By: Gwen Smith, Allergic Living Editor

Hallelujah, we’ve been heard. If you ask a flight attendant on WestJet, Canada’s second largest airline, she or he will step to the microphone and ask fellow passengers to please not pull out nut or peanut snacks. The attendant will briefly explain that this is because there is a person onboard with serious allergies.

via WestJet Steps Up to the Mike | Allergic Living.

Of course this is HUGE news for the food allergic traveller our there. WestJet knows how to deal with the public, unlike Air Canada that gives you a buffer zone, IF you have filled in the required  form from your doctor and faxed to the medical desk and a call to Reservations to book the zone. At least they have something.

www.lonelyplate.org is  all about getting the word out on places to go and safely enjoy your time out without worry.

I went to Disney World a couple years ago and they were FANTASTIC! We’ll be going back sometime very soon to reproduce the trip, pretty much exactly. Land and sea cruise/park package. Stay at Animal Kingdom and just soak it all in.

Ok, I’m leaving.

Wait, Here’s the info in this press release. Check it out and participate! Make this the Go To place for this info!!

PRESS RELEASE: New Food Allergy/Celiac Restaurant and Travel Review Website

WASHINGTON – A new website catering to the food allergy and Celiac community, www.LonelyPlate.org, was launched in February by Sharona Schwartz, who up until a year and a half ago was News Coverage Manager at CNN’s Washington Bureau. While at CNN, Schwartz produced award-winning television reports with chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta on food allergies.   She is also the mother of a daughter diagnosed with multiple food allergies, including wheat, peanuts, fish and more.

At LonelyPlate.org, individuals dealing with food allergies and Celiac can write reviews about restaurants, hotels, airlines and theme parks they visit.

“There are fantastic online resources reviewing restaurants and hotels, but because I couldn’t find any that consolidated our unique experiences in an easy, interactive, international platform, I decided to create an interactive database where we can review restaurants, hotels, airlines, and kid-friendly venues,” says Schwartz.

“Wouldn’t it be great to give a shout out to a place that did a great job helping you have a safe meal, or warn others of a place to stay away from at all cost?” Schwartz says.

Recognizing dining out for those with food limitations is an experience fraught with worry for many, Schwartz says the website will disseminate reports, both positive and negative, to families facing similar medical challenges. “This kind of information-sharing is crucial not only to keep each other safe but also can be a message to restaurants that we are a consumer community worth catering to,” she says.

The Examiner.com writes of the new site: “…what a great accomplishment for those of us on a restricted diet.  With so many people being diagnosed with a food intolerance, this type of website will help us feel more normal and stay safe when we are traveling and when we are at home.”

The web address is www.lonelyplate.org.

Contact information: info@lonelyplate.org

Link to The Examiner article:

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-15981-Gwinnett-GlutenFree-Food-Examiner~y2010m2d16-Lonelyplateorg-offers-national-consumer-reviews-for-those-with-food-allergies

Link to godairyfree review:

http://www.godairyfree.org/201002284124/News/Nutrition-Headlines/Lonely-Plate-Launches-as-Food-Allergy-and-Celiac-Restaurant-and-Travel-Review-Website.html

Delta began serving peanuts in late March, when it substituted its snack, food and beverage offerings for those previously provided by Northwest.

The Memphis Commerical Appeal reported Saturday that Flinn said he’s not allergic to peanuts, but his grandson is.

“It’s been absolutely proven that if someone who is allergic to peanuts is exposed to peanuts, they’re going to have anaphylaxis,” he said. “This can cause trouble breathing, possibly even death.”

Delta spokesman Anthony Black said the airline’s policy is to create a buffer zone three rows in front and three rows behind a passenger with peanut allergy.

But Flinn said that’s not good enough because some allergy patients can be affected by airborne peanut particles.

He said Northwest not only provided that, but the airline also would make courtesy announcements asking passengers not to break out their own peanut-based snacks while traveling on a flight with an allergic person.

He said his family has been forced to make alternative travel arrangements with his grandson since the snack offerings changed.

“Peanut allergy is the most common cause of severe allergic reactions in the U.S. and it tends to be a lifelong allergy. Further, the entire family of an allergic individual usually changes their plans to keep that person safe, thereby making the market impact of food allergies three to four times greater than the 12 million patients,” said Anne Munoz-Furlong, founder of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network.

via Delta urged to stop offering peanuts – UPI.com.

