Editor of Canadian Family takes Chatelaine peanut article personally

The April issue of Canadian Family magazine (St. Joseph Media), on newsstands March 15, is called its "hot button" issue -- looking at various controversial issues such as spanking, formula feeding, sex talk, co-sleeping and infidelity. But it also injects itself into the peanut allergy controversy that ensnared Chatelaine last December, with a first person account by editor-in-chief Jennifer Reynolds. She describes Patricia Pearson's article in Chatelaine as "disheartening, irresponsible and dangerous" for accusing parents of overestimating and overreacting to the threat that food allergies pose to their children. And she relates her own experience, discovering her son's allergy, the mistakes she and her husband made when treating it and what she has learned.

Short of putting him in a bubble (not a bad idea), the only treatment right now is education and avoidance. So my husband and I remind our son to ask everyone (even Grandma!) if there are any nuts in what he’s eating and to refuse food he’s not sure of. We meet with teachers, instructors and coaches to explain the symptoms and how to react to them. All I can do is hope that Ms. Pearson and some of her Chatelaine readers will read this and learn something new from one family who lives with anaphylactic food allergies.

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• Editor of Allergic Living says Chatelaine article about peanuts was "insensitive" and wrong