CBC News – Canada – What’s nuts, Chatelaine, is not to be concerned

Sorry for the late post on this but CBC touches on the backlash caused by the Allergy-bashing article from Chatelaine (I won’t even bother to link to it. If you want to read it you’ll have to find it yourself 🙁  ). Originally the magazine was not going to print a followup article but now it is stating that it will be printing in the January issue, a reactions article from all the letters it has received. From what I understand, they are numerous.

Gwen Smith of Allergic Living gives her take on the article. This is a good read!

When the top women's magazine in the country takes a snide, cynical run at a serious health issue that affects children, these are truly different times in the publishing industry.

The magazine is Chatelaine, and the hit-and-run article in its December issue is called “It's Just Nuts.”

Gwen Smith is the editor of Allergic Living magazine and was the editor-in-chief of Elm Street magazine, when it ended its seven-year run in 2004.

This story by writer Patricia Pearson begins with the image of parents and schools across the land “cowering in fear of the tiny peanut,” followed by a conclusion disguised as a question: “Are we overreacting to food allergies?”

In the telling, the writer skewers the hard-won accommodations in schools to protect food-allergic children, confuses facts and statistics, and never pauses to speak to a principal or a parent of a child who has experienced anaphylaxis, the most serious form of allergic reaction.

Had she spoken to a teacher, she would likely have heard why restrictions on certain foods are easier to manage in the classroom setting than having to watch, hawk-like, over those who can eat peanut butter and those who can get seriously ill from exposure to even traces of a substance that sticks on toys, doors and shared equipment.

Read more via CBC News – Canada – What’s nuts, Chatelaine, is not to be concerned.