Talking Allergies

Kate - I'd love to hear it, sure others would too - know how those of us not in Ottawa area can locate on CBC.ca?

_________________
Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

I will try to find out how to listen to the clip. My brother heard the interview in Toronto but my Dad couldn't hear it in Ottawa. I guess there are regional morning shows around the province.

_________________
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

Katec, I'm curious, what was the last question?

_________________
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

Just fyi, folks, Susan has now made a separate thread for updates on the Clear Food Labels Write-in Campaign.

You watch the tally grow here: viewtopic.php?f=48&t=6074

If you've just sent a letter - also feel free to post the comments you added to your letter on that thread.

If you haven't written a letter yet - pls. do, we need your support: http://www.allergicliving.com/petitions/food-labelling/

_________________
Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

The interview began as I expected. Wei Chen asked about how we discovered M's allergies and the implications for our daily life. I tried to lead her to the food issue right away. From there I described my early experiences shopping after her diagnosis and then described how allergens can be labelled under a variety of alternate names. Before I could talk about component ingredients she went into another question.

Towards the end, she turned the questions as if there was some controversy to this issue. This focus surprised me and threw me off. In hindsight now I know how I could have handled it better in order to cover the topics I wanted (allergic living campaign, the stalled legislation, the government's promise). She started into the question by saying that, there are those who would say that you should just avoid processed foods altogether and stick to fresh foods. I explained that it is not possible for us to avoid processed foods - we can't make everything from scratch -and that we already do in fact mainly eat fresh foods. Her final question was something to the effect - If we require companies to label everything then they might stick may contain labels on all products in reaction. I explained (or at least I think I did) that we feel at times like we take a leap of faith when we feed our daughter and these types of labels would further restrict our food choices and that with almost 2 million Canadians with food allergies this would seem like a mistake for companies especially since each allergic individual affects the buying of at least 3 - 4 more people. Right after this question she said thank you so much for speaking with us today and I was shocked at how fast it ended. The time just flew.

I am disappointed that I wasn't able to think better on my feet near the end. I assumed that Wei had read our newspaper article that spoke about the stalled legislation and that she would bring up a direct question about it. As well I thought she would ask me to compare the changes with status quo. It was a learning experience for sure. I have never been interviewed like this before. It was a real opportunity to further our cause and I am sorry that I wasn't able to clarify things better.
I hope that the response from the listeners will highlight more of the issues. Wei will read some of them over the radio tomorrow like they always do. I did call back not long after the interview to suggest that Gwen Smith be interviewed soon to speak to the wider campaign launched by AL. They were heading to the story meeting and said that they would discuss the possibility.
I tried my best and again I am sorry that it didn't go as well as I had hoped.

_________________
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'm sure you did great, it must be very difficult with someone else controlling the direction of the conversation.
Funny, I've had the same comments from so many people (even customer service people when I call in about products!!!!) 'well, it is healthier to you to just eat fresh foods anyway'. Um, because we deal with allergies does not mean we have to cook 100% of our food from scratch, do they have any idea how much we cook/bake already!! Really, is it that hard when companies already know what is being processed on the same lines to put accurate and consistant 'may 'on their products.

Thanks Katec for your advocating.

...and I'm used to things getting twisted a bit now. A 'person' who I thought would be totally empathetic to our allergy/airlines issues instead thought that if we choose to fly we assume the risk or just not fly. It is hard but I am learning to have a thick(er) skin.

_________________
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

Thanks BC2007. Your kind words are exactly what I need to hear. I have been beating myself up for the past day. I have so many alternative responses now for the interview in my head but I have to let it go!! When people suggest that we should just avoid processed foods altogether - do they think that we live in pioneer times!! I can't produce my own margarine or soy milk or bake my own bread each day and the list would go on from there. Yesterday was a real learning experience and I will know better how to handle media in the future.

_________________
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

katec, thank you so much for sticking your neck out there...and here. You wouldn't believe how many times I have so screwed things up and thought about just quitting and put everything away and going back to my quiet little life...and then I would read something here in this forum and it would give me hope again. It has to get better and the only way it will is if squeaky wheels make noise. Unfortunatly, it seems as though there are more allergies these days, but on the upside, people are paying more attention to the food we eat and where it comes from.

Michele

_________________
Myself - Seasonal, cats
dd-asthma (trigger - flu) anaphylactic to eggs, severe allergies to bugspray and penicilin,pulmicort
ds-Seasonal, cats and OAS
dh-allergy cats, bugspray and guava, outgrew egg allergy

Thanks Michele!

_________________
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

Received this from Anaphylaxis Canada

_________________
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