Bullying and Food Allergies

I stumbled upon this disturbing story on the ABC site this morning:

Bullies Go Nuts With Allergic Kids
Peanut Butter and Deadly Taunts
A Combination of Bullying and Peanut Allergies May Put Some Kids in the ER

Late last spring, 14-year-old Sarah VanEssendelft of Mastic, N.Y., experienced bullying worthy of a teen movie.

"There was a group of five girls ... and they decided they didn't want me sitting at their lunch table anymore," said VanEssendelft. To get her to leave, they all brought in peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

For VanEssendelft, it might as well have been arsenic.

Read More

I think this falls into the 'allergic parents worst fear' category.

How did children become so mean? How can we educate our kids and make them more compassionate?

Between this, and reading about Andrew Smith, my heart is sunk this morning.

Martha's Announcement

Watch It Here:

Martha Stewart Big Idea Winner?

Update: Just got a little more clarification. There will be an actual pet publication, but she will incorporate more allergy conscious recipes and content in her existing publications (even though the allergy idea WON the vote. That's just lame, Martha. Lame, lame, lame.

Just heard through the grapevine that the Allergy Publication and the Pet Publication won the Big Idea Bake off.

Is this true?!? Did anyone watch it?

I wonder how long it will take to come to publication of the first issue?

Rahul K. Parikh, You Suck.

I wonder if this guy is friends with Ms. Broussard?

Why would a doctor even put this out there? Yes, there are folks who over blow their kids food allergies (hello, I know I've talked about the 'milk allergic' kid in Bella's school who still eats cupcakes, right?) but there ARE families with real, life threatening allergies. Instead of brushing them off, maybe he could have kept his mouth shut. His article implies that we should lighten up and not protect our kids.

Maybe he wanted parents to stop stressing out about allergies, that they probably wouldn't happen. If so, he went about it the wrong way. He mentions research at the end of this piece, and then tells his patients to ignore it and actually introduce allergens to kids at one year. What a doctor! I'm glad he's not practicing near me.

Maybe he just wrote this to get attention. He knew it would hit a nerve and he wanted attention. Lots of writers do it. I think Ms. Broussard did that too. That's my opinion at least.

I guess he got it. Can't wait to read the letters to the editor in next week's Chronicle.

Something Fishy?

Just went to place my daily vote on the Martha Blog.

Did anyone vote today and notice that after you submit, it only says "Thank You for Voting", and not the voting results (in percentages) as it has in past days?

Seems awfully fishy to me.

Something tells me we're getting a pet publication.

~Grumble~

Broken Record

Lots of allergy-free bloggers out there have posted about this already, but I'm going to be a broken record just to get the word out again!

Martha Stewart is holding a Big Idea contest on her site to choose the focus of a new publication, and one of the choices is a publication for Allergies and Intolerances. Go vote now so we have another publication (with the backing of a big name like Martha Stewart behind it) out there geared towards our needs as an allergic individual or family members.

Vote today (and often!) Here's the ground rules from her blog:

You can vote as many times as you'd like (once per day) over the next week. On Thursday, February 7, we'll close the poll, and Martha will later announce the big winner!

Again, check out her post and vote today. As of this morning, the allergy publication is in the lead, but don't let that stop you from voting. Let's win by a landslide!

Parenting Magazine: Spotting and Treating Food Allergies

The latest Parenting Magazine has a new article: Spotting and Treating Food Allergies. Read it online here.

Is it me, or are food allergies finally getting some much needed coverage (even the latest Harper's I suppose)? It seems like food allergy articles are popping up all over the place.

I, for one, am glad to see articles like these.

Everyone's Gone Nuts - A Rebuttal

Allergic Girl responds to the Harper's Article with an interview with a pediatric allergist (who also happens to have an allergic child).

Take a look.

This Month's Harper's Article?

Update: I've read the article (thanks to all of you who emailed it to me directly!). I just shook my head as I read this. IMHO, she's really in no position to make these remarks and I'm not sure what exactly she was trying to accomplish with her piece? Should us moms just chill out and not pay any attention if our kids pick up a PB&J at a birthday party? Uh, sorry but that will never happen. And as someone who works in scientific publishing (with one of the highest impact factors in all of STM publishing actually), I find her comments and insinuations on the bias of scientific publications laughable. As Bugs Bunny would say, "what a maroon".

Has anyone read the article in this month's Harper's?

Everyone's gone nuts:

The exaggerated threat of food allergies

by Meredith Broussard

I'm going to try to pick up a copy today, but if it's lame and I shouldn't waste my time let me know. I'm afraid it's just an opinion piece saying how all moms of PA kids are overreacting...

CNN: Allergic Article

A CNN video producer writes about her son's allergies.

If you're the parent of an allergic child, you'll relate to all of it. A reminder of how we're all in the same boat, facing the same challenges.

Watch It This Week: Edible Enemies

Found on the peanutallergy.com boards. I'll definitely be watching this (an excuse to watch Food Network? nope, don't need one). I guess it aired yesterday but we missed it (damn that fresh air we went out to get!). Have any of you seen it?

Food Network Specials
Episode AXSP01

AIR TIME: October 19, 2007 10:00 AM ET/PT

Edible Enemies
Edible Enemies is a one-hour special report that looks at the mysterious increase in both the number and the severity of food allergies in the United States. 12 million Americans now have food allergies. There is no cure. There is no treatment, other than a shot of epinephrine in an emergency. We will hear from the parents of small children, and from teenagers and adults living with life-threatening food allergies