[freedumb2003]

Please note I am NOT minimizing these issues.

I am sure that I, growing up in the 60s and 70s never heard of peanut allergies nor autism. I know they are unrelated but I note their growth seem to have been concurrent. It is also interesting to note that child endangerment in general seems to have also risen (no facts or data — these are off the cuff observations).

I am not alone in asking what the heck is causing all this? Are they related? Is it pollution? Water? Rising expectations?

Anyway I don’t care that much about losing peanuts on flights (I assume they will substitute pretzels which is what AA did eons ago).

[dfwgator]

I think it’s parents being so paranoid of germs, they literally make their kids grow up in a “plastic bubble” so their immune systems never totally develop.

[metmom]

There’s no doubt that allergies are on the rise and in part due to our overly clean environment.

However, while peanut allergies were not known when I was growing up, it was common to hear about some kid who *choked to death on peanuts*.

I wonder now if, in many cases, that was an undiagnosed peanut allergy and subsequent anaphylaxis and they just didn’t know what it was.

Cause these days, you just don’t hear about kids *choking to death on a peanut*.

[Delta 21]

I seen a graphic of the number and kinds of vaccinations "required" now as to what they were when we were kids and its crazy the amount and frequency that they pump our grandkids full of magic vaccines.

Let the Vax/Anti-Vax war commence.

[Lizavetta]

I am not alone in asking what the heck is causing all this? Are they related? Is it pollution? Water? Rising expectations?

I believe that peanut allergies, gluten intolerance, et al, is not an allergy to the food product but the pesticides used. Peanuts in particular are known for being heavily sprayed.

These ailments were unheard of a couple decades ago, and people have been eating wheat for.e.ver.

[Vermont Lt]

My daughter has allergic reactions to cucumbers. My other daughter thought she would “call her on that BS”. She rubbed her sister’s drinking glass with cucumbers.

By the end of dinner daughter #1 looked like she got punched in the lip.

Weird allergies are out there. I don’t know where they come from...but they are real.

(Yes, my younger daughter was punished pretty severely for her actions.)

[Vigilanteman]

My own theory is that today's environment is so sterile that kids do not have the opportunity to develop immunity. When I was a pup, we played outdoors a lot. Television watching was limited by our parents. Even in junior high school, we were expected to don gym shorts and a t-shirt and jog around a long school block. Schools didn't close for a couple inches of snow and the bus didn't pick you up right at the front door, if you lived far enough away from school to ride the bus.

Parents driving their kids to school was unheard of and most of us walked, often a mile or more. I'm not even sure why we needed phys ed considering our active lifestyle, but we had it anyway. We also had wood shop and metal shop, required in junior high with advanced offerings available by high school. Everyone was not expected to go to college and learning a trade was considered a perfectly acceptable alternative. Some of us (like me) were greedy and wanted to do both. So even though I ended up going to college, I got part time work which paid better than minimum wage with my trade training.

[Savage Beast]

Your observation is interesting. I have a child with severe peanut allergy who also has mild autism. What’s causing this nobody knows, but it’s nearing epidemic proportions. These people don’t just break out in hives; they can drop dead on the spot.