Those with serious food allergies know that ordering meals in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language can be a dicey and potentially deadly ordeal. Eat Safe, a new iPhone application ($3.99), helps bridge the communication gap between diner and waiter. The program, a model of simplicity, allows the iPhone to display a clear illustration of 18 products, such as fish, dairy or peanuts, that the patron can’t eat. You can download it to your iPhone from the App Store or through iTunes.

via New iPhone application helps allergy sufferers abroad — chicagotribune.com.

Do you know of anyone with an allergy dog?

How many kids can say they’ve never eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?

8-year-old Riley Mers can say that.

And no, she’s not from another planet.

She’s from Monument, Colorado.

The reason Riley can’t eat PB&J is because she’s allergic to peanuts – so severely allergic that when she stepped on a peanut shell one time, it nearly burned through her skin.

For virtually her entire life, Riley has been unable to leave her home or her yard.

Going to school?

Forget about it.

Riley studies online, mostly, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.

And when she does go to school, she has to sit in a special room of her own.

After all, what if some other kid brought peanut butter and jelly for lunch?

Riley is so sensitive to peanuts that even peanut dust can cause her to have a life-threatening allergic reaction.

But recently, Riley’s life changed.

No, she’s still allergic to peanuts.

But now, she has a friend who sniffs them out for her and steers her away from danger – a friend with four paws and an amazing nose.

Back in February, Riley’s parents got her a Portuguese water dog named Rock’O – a dog specially trained to sniff out peanuts.

And her world is now beginning to open up.

“It’s just so life-changing you wouldn’t believe it,” she told Gazette reporter Brian Newsome.

You probably know that dogs have an amazing sense of smell – a much better sense of smell than humans have.

They can be trained to sniff out drugs, bombs and other dangerous things.

So why not peanuts?

Thanks to specialized training, Rock’O has learned to sniff out even tiny amounts of peanut residue – amounts so small they can’t be seen or smelled by the average human.

And thanks to Rock’O, Riley and her parents don’t have to worry so much every time she leaves home.

Rock’O has already saved Riley from a dangerous encounter with peanuts at least three times.

According to USA TODAY, he kept her from going into a jewelry store that had peanut candy on the counter, and he kept her away from an area in her own yard where some squirrels were eating peanuts.

And according to a report by NBC’s “Today” show, Rock’O detected some peanut M&M’s in a candy store – candy Riley’s mother didn’t see.

Rock’O then steered Riley into a peanut-free aisle that contained candy she could safely eat.

Believe or not, it was Riley’s first trip ever to a candy store.

Until she got Rock’O, she couldn’t take that chance.

Riley now calls Rock’O her “guardian angel.”

Thanks to him, she says she can now go to birthday parties and the mall.

And she’s even thinking about going to college one day – something that seemed almost impossible just a few months ago. How excited is she?

“I could do a backflip,” she told Newsome. “My friends – it’s not their fault that they eat peanut butter.”

via Nick.com’s Nick News Weekly Stories.

Families with food allergic individuals make significant lifestyle alterations when it comes to vacation planning, according to a study presented at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI).

Stephanie A. Leonard, MD, and colleagues looked at how having a food allergic family member impacts the vacation planning process using a survey that was filled out by 410 participants.

The survey results showed that food allergies limit where and how families with food allergic members vacation. Among those who vacation, 68% limit the type of destination with 90% vacationing solely in the U.S. and only 0.3% traveling to a remote location.

Thirty-six percent of respondents reported limiting the type of transportation they take for vacations with 80% avoiding ships and 65% avoiding planes. Typical travel preparations included obtaining extra epinephrine injectors (67%), packing allergen-free food (94%), requesting special airplane accommodations (53%) and researching where the closest hospital is located (48%).

Japan, India, China, Africa and beach resorts in foreign countries were among the destinations that survey responders were least likely to visit.

Once at their destination, 51% eat most of their meals in their own room and 86% arrange for special meals if the destination is equipped to make those accommodations.

Overall, medical care was found to be the most common limit on choice of vacation destination, which prompts a call for resorts to have better access to medical care and the option to ask for special arrangements for those with food allergies.

The AAAAI represents allergists, asthma specialists, clinical immunologists, allied health professionals and others with a special interest in the research and treatment of allergic disease. Established in 1943, the AAAAI has more than 6,500 members in the United States, Canada and 60 other countries.

