The Man-Made Peanut Allergy Epidemic, A revealing history of a medical mystery

Fraser Horne ^ | Heather Fraser

[GOPJ]

Interesting.

[ShadowAce]

This is not true. A lie repeated a bunch of times is still a lie.

And a denial does not make it false, either.

I have no thoughts on this one way or the other. However, lack of proof does not mean proof of no causation.

[codder too]

"There is a vaccine for TB?"

Years ago they gave us BCG vaccinations when we went into nurses training. Nasty little thing. Created a weeping sore on our shoulders for about two weeks. I have no idea if it was useful for anything other than creating a positive skin test indicating TB "exposure" for many years.

[Flightdeck]

“And a denial does not make it false, either.

I have no thoughts on this one way or the other. However, lack of proof does not mean proof of no causation.”

If you read the quote that I said was not true, you’ll see I was actually referring to the fact that a “report was leaked which links...” THAT was not true. There is no study (or official report of such study) that describes a link between the drug and autism. There are only opinion-based article written by the likes of Rolling Stone magazine and Jenny McCarthy. I personally don’t believe the drug/autism link is true as well, but that is a secondary point which I wasn’t making.

However, I understand that I wasn’t very clear.

[SamAdams76]

Reminds me of simpler times when I went to school back in the late 1960s-early 1970s. Back then, having a "hot lunch" served to you in a cafeteria was virtually unknown. All the kids brought lunchboxes to school with peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, an apple or banana, and maybe a Snickers bar or a bag of Cheez-its. Never heard of anybody having an allergy to peanuts and if they did, they'd be laughed at. However, many of us would attempt (without success) to claim an allergy to broccoli or string beans back at home.

The lunch boxes were invariably based on a theme from a television show. Some of the lunchboxes I remember were of The Partridge Family, Scooby-Doo, The Archies and even Adam-12 had their own lunchbox.

Never understood why it became mandatory to prepare and serve hot lunches in the schools and install all those soda and snack machines instead of just having the kids bring their lunches from home. It took my mother maybe 10 minutes to assemble the sandwiches each morning for the three of us so I'm not buying the "working Mom" excuse either.

[Smokin' Joe]

Thank you for informing me. I recall smallpox and other vaccinations, and the polio vaccine campaign, but had heard little about a TB vaccine.

For the benefit of others who shared my ignorance, here is more information.

[refreshed]

I really am sorry to get in on this one late. However, my wife and I have no allergies to speak of and we had the full compliment of vaccines, whereas my son cannot even be in the same room as peanut oil or he breaks out in hives. We discovered his allergy to peanuts when I gave him a bite of my peanut butter sandwich when he was 12 months. We took him to the ER as his airway was closing fast due to a reaction. Our children have not had vaccinations due to several anecdotal cases we know of first-hand where a kid got a shot and then developed autism.

[aruanan]

Our children have not had vaccinations due to several anecdotal cases we know of first-hand where a kid got a shot and then developed autism.

About 50% of kids who get vaccinations later get facial hair.

[refreshed]

I understand your point. That’s why I said “anecdotal.” I don’t expect anyone else to take that as evidence, but it is my own evidence.

[freedumb2003]

I am 100% sure there were TB shots, although you are probably right about that stupid thimble. I saw my childhood innoculation record and TB was on it.

But my reading says that we are now finding they were not that useful since TB appears to co-evolve with humans.

I suspect it was done in fits and starts — so maybe I was during the “on” period in California.

[freedumb2003]

>>About 50% of kids who get vaccinations later get facial hair.<<

Interestingly (and of classification difficulty) is that they get it on their palms.

;)

[freedumb2003]

Thanks for reinforcing my memory.

For a second there I was afraid I was a replicant with implanted memories (and was hoping I was a Nexus 8)

[freedumb2003]

>>several anecdotal cases we know of first-hand where a kid got a shot and then developed autism.<<

A friend of mine got a flu shot and got into a car accident the next day. Thus, I won’t get a flu shot because it causes car accidents.

[aruanan]

That’s why I said “anecdotal.” I don’t expect anyone else to take that as evidence, but it is my own evidence.

Like someone else said, "The plural of 'anecdote' isn't 'data'" and post hoc ergo propter hoc is still a fallacy no matter how closely one experiences it.

