Admiral Valdemar wrote:Darth Wong wrote:In that case, I can't see it working. People who are allergic to peanuts will still avoid nuts for their own safety, and if the idea is to replace peanuts with allergen-free pseudo-peanuts across the board, people like me won't have it. We'll say "I want some real fucking peanut butter, and that means it should be made from real peanuts".
You try putting up a jar of "Peanut Butter made from allergen-free genetically modified peanuts" on the shelf. Regular people will buy the regular peanut butter, and if I had kids who could die from exposure to peanut butter, I don't think I'd want to buy products that might weaken their phobia of things that look and smell like peanuts.
Phobias take a lot of psychological training to confront, but the idea of replacing products with engineered ones is likely not needed. I know of several products being tested that can limit or nullify such anaphylactic problems. I've just started looking over a study regarding the "switching off" of psoriasis in humans by having an engineered monoclonal antibody attack the cytokine responsible for irritation (usually the likes of Interleukin-20, IgE or some other messenger/protective protein).
What I'm saying is, maybe one day soon we will be able to take a sub-cutaneous jab to vaccinate against such hyper-sensitivity.
Until that day, however, such a "phobia" is actually a GOOD thing.
And it's
not a phobia - a phobia is an
irrational fear. Fearing what can make you ill or dead is NOT irrational, it's a survival trait.
CaptainChewbacca wrote:So the teacher didn't believe she had a lethal allergy?
That is correct.
There are STILL a lot of people who think food allergies are a
mental disease, or who thing asthma is a
mental disorder in a neurotic, attention-seeking child. (Personally, if a child of mine was having difficulty breating I'd WANT them to seek attention..)
Shocking, appalling, but true.
I'd always feared landing in the hospital due to my allergies - nothing quite like being sick and getting sicker! - but as it happens when I did wind up in one it was, I'm happy to say, not a problem. First, I wasn't allowed to eat much of anything due to the reason I was in there. Second, if anything they marked down TOO much stuff as not allowed (all citrus instead of
just oranges, for example) but really, I'd rather they err on the side of caution. It's frightening when many common foods are toxic to you and you have no control over your diet.
The only "issue" was when they tried to feed me orange-flavored gelatin. Now, keep in mind, I hadn't eaten at all for the better part of a week, and not much the week before, and had already lost 1/6 of my body weight. I was
literally starving. And I could NOT bring myself to eat that stuff. Despite reassurances that there was
no actual orange anything in there (other than the aritifical color) I could not eat it. Just couldn't. As I explained to the dietitian, no, I had
no interest in removing that "phobia" because normally it helps to keep me from accidentally eating oranges or drinking stuff with orange juice in it. It helps keep me safe. It's like criticizing someone for being afraid to run into a burning building - fear is not always a bad thing. So lets stop arguing about it and find me
any other flavor of gelatin to eat, m'kay?
Shocked I hope the adult was subsequently fired and/or hit with a steel pipe.
She was fired.
If I have a child with such an allergy, I'll teach them to scream RAPE or similar overreaction anytime anyone tries to force them to do something, and then I'll deal with the offender.
Yes, assertiveness training early on in life is essential for children with food allergies. The downside is that we get labeled troublemakers, but at least we're alive to be labeled.
I hope the adult was subsequently fired and/or hit with a steel pipe. If I have a child with such an allergy, I'll teach them to scream RAPE or similar overreaction anytime anyone tries to force them to do something, and then I'll deal with the offender.