Notes

- These studies were presented during the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) on March 13-17 in Washington, DC. However, they do not necessarily reflect the policies or the opinions of the AAAAI.

via Food Allergies Limit Where And How Families Vacation.

Spring break is upon us and families countrywide are preparing for travel.

For most, jumping on a plane with the clan in tow is a relatively uncomplicated, even fun, event.

But for those with a child who has life-threatening allergies (a. k. a. my husband and I), the notion of flying long distance in what is essentially a pressurized metal tube with re-circulated air 12,000 metres above the ground, well, it’s another matter entirely.

It simply can’t be done without some trepidation. Why? Many airlines still serve peanuts and tree nuts, some of the most deadly allergens out there, among their on-board snack selection.

Of course, people like us travel with EpiPens and refrain from consuming these foods. But if, for some reason (nut residue on seats or airborne allergens), a reaction is launched, a dose of epinephrine only temporarily buys time (15 to 20 minutes) before a victim requires proper medical assistance.

To date, we haven’t had to use the EpiPen (knock on wood) — but we know our son’s allergies to peanuts and other nuts are serious given his swift reaction to a small taste of his father’s peanut butter bagel when he was a toddler.

Further medical tests have confirmed his vulnerability.

Parents of kids with allergies — who already feel exposed given the sudden and dangerous nature of serious reactions — understandably feel even more vulnerable during air travel given that it involves hurtling through skies, far removed from any hospital emergency ward.

And so it was with great interest that I stumbled across Allergic Living’s recent cover story, Flying Allergic, on just this topic. The national magazine has begun a campaign to improve airline policies regarding allergic passengers.

“Flying these days is almost like going to a baseball game. What we’re dealing with is entrenched snack culture,” says editor Gwen Smith from her Toronto office.

“Historically, snack culture on airlines has been nuts and peanuts. We need to ask ourselves, why can’t this be changed to pretzels or olives or potato chips?”

Smith points out that advocates in favour of safer sky travel are not talking about “following other passengers to their hotel rooms and badgering them about what they eat. We’re talking about a few hours here, so we can create an environment where everyone can relax, including people with acute food allergies.”

Nobody, she insists, wishes their kids suffered from severe food allergies.

“We’re all Canadians here. We’re not trying to infringe on someone’s space,” she says. For other passengers to refrain from eating nuts in this small, enclosed public space, or for airlines to create policies to protect the food allergic, she insists, is simply about considering the needs of others.

Smith points to WestJet as one of a few airlines leading the charge for allergy-friendly skies. Not only has the Calgary-based airline stopped offering peanuts and tree nuts as snacks, but they even refrain from offering foods that may contain traces of these food contaminants.

“We take this problem very seriously,” says spokesperson Robert Palmer. “It’s impossible for the airlines to create an allergy-free environment, because we can’t control what other people bring on board. But we ask people to self-identify and if someone close to them is consuming nuts, we will ask that person to kindly refrain from doing so.”

So far, he says, so good. But if a passenger confesses to bringing cashews in their carry-on and insists that they plan to eat them anyway, flight attendants are not allowed to order them off the aircraft.

“Honestly,” says Palmer. “We rely on the goodness of people and their common sense to refrain when we ask them to.”

As for railing against “entrenched” snacking culture that features nuts and tree nuts, Palmer argues that people have to adjust to a new reality.

“In a generation, maybe two generations, society has become aware that more and more people have life-threatening food allergies. For us, offering nut-free snacks is not only the respectful thing to do, but it’s also, from a safety perspective, the right thing to do.”

WestJet, a company that flies 13 million people annually, reported three incidences of anaphylaxis last year and only one so far this year.

“Situations like this might not be that common, but they are extremely serious,” says Palmer. “We want people to self-identify when they book, when they check in, at the gate and on the flight.”

Shortly, my family and I will be jumping on a plane for a mini-vacation. As usual, I’ll pack all of the necessary “safe” snacks that my son enjoys, along with a couple of EpiPens.

I will likely have my fingers crossed throughout the trip — as I always do — hoping he doesn’t experience some strange and unpredictable reaction to food particles in our cabin.

Finally, a note of thanks for your tolerance — particularly for that annoying mother who claps enthusiastically when she and her brood land safely at the end of a long flight.

via Planning to fly the allergic skies? .

Many airlines still don’t have policies on in flight food allergens — but should they?

Four years ago, Tammy Duncan was flying en route to Las Vegas when flight attendants began handing out packages of peanuts, to which she is severely allergic.

