I was born in 1953 and I’d never even heard of peanut allergies until 1997 - the year I got connected to the 'net. I first read about it on a US-based messageboard.
Peanut allergies seem to be in epidemic proportions now.
Or, quite possibly, they’ve been overhyped.
Born in 1958. First time I ever heard of peanut allergies was an article in The Miami Herald in the mid '70’s about a boy who died from eating ice cream containing peanut butter, which was not listed on the label.
On the ADHD side, I had a friend with two kids in the family on ritalin for hyperkinesis, as it was called then. This would have been early 70’s. I had two sibs who were put through some early forms of Special Education, and that has definitely come a long way since then.
Very likely. That’s why I said “seems”.
I first became interested in The Great Peanut Butter Banning debate sometime in 1998, merely as an amazed bystander. I’d never heard of peanut allergy before '97 and I was astounded at the virulence of the debate.
We’re a good decade behind many trends in the US and I’ve just noticed that The Great Peanut Butter Banning debate is beginning here. Individual schools have introduced a ban because one child has such an allergy but there have been calls for peanut products to be banned in all NSW schools.
Born in 1965. Never knew anyone with a peanut allergy.
Peanut butter was common around my elementary school.
I still have peanut butter toast (Kraft crunchy, to be precise) most mornings for breakfast.
Grew up in the 80’s, never knew anyone who was nut allergic.
My 4-yo daughter is allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, and possibly sesame seeds. Before everyone jumps on me for being a paranoid overprotective mother, she was not raised in a germ-phobic household. I have not found it necessary to ask for peanut-free tables (though some do, and for good reason), but I am very careful about informing the parents at the homes she visits. I am very grateful for the improved labels on food packaging, because it allows me to give her a few snacks, instead of avoiding all packaged food all the time.
DangerGirl is not fatally allergic to nuts–yet. One reason that I, and other parents, have to be so careful about exposure is that the more run-ins she has with nuts, the worse the allergy is likely to get. Ideally, we would keep her from meeting nuts at all until she’s older, so that she would have a chance at outgrowing the allergy. Right now, a tiny amount of peanut or walnut causes her to vomit everything out of her system, but every time it happens, it’s a chance lost for her system to overcome the allergy, and one step closer to anaphylaxis. It is for this reason that I can’t just shrug off an incident where someone forgets and acidentally gives her something with nuts in it. The consequences are long-term, and we can’t just say “well, it’s over now, no harm done.” As much as we might wish to, it’s not true.
I was born in 1949. I know a man my age who is extremely allergic to peanuts, to a life-threatening degree. I didn’t know him when I was a kid, but he had the allergy when he was a kid.
Born in '78.
My best friend in kindergarten had a peanut allergy and severe asthma, so I was aware of those problems from a young age, though I went through school before they started banning peanuts etc. I also currently have a good friend who’s allergic to peanuts, soy, and a bunch of other things I can’t remember off-hand, so I just have to remember to pre-clear the menu with her if she comes over for dinner.
I have no cite because this is a “saw it on tv” kinda cite BUT this doco I watched just 2 weks ago claimed that we live in an allergy prone society because we live in an ultra-safe, ultra-hygenic society.
It claimed that if we lived with a bit of muck and embraced the muck we would have children who developed immune systems.
I have a child that only puts on shoes because school regulations say so and is not allergic to a damn thing.
Of course he has a mother who had a rabbit for 6 years and every time she patted him her eyes swelled up and she sneezed lots. As far as I’m concerned he was a pet who caused problems…I am not allergic to rabbits. That’s how allergies were dealt with in the olden days.
Define “significant”. I think it’s likely that a 1-in-5000 (number pulled from the air) allergy would have been given less attention in 1950 than in 2005. It’s not as if 1 in 3 kids today have a peanut allergy.
Some have brought up that some kids with bad peanut allergies may, sadly, never have made it to elementary school age 50 years ago. That is a good point, as well. What we now know were misdiagnoses may have played a part in underreporting peanut and other allergies.
Born in '73, never met any peanut allergy folks until '98, when I met about four at once when I was a mature student. They were all 16-18.
Good for you. I have a child who loves to play outside, in the dirt, and yet has managed to be allergic to several things, starting in infancy, before shoes ever got onto her feet.
People are constantly accusing parents with allergic children of being frightened of germs. They must have done something wrong, been too protective, encased the poor kid in a bubble–or they’re probably just making a mountain out of a molehill, or imagining things. This conveniently puts all the blame on the parents, and makes others feel nice and safe, because it can’t happen to them–they’re better parents than that. I get very tired of being told I must be a bad mother.
I do think that an overly hygenic society may be one contributing factor to the apparent rise in allergies. There are a lot of other factors, too, and we most likely don’t understand all of them.
Fifty years ago, homosexuality and autism were both considered products of bad parenting. As we learn more, we may find that allergies have very little to do with parents’ abilities and a lot more to do with factors we have yet to discover.
Dangerdad checking in here.
I saw a doco on TV that said we didn’t go to the moon. That it was all a hoax.
Moral: don’t believe everything you see on TV.
I was born in the mid-1960s. I never met anybody around my age – young Baby Boomers or old Generation Xers – with peanut allergies.
I did know a lot of people with an assortment of environmental allergies; dist mites, pollen, cats and so on. For some reason, I noticed a corrolary between allergies and intelligence; allergies were far more common among smart kids than more normal or slower children.