Talking Allergies

Letters are starting to flow in - just over 100 so far.

With many more to come I'm sure. I focused my personal comments on my soy allergy and how incredibly difficult it is to shop when faced with ingredients like "partially hydrolyzed protein" or "natural flavours".

I'm at high risk for anaphylaxis so, if I don't know, I have to avoid. My packaged food choices are cut substantially and this affects what my whole family eats (since I'm the cook).

Don't forget to include stories of needing to keep your kids safe. Especially with so many kids with multiple allergies, it's just plain wrong to make people avoid "additional" foods because they just can't tell if they're safe.

We need clear labels - and we need them NOW!

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

Wow, 405 letters – you people are outstanding!

Good news: tons of people aren't even home from work yet to open their inboxes with their NewsReport.
So expecting lots more this evening.

Keep it up, folks.

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

Over 1,000 letters. You guys rock -

No more natural flavours, no more 'vegetable oil', no more casein, no more albumin, no more gluten as 'spices' ....

How great would that be?

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

1,579 and counting, folks.

Who haven't you asked? hmm ....

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

Just spoke to my mom to make sure she wrote her letter...she has!

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

Thermometer is rising - 1,892 letters - with some of our Cdn. Celiac Assn friends now weighing in with their letters.

3,000 letters is what we need folks.
But first, c'mon 2,000 letters!

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

I have hijacked my husband's facebook status update. It now reads:

Please take 1 minute to support Canadians living with life-threatening food allergies. Join an online petition urging the Prime Minister to give final approval to legislation requiring all food package labels to clearly list allergens. These changes have the potential to save lives. http://www.allergicliving.com/petitions/food-labelling/

Please feel free to copy.

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11 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, eggs and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema
9 year old son - no allergies

That's awesome, Kate.

Our friends at the Cdn. Celiac Assn are officially on-board today - spreading the word of this campaign to their members through both the national office and many of the regional chapters.

Celiac Assn.

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

Over 2,000 letters now - we're on a roll!

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

Family members have changed their status updates now and their friends are starting to send their letters too. I saw that a few friends of my brother have allergies in their family too and they hadn't heard of the campaign. You got to love the internet and the exponential reach of sites like facebook. The count has gone up over 400 today! We'll reach the goal soon!

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11 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, eggs and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema
9 year old son - no allergies

Woohoo! We're at 2527. Keep it going guys!

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Associate Editor at Allergic Living.
Allergies to all nuts and legumes except soy and green beans.

I just sent katec's little bit there to every single person in my address book.

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DD 12 yrs -no allergies
4 yr old DS - asthma/eczema Anaphylactic to Peanuts, all tree nuts, sesame , all pea/lentil legumes, gelatin.
Allergic to trees, grass,ragweed, feathers, dander, mold and dust.
Outgrew eggs, fish, shellfish

I think there's no doubt we'll hit 3,000 letters, which is awesome.

Wondering - should I move the bar up to 4,000? That's about how many letters we sent in the June 2008 campaign, and that did result in action from the Health Minister.

Thoughts?

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

I think that you should. If people think that we are close to reaching our goal then they might start to back off. Personally I think momentum seems to be growing. We're only a little over a week into this. I say raise it to 4000!

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11 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, eggs and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema
9 year old son - no allergies

I agree, bump it to 4,000. I had the same thought as Katec, if people see we are close to our goal they will slow down forwarding the link to friends and family.

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DD 12 yrs -no allergies
4 yr old DS - asthma/eczema Anaphylactic to Peanuts, all tree nuts, sesame , all pea/lentil legumes, gelatin.
Allergic to trees, grass,ragweed, feathers, dander, mold and dust.
Outgrew eggs, fish, shellfish