Duncan, a police dispatcher from St. Catharines, Ont., had wrongly assumed that peanuts were prohibited from all planes. The severity of her situation rapidly became clear: She was trapped in a confined space surrounded by a product that could kill her.

“I can’t even begin to explain how scary that is when you’re thousands and thousands of feet in the air and everybody’s got these bags of peanuts,” she said.

She did the only thing that made sense to her at the time — she took some Benadryl and prayed for the best. She also used a travel Scrabble tile bag as a makeshift air filter — which may sound silly, she said, but it gave her solace in that time of uncertainty. Duncan only suffered a minor allergic reaction, but the ordeal was terrifying.

Laurie Harada, executive director at Anaphylaxis Canada, said that the lack of consistent regulations among airlines with regards to allergies is disconcerting.

“There are concerns about the inconsistency in policies,” she said. “We’ve had reports about passengers being told one thing by one person in the company, only to be advised something different when they arrive at the airport, and then something very different from that when they actually board the airplane.”

Gwen Smith, editor of Allergic Living magazine — whose most recent cover story, “Plane Truths,” highlights the issue — said she continually gets reports from readers who say their allergies are making it extremely difficult for them to travel by air. And she agrees that airlines need to set clear mandates.

“My problem here is that this is up to the individual flight crews,” Smith said. “It’s not policy.”

Another problem is that many airlines are unwilling to refrain from serving highly allergenic foods, claiming it is unfair to passengers, Smith said. That means the risk to allergy-sufferers is higher on a plane than anywhere else.

“Wouldn’t you want it to be lower or at least the same?”

But is all this agitation on behalf of allergy sufferers warranted? Dr. Susan Waserman, an allergist and associate professor of medicine at Mc-Master University, said that anxiety alone can provoke the symptoms of an attack.

“There are some people who are so anxious about having a peanut reaction that if they smell one from a few feet away, they can start associating it with having an allergic

reaction,” she said. “Most often, the most severe reaction is through ingestion. It’s not through inhaling, and it’s not just from skin contact. It usually involves eating that food.”

While certain types of seafood can release dangerous allergens into the air while they are being cooked, Waserman said that to the best of her knowledge, warming up an already cooked meal — which would be the case on an airplane — presents a minimal risk.

Dr. Nicholas Christakis, a professor of medical sociology at Harvard University, recently contended in the British Medical Journal that an overreaction to allergies –nut allergies in particular — is counterproductive and is actually contributing to the problem.

“The cycle of increasing anxiety, draconian measures and increasing prevalence of nut allergies must be broken,” Christakis wrote. He is no longer giving interviews on the topic.

Still, try telling Paige Humphreys, a stay-at-home mom from Edmonton, that she’s overreacting to her severe nut allergy.

She’s had multiple close calls on airplanes when flight attendants began serving nuts.

“If you don’t live it, you just can’t feel it,” she said. “Nobody can tell you that your eyes aren’t swollen and that you’re not nauseous.”

Humphreys, too, has noticed inconsistency in carriers’ policies towards her allergies. On a recent trip to Hawaii, she called Air Canada (which stopped serving peanuts in 1998, but still serves cashews and almonds) months in advance to request that nuts not be served on her flight. Her request was declined by customer service, due to their official stance on the subject as stated on their website: “Air Canada will additionally not stop the planned service of food to which a passenger may be allergic as this would be unfair to other passengers.”

But Humphreys found that certain Air Canada flight attendants were willing to comply with her request anyway, handing out chips or pretzels to passengers instead of nuts. Some wouldn’t and others were downright mean, she said

Allergic Living’s Smith would like to see, at the very least, a consistency so that allergic passengers could know exactly what to expect from flight to flight. She would also like airlines to acknowledge requests for an announcement warning people of a passenger’s severe allergy. If airplanes could reduce their use of the most highly allergenic foods, such as nuts and seafood, the risks could be severely lessened, she said.

Smith finds it absurd that passengers would be overly inconvenienced by the removal of nuts and seafood from flights.

“Really? For one six hour flight over the Atlantic it’s that disagreeable to not have fish?” she said.

Waserman would also like to see airlines take a more serious attitude towards the problem.

“At the end of the day, it’s still ultimately up to the passengers, but yes, airlines could do more,” she said.

jsufrin@nationalpost.com

via It can get nutty at 30,000 feet .