Shaking off the old beliefs on safety of eating

Talking to my own parents and in-laws it takes some convincing to remind them that "no she can't have yogurt" she has a dairy allergy and "no, tzatziki sauce" still does not qualify as an item their grand-daughter can eat. And "no, even if you did't use butter in the recipe" for that yummy dinner role, but you put some on top to brown it in the oven, "she can't have it"....

I feel like after three years of consistent reminders and education of my own family members, we can leave her with one of her grandmothers only and even so, I wouldn't be too comfortable with this being more than perhaps a day (this is besides myself, my husband, and her nanny - all of use live and breath this every day).

I think it comes from two main underlying reasons:

(1) the older generation hasn't really experienced it, so they can't comprehend it as real and the fact that it could be life-threatening is just a tough concept to grasp,

(2) there isn't enough awareness and education, so it is still very much a concept limited to those suffering from allergies or interacting with the sufferers closely.

As crazy as it sounds, but the first instance of a peanut allergy has been recorded in 1920 (according the the Peanut Allergy Answer Book). First case of sesame allergy was recorded in 1950 (http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/resourcespre.php?id=107&title=sesame_allergy). It was only in 2008 that the CDC has released it's first federal study focused on childhood allergies (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db10.pdf).

Therefore, literally a generation ago, allergies have been virtually unheard of....

Now, fast forward to today:
http://www.foodallergy.org/facts-and-stats

How Many People Have Food Allergies?

• Researchers estimate that up to 15 million Americans have food allergies.
• This potentially deadly disease affects 1 in every 13 children (under 18 years of age) in the U.S. That’s roughly two in every classroom.
• The economic cost of children’s food allergies is nearly $25 billion per year.

Food Allergies on the Rise

• According to a study released in 2013 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, food allergies among children increased approximately 50% between 1997 and 2011.
• The number of people who have a food allergy is growing, but there is no clear answer as to why.
• Researchers are trying to discover why food allergies are on the rise in developed countries worldwide, and to learn more about the impact of the disease in developing nations. More than 17 million Europeans have a food allergy, and hospital admissions for severe reactions in children have risen seven-fold over the past decade, according to the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI).

This is quite scary, since we don't have a full understanding of the cause or cure.  We are making hypothesis. Some tie it GMO, some tie to to environmental pollution, some tie to to us becoming too clean, some tie it to vaccinations but we're still searching for answers.

Two things we do know, that if your parents had it you're more likely to have it. That means that we will continue to multiply our allergy statistics on a catastrophic scale. And the second thing we know is that there is no cure... yet.

Are we our own worst enemy? Are we on a path to self-destruction by messing with nature? Will we ever find out? And if so, will we find out when it's too late to reverse the process?