Re: NY Post .. 1 in 70 children with peanut allergies.......

[Guest guest]

The madness continues .. unabated and unexplained.

The following is a two-page spread in today's NY Post "pulse" section .. titled "We Shell Overcome" .. which states "about 1 in 165 adults and 1 in 70 children suffer peanut allergies". Perhaps I am reading for the first time how MANY children suffer peanut allergies .. because .. I am not AWARE of any public CAMPAIGNS FOR THIS LIFE THREATENING, LIFE ALTERING .. NOW EXCEEDINGLY COMMON ALLERGY?

Think about that .. 1 in 70 children suffer peanut allergies .. and .. the only explanation public health officials have is the "hygiene hypothesis" .. "an unconfirmed theory about why the percentage of peanut allergies has risen in recent years to about 2% of the child population: with less exposure to bacteria and fewer germs, immune systems look elsewhere for work".

Not to worry .. Rocco Damato, president of Yankee peanut provider A.L. Bazzini is quoted: "The good news, says Damato, is that the peanut industry is aggressively working to find a vaccine."

Just how stupid is the PEANUT INDUSTRY to aggressively seek a vaccine rather than conducting research on the vaccines already being given to this generation of children that MAY BE THE CAUSE OF THE PEANUT ALLERGY EPIDEMIC TO BEGIN WITH? Of course .. the cynic in me suspects there is probably MORE MONEY IN THE VACCINE THAN IN FINDING THE CAUSE OF THE PEANUT ALLERGY.

Will this madness EVER END??????

http://tinyurl.com/85ex7g8

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We shell overcome!

In response to growing demand from allergic fans, the Mets and Yankees are offering peanut-free seating this season

By SARA PEPITONE

Last Updated: 4:08 AM, April 4, 2012

Posted: 11:01 PM, April 3, 2012

Peanut-free baseball was news to Aimee Katz, who kept her severely allergic 4-year-old daughter, Kate Lily, at home during past seasons. Kate Lily has been begging to go to a game, says Katz, who always erred on the side of caution since she can’t predict the severity of her daughter’s reactions. Hives one day could be potentially fatal anaphylaxis the next.

“My husband literally has to sneak our older daughter to games — complete with hiding Yankee shirts under clothing — because it so upsets my younger daughter that she cannot go,†says Katz.

“We would absolutely love to go to a Yankee game as a family.â€

Little Yankees fan Kate Lily Katz — here with her mom Aimee and her anti-allergy arsenal of Benadryl and EpiPens — usually can’t go to ballgames because she might have a deadly reaction to peanuts. But anti-nut stadium seating could change all that.

Like Pierorazio, she plans to get on the Yankees’ list, and hopes to make the date. “A peanut-free suite for one game is OK, but I’m not sure what the big deal would be to have a permanent peanut-free section,†says Katz, who believes the number of peanut-allergic fans, plus the family and friends who would join them, warrants a full section.

About one in 165 adults and one in 70 children suffer from a peanut allergy. And though twice as many Americans are allergic to fish and shellfish, peanuts are getting all the attention lately.

The “hygiene hypothesis†is an often referred to, unconfirmed theory about why the percentage of peanut allergies has risen in recent years to about 2 percent of the child population: with less exposure to bacteria and fewer germs, immune systems look elsewhere for work.

Those who are particularly sensitive may experience symptoms when others are merely cracking open the peanuts near them.

“My patients have sometimes described symptoms that are similar to pollen allergies or cat allergies: itchy eyes and skin, runny nose, itchy and watery eyes, etc.,†says Dr. H. Sicherer, a researcher at the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mount Sinai. The problem is that when shelled, peanuts become dusty and have residue.

“With small children, parents are concerned that they may grab and eat a stray peanut or have a lot of contact with peanut residues on seats,†adds Sicherer.

Theoretically, the “peanut-free†suites provide a contained environment to control what’s flying around. But as New York baseball fans know, having a roof over one’s head is for sissies.

“It would be wonderful if at some point there was a section [within] each section — not just nosebleeds — that was peanut- and nut-free,†says Pierorazio.

Such shifting attitudes toward peanuts — which have been banned at schools and on certain airlines — have some fans worried.

“Peanuts are more than just sustenance at the ballpark,†says Tony Gervino, a Mets season-ticket holder since 1999.

“It’s about a process that has remained unchanged for a century: selecting the nut, splitting the shell, dumping its contents into your mouth and discarding it on the floor by your feet. It’s as much part of the fabric of baseball as the seventh-inning stretch. Losing it would be like losing a family member.â€

“It’s the DNA of the game,†adds Rocco Damato, president of Yankee peanut provider A.L. Bazzini. “It’s in the song. When I go to a ballgame, I like having a bag of peanuts, a beer and a hot dog. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t enjoy the game as much.â€

The good news, says Damato, is that the peanut industry is aggressively working to find a vaccine.

“You have to be careful, but I don’t think [that most of the] 56,000 people

[who fill Yankee Stadium] can’t indulge in what is

a healthy food.â€

Damato has not spoken to the Yankees about peanut-free seating, nor has he noticed a related decline in sales of peanuts — about 1,000 bags are sold at every game. The Mets sell a similar number.

And if spring training is any indicator of the regular season, those numbers are unlikely to change. Last week, a peanut hawker of 10 years told us peanuts are as popular as ever. “Beer and peanuts,†he shrugs, “it’s baseball.â€

Parents of peanut-allergic fans — including Pierorazio and Katz — say they have no desire to see a totally peanut-free ballpark.

The last time anyone banned peanuts from baseball — as the San Francisco Seals did in 1950 because the shells were so pricey to clean up — it lasted one day, pre-season.

“To many deep, dyed-in-the-wool fans it was just like ripping the heart out of baseball itself,†said the Los Angeles Herald Express at the time. “The privilege of buying, shelling and eating peanuts at the ballgame is just too sacred.â€