Chatelaine: It's just nuts
November 7, 2009
In their latest December 2009 issue, the Canadian Chatelaine magazine has published It's just nuts by Patricia Pearson, a controversial article about peanut allergy. After reading their article, I have decided to comment and share my thoughts and concerns.
Reading this article was enough to give me goose bumps. I did not understand how a women's magazine like Chatelaine will publish a controversial piece about health issue concerning children with life-threatening condition who sufferer of food allergies.
In the introduction, the author stated her own family problematic that her son is a picky eater and one of the few things that he loves to eat, peanut butter on whole-grain bread, is banned from his school. By being a mother, she expressed her child's needs, and does not understand that his favorite food is a treat for others, even if she explained with statistics that only 2% of Canadian children are allergic to peanuts. ‘Why, exactly, does the tiny peanut loom so large as a threat?'
Along in the article, she tried to demonstrate that the problematic of banding peanuts from school should be done because the number of death cases and hospitalizations are not high enough. With studies, she also shown that peanuts allergy is not a life-threatening issue as some of the examples provide in the article are acknowledged by parents' anxiety, overprotection and panic that children may be in contact with peanuts. Also she maintained that Canadian schools may have decided to ban peanuts to protect allergic children and to avoid severe food allergies, but ironically other dangerous allergens are still in circulation.
In the 80's when I was first diagnosed, these measures were not implement and my parents had to educate my entourage (caretakers, friends, relatives, teachers, etc.) about my food allergies and the potential risks of an allergic reaction. Today, thankfully schools protect allergic children and guarantee a safe and secure environment to study. Even if the percentage of allergic children is pretty low, a life-threatening condition should never be compared to picky eater. The prevention remains the only way until we find a cure to erase this dangerous and terrifying health issue.
In conclusion, everybody is allowed to express their opinion, but unfortunately, I must strongly disagree with the arguments and comments from Ms Pearson in her article It's just nuts. I will advice her to assist to a weekly meeting of a group of parents with allergic children or take part in a child's routine with severe food allergies, just for a day. That way, she may realize that her awkward son's food diet is nothing compare to a life-threatening condition! I hope that Chatelaine magazine, the editor-in-chief and the author will be able to acknowledge this article by providing answers to their readers and everyone who have left comments on their website.
It is never too late to react to this article; therefore, I strongly invite you to leave your comments, as I have done. I have also added my name and details to a letter sent by the editor of the Allergic Living magazine to the editor of Chatelaine magazine. We live in a society in which individuals are able to make their voices heard, and we must do it in the names of allergic individuals.
Sources:
www.chatelaine.com
www.allergicliving.com
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