[Sca-cooks] allergies

Stefan li Rous StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
Mon Aug 11 23:19:19 PDT 2008


Isabella, Seeking Enlightenment, asked:

<<< But why would people be so hostile to a not terribly unreasonable  
public
health issue? Are they that selfish and unsympathetic? >>>

I think that's a harsh judgement, both the hostile adjective and the  
implication that people are being unsympathetic.

I do sympathize with you. But I don't think these total bans are the  
way to go. And I suspect that many others feel the same way, rather  
than being hostile to finding a solution.

A lot of the "hostility" may be towards changing the lifestyle/habits  
of all for the benefit of the few. Maybe that makes me selfish.

You mention in a follow-on message "A tangential answer to this issue- 
I never knew about so many different food
allergies until I joined the SCA. Off the top of my head, just the  
people I
know-dairy, strawberries, vodka, shellfish, mushrooms, wheat, pork,  
I'm sure
there's more."

Admittedly many of these are probably not as quickly life-threatening  
as a peanut allergy can be. But you can also add sugar to that list.  
In my case, a sugared Coke can cause a big problem as a type-I  
diabetic. An unlabeled or mistakenly provided Coke could put me in  
the hospital or in a coma. If I'm managing things correctly though, I  
should see the signs first and correct it with insulin, as an  
allergic person can with the epi-pen.

But if we ban all these items that can cause an allergic reaction,  
what is left?

We've had quite a number of discussions over the years on handling  
allergies amid SCA feasts. There are folks that are offended that I  
drink beverages containing Nutra-sweet and say it gives them  
headaches. So, should both sugared colas and artificially sweetened  
ones be prohibited? It is probably easier to make a case for peanuts  
and peanut butter being good for kids than sugared drinks.

<<< This is an honest
question, I just don't get it. It's not about bad life choices that  
children
have made or about bad parenting, it's just something that happens,  
and last
I heard they had no idea why peanut allergies have skyrocketed.>>>

As has diabetes. Both type I and II. The "free enterprise" medical  
insurance industry that our current administration promotes as a  
solution to our health care crisis, won't sell me insurance at any  
price. And the other day, a spokesman was saying insurance was only  
needed for those who made poor choices and that healthy people  
shouldn't be subsidizing those who made poor choices. Almost all the  
current evidence is pointing to type I diabetes having a strong  
genetic component. But I guess we can start requiring genetic testing  
and regulate who can and can not get married, err, have sex.

<<< We are lucky
that our girl's allergy is only moderate, there are much more severe  
ones
out there. Eating a peanut butter sandwich and breathing on someone can
trigger it. >>>

In your case hopefully she will grow out of this. I haven't got a  
good solution. As we start to understand the human immune system we  
may eventually be able to selectively prevent an individual's body  
from (over)reacting to non-serious "dangers" but it's hard to say how  
long that will take.

Stefan
(now about banning all those overhead menu signs in fast food places  
that I can't read and can't get close enough to read...)
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****





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