Many of us have noted that a high number of individuals, especially children, have life-threatening allergies to allergens such as peanuts, shellfish, soy, pollen, dust, mould, animal dander, etc., the list goes on.
There is a growing epidemic of food and general allergies, which was not evident a few decades ago.
In the 1950s, how common was it to have a life-threatening allergy in which case one would go into anaphylactic shock from just looking at a peanut?
These days, we have banned peanut product from schools, asthma inhalers are the latest fashion accessories, and something as simple as smelling the flowers on a beautiful spring day sends one into a hacking, sneezing mess completed with watery eyes and gargled gasps for air.
Snuggle up next to your pet cat or dog, and your tongue swells up to the size of Texas, coupled with lovely red nickel-sized hives that is now spreading all over your arms and legs. Fido means death! Or just a very unpleasant and embarrassing visit to the ER, where old ladies gasp and little kids cry at the very sight of your bloated, ruddy self rushing into the waiting room with your hands around your throat, wheezing out unintelligeble pleas between asphyxiated gasps.
Is it a matter of compromised immunity thanks to our fanatical whip-out-the-hand-sanitizer- every-time-you-touch-a-doorknob ideals that is ever-so-present in today’s society? Are genetics at play? What are your thoughts on this phenemonen?
