One of the more mystifying aspects of impending parenthood is the Toxic Peanut.
In the course of educating myself as to this whole kid thing, I have
noticed a tremendous amount of awareness of peanut allergies. There are
many children who are highly allergic to peanuts.
This isn't some fad tailor-made for AM talk show hosts to bemoan modern
American life. (They probably do moan about it, because God forbid our
rights to get peanuts on a plane be trampled upon. That's, like,
totally Communist.) But these kids, their throats close up, their faces
break out, they can't breathe, and they are frequently rushed to the
ER. These are not symptoms that four-year-olds can fake.
So if it's not fake, where and when did the Toxic Peanut emerge? Has it always been here?
I went to kindergarten and elementary school in the 1970s and 1980s. I
don't remember any kids that were allergic to peanuts, at least not so
dramatically that even being near one could trigger a fatal attack.
I've informally polled my friends about it as well, and none of us
remember anything about peanut allergies. Bee sting allergies, yes.
There were definitely kids with very serious bee sting allergies. But
nothing about peanuts.
Are peanuts more toxic? Or did kids just used to die and we didn't hear
about it? Is it just heightened awareness, or are kids truly more
allergic to peanuts? If kids are more allergic, where did that come
from?
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3 comments:
That's an interesting question! I've wondered about it myself. Growing up in the 60's and 70's I didn't know anyone who was allergic to peanuts, and it seemed like everyone loved peanut butter! Not I'm hearing about it all the time!
Yeah, I don't remember anyone in my childhood with peanut allergies either.
http://allergies.about.com/library/blaaaai111802.htm
I've been hearing a lot more about peanut allergies lately too. Some schools have even banned peanut products; non-allergic kids aren't allowed to bring in a PB&J, because apparently some kids are so sensitive that people eating peanuts anywhere near them can set them off. I read the article from about.com and did some more poking around on Google. There is a verifiable increase in the allergies, but no one's sure why. There's speculation, but there doesn't seem to be any hard evidence, that mothers are eating more peanuts during pregnancy or during breastfeeding and that's making the kids allergic. It sounds unlikely that peanut consumption has increased so dramatically in the past ten years or so. So it's still a mystery.
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