Tuesday
May132008
Death by peanut
Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at 4:27PM
She feels like she’s taking her child into a war zone, where each place has a potential for death.
It was the sentiment expressed by Rhonda Adkins, wife of country music superstar Trace Adkins, but largely echoed throughout the room by parents of food allergic children. The topic was “Five Steps Forward for Food Allergy,” held in honor of the 11th Annual Food Allergy Awareness Week. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), himself a grandfather of a child with food allergies, spoke briefly before the group, saying that it is clear that this is a growing threat to our young people, and awareness needs to increase.
Lack of awareness about food allergies is common. Most people are not aware that serious complications, such as anaphylaxis, can occur within minutes of exposure to a food allergen. Anaphylaxis can kill, because the reaction is so severe that the throat will close, and the individual will literally suffocate during an allergic reaction. Some children and adults are so sensitive to an allergen, such as peanuts, that they can have a reaction just from invisible residue on someone’s hands or from fumes floating in the air.
Such reactions are what Anne Munoz-Furlong wants to avoid. She is the founder of FAAN, the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network. The goal of the organization is to raise public awareness about food allergies, and during Food Allergy Awareness Week (May 11-17) their agenda is to promote the Five Steps Forward. School Guidelines, Food Allergy Information, Guidelines for Diagnosis, Research, and Improved Allergen Labeling, are the Five Steps Forward. Legislation is on the table for the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management Act of 2008, namely S. 1232 and H.R. 2063.
Cancer research gets this much money, said Kyle Ericson, a 10-year-old boy with severe food allergies, as he held his arms out as far as he could. Diabetes Type II, he said, as he shortened his arm span, not quite as much. But food allergies, he continued, putting his hands almost completely together, gets almost nothing at all. Dr. Hugh Sampson, Professor of Pediatrics and Immunology and Director of the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute, has been researching a vaccine to help cure peanut allergies.
After identifying the three proteins that are causing allergic reactions, Sampson said, they worked on a way to “fix the peanut,” essentially creating something that may well end up being the cure for peanut allergies. Tests have been done on peanut allergic mice, and apparently, the mice are no longer allergic to peanuts after receiving the treatment. Although he is not about to state they’ve found the cure, paperwork will be submitted to the FDA in June so that human trials would be able to commence.
The largest hindrance to the challenge of food allergies, is the lack of knowledge in the average person, and money for research to learn more about the “why” of allergies. Peanut allergies in children under age five doubled in the years between 1997-2002, and there are a multitude of theories. The most common theory of late is the Hygiene hypothesis, which says that our over-clean society has actually made our immune systems weaker. A second theory, mentioned by Mrs. Jackie Clegg Dodd, wife of Senator Chris Dodd, is what is nicknamed the “Costco Theory,” stating that an overabundance of particular foods is causing the reactions.
More research is needed, said Dr. Sampson, and more money needs to be appropriated towards research. The Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Disease were the two institutions he pointed out as likely to be helpful in the search for a cure for food allergies.
It was the sentiment expressed by Rhonda Adkins, wife of country music superstar Trace Adkins, but largely echoed throughout the room by parents of food allergic children. The topic was “Five Steps Forward for Food Allergy,” held in honor of the 11th Annual Food Allergy Awareness Week. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), himself a grandfather of a child with food allergies, spoke briefly before the group, saying that it is clear that this is a growing threat to our young people, and awareness needs to increase.
Lack of awareness about food allergies is common. Most people are not aware that serious complications, such as anaphylaxis, can occur within minutes of exposure to a food allergen. Anaphylaxis can kill, because the reaction is so severe that the throat will close, and the individual will literally suffocate during an allergic reaction. Some children and adults are so sensitive to an allergen, such as peanuts, that they can have a reaction just from invisible residue on someone’s hands or from fumes floating in the air.
Such reactions are what Anne Munoz-Furlong wants to avoid. She is the founder of FAAN, the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network. The goal of the organization is to raise public awareness about food allergies, and during Food Allergy Awareness Week (May 11-17) their agenda is to promote the Five Steps Forward. School Guidelines, Food Allergy Information, Guidelines for Diagnosis, Research, and Improved Allergen Labeling, are the Five Steps Forward. Legislation is on the table for the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management Act of 2008, namely S. 1232 and H.R. 2063.
Cancer research gets this much money, said Kyle Ericson, a 10-year-old boy with severe food allergies, as he held his arms out as far as he could. Diabetes Type II, he said, as he shortened his arm span, not quite as much. But food allergies, he continued, putting his hands almost completely together, gets almost nothing at all. Dr. Hugh Sampson, Professor of Pediatrics and Immunology and Director of the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute, has been researching a vaccine to help cure peanut allergies.
After identifying the three proteins that are causing allergic reactions, Sampson said, they worked on a way to “fix the peanut,” essentially creating something that may well end up being the cure for peanut allergies. Tests have been done on peanut allergic mice, and apparently, the mice are no longer allergic to peanuts after receiving the treatment. Although he is not about to state they’ve found the cure, paperwork will be submitted to the FDA in June so that human trials would be able to commence.
The largest hindrance to the challenge of food allergies, is the lack of knowledge in the average person, and money for research to learn more about the “why” of allergies. Peanut allergies in children under age five doubled in the years between 1997-2002, and there are a multitude of theories. The most common theory of late is the Hygiene hypothesis, which says that our over-clean society has actually made our immune systems weaker. A second theory, mentioned by Mrs. Jackie Clegg Dodd, wife of Senator Chris Dodd, is what is nicknamed the “Costco Theory,” stating that an overabundance of particular foods is causing the reactions.
More research is needed, said Dr. Sampson, and more money needs to be appropriated towards research. The Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Disease were the two institutions he pointed out as likely to be helpful in the search for a cure for food allergies.
United States cannot drill its way out of oil crisis
Guy Caruso, the Administrator of the Energy Information Administration (EIA), discussed the long-term outlook for oil in the United States and globally. The EIA projects that oil prices will continue to rise all the way to 2030. These higher oil prices will affect projected growth in global liquid fuels demand, growing liquid consumption from 85 million barrels per day (2006) to 98 million barrels per day (2030).
Adam Sieminski, the Chief Energy Economist of the Deutsche Bank, said that the United States is having supply problems but is not running out of resources. Sieminski explained that the country needs to figure out different resources to use instead of, or hand in hand with, oil, find out where these resources are, and determine how to get these resources.
Amy Myers Jaffe, an Energy Studies Fellow of the James A. Baker III Institute at Rice University, agreed with Sieminski and said that the United States needs to diversify its energy sources, especially when it comes to transportation. Athan Manuel, the Director of the Lands Protection Program at the Sierra Club, said that the United States needs to “reduce its dangerous dependence” on oil. He explained that even if the U.S. drilled everywhere possible, it would still not have enough oil to satisfy demand and lower gas prices.