parents to believe that their

> kids have food allergies,

> > when 4% do. Yuppiedom does.

> >

> > I first had this thought seven years ago, when I wrote a short

> story that very few people

> > read because, unlike most people, I was kind enough not to show it

> to anyone. In one

> > pointless digression, I described a future allergy epidemic in

> which not only nuts but malt,

> > guar gum, gluten and corn cause kids to blow up like balloons in

> Macy's Thanksgiving Day

> > parade. It subsides only after the FDA declares the allergies

> entirely psychosomatic.

> >

> > You can see why I didn't send that story to the New Yorker.

> >

> > But an essay by Harvard doctor and social scientist Nicholas

> Christakis in the British

> > Medical Journal -- which I read in between my perusal of Classical

> Philology and the IEEE

> > Journal of Quantum Electronics -- makes more or less the same

> argument. Christakis,

> > who did a famous study showing that having fat friends makes you

> fat, wrote that

> > parental responses " bear many of the hallmarks of mass psychogenic

> illness. "

> >

> > If you don't think allergic reactions can be caused by mass

> hysteria, then you don't know

> > about the uncontrollable dancing that gripped thousands of

> Europeans between the 14th

> > and 18th centuries, or that the South Korean government recently

> issued a consumer

> > safety alert saying that electric fans can asphyxiate you if left

> running overnight, after

> > news reports of several deaths. You, in short, have never looked

> up " mass hysteria " on

> > Wikipedia.

> >

> > Since food allergies kill about as many people as lightning

strikes

> each year, we probably

> > don't need to ban peanuts from schools or put warnings on every

> product saying it was

> > " made in a factory that also has a break room where a guy named

> Dave often sneaks in a

> > King Size Snickers despite this 'diet' he says he's on. "

> >

> > When I talked to Christakis, he made it clear that -- unlike me --

> he doesn't think peanut

> > allergies represent a mass hysteria. That's because scientists

> believe in rigorous study and

> > proof, while opinion columnists believe in saying something

> outrageous to get attention.

> >

> > But we did agree that it is strange how peanut allergies are only

> an issue in rich, lefty

> > communities.

> >

> > " We don't see this problem much in African American or poor

> communities. So there's

> > something going on here. We don't see them in Ecuador and

> Guatemala, " Christakis said.

> >

> > A study of Jews of similar demographics and genetics in Britain

and

> Israel found that

> > British kids were 10 times more likely to have peanut allergies

> than Israelis. That's

> > probably because Israeli kids have other things to be afraid of. I

> would like to see a study

> > that measures one's increased likelihood of peanut allergies if

> you're an American kid

> > named Oliver, Aidan, Spencer or Finn.

> >

> > Parents may think they are doing their kids a favor by testing

them

> and being hyper-

> > vigilant about monitoring what they eat, but it's not cool to

freak

> kids out. Only 20% of

> > kids who get a positive allergy test result need treatment. And a

> 2003 study showed that

> > kids who were told they were allergic to peanuts had more anxiety

> and felt more physically

> > restricted than if they had diabetes. " It's anxiety-producing to

> imagine that having a snack

> > in kindergarten could be deadly, " Christakis said. Remember, this

> is a demographic so

> > easily panicked that, equipped with only circles and dots, it

> invented an inoculation to

> > cooties.

> >

> > A few years ago, I was at a bar without food, so I started downing

> peanuts. Around the

> > third bowl, I started coughing and felt this itchiness in the back

> of my throat, which I

> > quickly treated with beer. Still, for a few minutes, I was

> convinced that a peanut allergy

> > was about to kill me. If the beer had not made me forget the

> incident, I might have

> > avoided nuts for the rest of my life. Or, worse, bored everyone at

> the table with my

> > questions about nut allergies.

> >

> > So bring back nuts to schools. If parents need to panic about a

> food, at least go with

> > seafood allergies. Those fish sticks are disgusting.

> >

> > jstein@

>

[Guest guest]

you're welcome! yeah, i was pretty ticked after reading it too. i

plan to send an email to the la times once i am able to compose a

well-thought out letter, rather than lashing out in anger and calling

him an idiot, which is what would happen at this point. i made some

notes immediately after reading it though, so i wouldn't forget. i'm

a member of terrifickidswfa, a for parents of kids with

food allergies, and i think we are going to work on a rebuttal as a

group to send to the editor. one of those moms said, " it's too bad he

didn't choke on that peanut " and i had to laugh because i didn't

disagree.

 

, " Jae Jones "

<recyclednew wrote:

>

> I can't believe how ignorant people still are about allergies! This

guy

> should look up the death rates of kids with allergies who died from

a

> reaction!

> I grew up in poverty and I know many poor minorities who have food

> allergies! I wish doctors where more aware of allergies when I was

growing

> up because I lived most of my life in a state of mild anaphalactic

shock!

> Perhaps the increase is do to doctors pulling their heads out of

their butts

> and actually listening to and testing for food allergies!

> I defiantly think that food experimentation and antibacterial

everything has

> created an epidemic of immunological problems. When we where aloud

to be

> dirty we had less health problems. Keeping kids too clean sets them

up for

> serious problems when a bug gets into their system. Scientist

experimenting

> with our food supply does not help the situation! We may have a lot

more

> food to go around, but what good is it if nobody can eat it?

> Let kids play in the mud and stop scientist from experimenting with

our food

> sources an maybe the rates of sick and dying children will drop! In

the mean

> time, allergens should be banned from schools and daycares and

children (as

> well as ignorant adults) should be educated on the severity and

reality of

> the consequences of food allergy reactions! People can die! People

have

> died! It's not just a yuppy attention seeking mass hysteria joke!

People

> like this guy should be locked in a room with no oxygen for a full

minute to

> really see how fake it feels to not be able to breathe! I can't

believe how

> ignorant people still are about food allergies with all the facts

and info

> available and how many people, small children, die all the time

from real

> reactions!

>

> Thanks for sharing this!

>