[refreshed]

As I said, it is anecdotal evidence. I am trying to convince nobody with it. My original point in posting to this thread was the fact that my son, who has never had immunizations, has a severe peanut allergy, while his parents (my wife and myself) have no allergies to speak of. This would seem to contradict the idea that immunizations lead to peanut allergies. I suppose I was not so clear in my original post. Anyhow, that being said, I am VERY glad my son did not get immunizations, as his reaction could have been damaging due to his severe allergy to peanuts and eggs. That's all. No need to turn this into a philosophy or debate class. But thank you for your use of the $10,000 dollar latin phrase post hoc ergo propter hoc.

[freedumb2003]

>>But thank you for your use of the $10,000 dollar latin phrase post hoc ergo propter hoc.<<

Sorry to dogpile and I am glad it all worked out for you (well, for the most part). I would say that the marked increase in peanut allergy, pretty much out of nowhere, is indeed analogous (if not congruent) with the marked increase in autism.

You did take a risk, but that is what parents do. I only ask (as a citizen) that it be a reasoned risk.

And I owe you a $5,000 discount because I thought I was stuffily (is there any other way?) discoursing on “Non Sequitur” arguments!

Really, good job on clarificatiating.

[GovernmentShrinker]

There are a LOT of potential explanations. One which has been put forth by serious researchers, is that many children in developed countries are growing up in unnaturally sterile environments, with homes constantly being cleaned, Lysol’d, vacuumed with vacuum cleaners equipped with HEPA filters, spending little time outside interacting with bugs and bird poop, and thus not getting a normal range and quantity of exposures to properly develop their immune systems (this is consistent with what’s been demonstrated with more ordinary allergies, that children growing up on farms are far less likely to be allergic to things like dogs/cats/pollen).

The key is the correlation to developed countries, where there’s a whole range of synthetic chemicals that people are exposed to on a daily basis. The chemicals emanating from foam rubber furniture cushions and “rubber” backed rugs, adhesives used in plywood and pressboard products, fiberglass used in insulation, and the idiotic fire retardant chemicals that are all over upholstery fabric and children pajamas. Another chemical of unknown effects was spotted recently — can’t recall what it was, but it’s formed by chlorinated water and heat, and they found elevated levels in the blood of people who’d recently taken a shower! Compulsive showering is a very modern Western concept (and still not nearly as frequent in Europe as in the US. And then there are all the lawn chemicals and household cleaning products and home/garden pesticides. There are just so MANY things that could be causing this, that trying to blame vaccines is really absurd. One big part of the puzzle may simply be that kids who were genetically predisposed to this used to die long before reaching reproductive age (and still do in underdeveloped countries), and thus not pass on the genes for it. Now they’re all running around with epi-pens and being helicoptered to the hospital.

And wait til you come down with shingles to decide that it’s not worth vaccinating against chicken pox. For some people it never fully goes away. For my father, it took several months and also involved a trip to the emergency room when a doctor thought his symptoms sounded like a heart attack. An elderly woman who lived next door to my vacation home, and had been doing fine living on her own, ended up having to move into a nursing about 3 years ago due to shingles. The pain remains unmanageable without drugs that impair her balance and reflexes, so she can’t live on her own anymore. Keeping her in a nursing home for what may well turn out to be 10 years or more, with not only ruin her quality of life, but cost several hundred thousand dollars.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I thought that the risk of shingles decreased (if not was practically eliminated) if you had the chickenpox as a youngster...is that not the case?

No, if you've ever had chicken pox, you're at risk of shingles. You can't get shingles if you never had chicken pox. One childhood vaccination thus prevents both chicken pox and shingles.

[Ramius]

OH... Man... are you kidding me? It’s not until reading about halfway into this that I find out it’s just more of that stupid anti-vaccine nonsense?

There should be some kind of warning label or something on these threads.

[aruanan]

But thank you for your use of the $10,000 dollar latin phrase post hoc ergo propter hoc.

This is just a standard, commonly encountered phrase that describes the practice of thinking that A caused B because B appeared after A. Unfortunately, several things that can lead to sensitizing of a child to an allergen are 1. introducing milk, egg, peanut, and other proteins at too young an age before tight junctions in the gut have fully closed, 2. inadequate gastric secretion that permits a bigger load of undenatured protein to make it to the small intestine, 3. insufficient mucosal protection in the small intestine. Though some cases of sensitization have occurred through aerosolization of the allergen, most are by mouth, and most of those by entry through the small intestine.