National Peanut Board creates allergy awareness website

[LinksEtc]

If you were an allergy researcher ...

I would want to focus on systematic study of the "impossible" patients-- that is, those who react to "impossibly" small traces, or those who are allergic to MANY foods, or foods that are "not allergenic."

A better-designed study of aerosolized allergens-- with a focus on the super-potent nuts and seeds there, but also expanding into other fine dispersions like aerosolized flour/egg/milk.  That kind of thing.  We all know from experience that this is a HUGE problem in manufacturing for the groups in part A of my grand plan...

but I also would like a better study of it.

Survey on Thresholds from FARE

Grocery Manufacturers Association GMA

FDA-2012-N-0711-0063

Moreover, GMA and the food associations who have joined this letter believe that the Agency should not require any recalls for packaged food products that may contain trace amounts of an undeclared allergen at or below the established threshold as the risk to human health would be extremely low.

This comment alone ought to give the FDA pause in considering any other commentary from GMA.

Because they are quite deliberately sidestepping any responsibility to allergic consumers by conflating risk to the GENERAL population ('extremely low') and that to highly sensitive allergic consumers (moderate to very high).

This suggests that they genuinely have no compunction about killing allergic consumers-- that some people don't, I don't know-- deserve (?) to be able to rely upon food safety and labels.



The notion that oils are hypoallergenic is also based on sampling methodology which is highly suspect, as the working group tasked with threshold determination back in 2004 rapidly discovered.  Those with the lowest thresholds are at greatest RISK OF FATALITY-- not just in a dose dependent manner, as one might anticipate, but in a non-linear fashion as well.

For those people, there may really not be a threshold above the current limit of determination.  I daresay that with sesame, cashew, and peanut in particular, there may not be a threshold above the limit of detection. 

What is problematic about ANY establishment of threshold for 'food safety/labeling' requirements is that it is based upon a confidence interval. 

That means that SOME of the most vulnerable population (that is, those very low-threshold allergic consumers) is going to be thrown under the bus.  The only real question is-- how many of them?

We don't even know the answer to this-- because there has never been a systematic effort to determine threshold for a wide enough swathe of clinical patients.  Those WILLING to undergo DBPCFC's are not necessarily a good population sample for the whole population, and good luck getting an IRB approval to do an oral challenge on a child who has been intubated after a skin prick test.

THAT end of the sensitivity spectrum is an unknown and undefined population.  It just is.  There's no way to get a good profile of those people without risking death for a few of them in the process.

So the real question is...

how badly do we want to know?  What's it worth to us as a community?

Docs helping patients to surf the internet

Tweeted by @CUsafepatient

"Not All "Patients" Are Created Equal"
http://sellingsickness.com/not-all-patients-are-created-equal/

Patient engagement and satisfaction have become trendy concepts and we must be aware which "patient" voice is being used.   Industry likes to use front groups, and present its positions through "patients."

We need to make sure the patient safety voice is not only represented, but can be heard over the noise of money, politics, and power.

[CMdeux]

"15 common food allergy myths, debunked"

http://www.latimes.com/ara-8091700101-20140811-adstory.html

Wow.

Some of their source material is a bit dated, don'tcha think??

1981??

Just sayin.

Plus, what a MASH of peer-reviewed and opinion-based source material.  YEE-ouch.   

[ajasfolks2]

I posted link to this thread in the following thread in "Peanut" board.  Just wanted to cross-post that related link here too:

Current News from the Peanut Industry: Links and related info

[LinksEtc]

Recently KWFA had a webinar on Flying With Food Allergies.  The doctor who spoke was a member of the National Peanut Board.  Of course, he insisted that there was no risk of a serious airborne reaction if people are eating peanuts on the plane.  We sent them a scathing email.  Their reply was that the doctor does not receive funds from the National Peanut Board, so even though he is a member he is unbiased.  I thought KWFA was better than that.

Sooooo, they are thinking that this 4 year old girl was just faking it???  Maybe they should read this.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2724684/Nut-allergy-girl-went-anaphylactic-shock-plane-passenger-ignored-three-warnings-not-eat-nuts-board.html

-----------------------------------------------



"Anaphylaxis in the Air: Two Recent Airline Incidents"
http://allergicliving.com/2014/08/21/anaphylaxis-in-the-air-two-recent-airline-incidents/1/

Dr. Matthew Greenhawt:

There is no evidence that has been able to show that such dust circulates.

Apart from reactions where one eats a contaminated food, airline reactions most likely occur from allergen that may accumulate on surfaces. This we know happens in many different environments. On the plane, without being aware, one could potentially touch a surface that hadn't been wiped down first, and theoretically ingest some level of allergen.

[LinksEtc]

Did you guys see this?   


@faactnews tweet

#FAACT speaking on #gettheFAACTs 4 keeping kids safe in school with @schoolnutrition Assoc. & National Peanut Board @PeanutRD @EleanorGarrow

[LinksEtc]

I think the next generation of FASers should consider creating an official FA org with no conflicts of interest with FOOD, PHARMA, or schools ... have expert docs & lawyers & patients working together JUST for the good of the FA community.  Pie in the sky I guess.

[ajasfolks2]

It's all about the $$, IMHO.

$ from industry buys access and supports the workings of a nonprofit in a way that small cash donations from the likes of us small folks don't.

Yes, Links, a bunch of us here would like to see what you've whipped up as pie in the sky.
But just hasn't seemed do-able for many of us, given our lives and other commitments (and outside jobs).