Allergies

As a writer I like to use personification in my work.  It adds a little something extra I find.  In real life I find myself personifying something as well; allergies.  When I was younger it seemed like almost no one was allergic to anything.  Sure there would be the kid at school who couldn’t go out at recess because a bee sting could kill him but for the most part there just weren’t allergies to speak of.  Then pollen became the rage.  Everyone including yours truly to a certain extent was allergic to pollen.  Along with it came ragweed and a host of other nasal allergies.  All sorts of scents gave problems.  One girl I know is allergic to the smell of lilac.  The monster grew.  Then food allergies came to light.  At first I thought these were restricted to third world countries where they were allergic to milk but the problem grew fast.  Lactose intolerance was a term that entered our daily lives.  Even my son has it.  Then there were nut intolerances, egg intolerances, iodine allergies (shellfish and surprisingly nearly every Chinese food) and the latest to strike my family, the dreaded gluten intolerance.  The monster became enormous.  Two of my children have that one.  Our meals are planned based on what child will be around to eat.  If the gluten free ones are out, it’s pizza time!  Bring on the pasta!  You get my point.  My kids don’t like Chinese food and my wife is the iodine problem so if I want Chinese food I pretty much have to go by myself.  It just seems like more and more of these allergies are coming out to get us.  A friend of my daughter is allergic to the red color dye in food.  How did a doctor figure that one out?  Were these problems not around before and we have become more sensitive as a society?  Are foods being prepared in a different way or grown with some genetic enhancement that causes reactions?  Are we finally diagnosing things they slapped the wrong labels on in the past?  And if you subscribe to that theory, who is to say they are not putting the wrong labels on these illnesses now?  Perhaps only genetically modified wheat causes gluten problems.  Perhaps only cows given growth hormones produce milk that is lactose intolerant.  It sounds farfetched but so did all of these allergies 20 years ago.  It’s interesting which things are not on the allergy list.  Take corn for example.  It is one of the most genetically modified foods on the planet, yet I never hear about a corn allergy.  Then there is meat.  I don’t hear about allergies to beef, pork or chicken either and they have all been modified since before I was born.  Regardless of the source, that allergy monster keeps gobbling up new items to be allergic to.  It seems like every day I hear about a new one.  The beast is moving faster than science as there is no way to combat many of these allergies other than staying away from them.  There has been much more success on the nasal ones than the food type.  Likely the reason is they have had longer to study them.  Hopefully science will get this under control before the monster strikes again.