#294 Misty Allergy

I read this article on allergies. There are numerous theories about why today’s kids seem to have more allergies than the kids of yesteryear—diets of processed foods, bovine growth hormones, reacting to pollutants generally, and odder things like today’s houses being sealed up a lot tighter for energy saving reasons and allergens not being able to get out. Fly dander fly...
The hygiene theory is the new rage. Perhaps its catching on with the public is the 21st century equivalent of the Nobel Savage ideal, which says that man in his primitive state was in perfect harmony with nature—only industrialization stands between humanity and bliss. This ignores the prevalence of typhus, cholera, and other fecal borne diseases in cultures without sewage systems and clean water. The Noble Savage maintained his relative harmony with nature by moving on to a clean campsite after he had befouled the one he was living in—kind of an endless Mad Hatter tea party, clean cups, clean plates scenario. The hygiene theory proposes that we have more allergies because we are too clean. By sanitizing everything in our presence and not allowing our young to play in the pig wallow, we are forcing their immune systems to overreact when they encounter a grain of pollen. Research shows that kids raised in the presence of livestock and proximity of barns have fewer allergies than city kids exposed to all that evil cleanliness. Never mind that country kids are exposed to less automobile exhaust, industrial waste and fluoride in their water. Or city kids are more likely to be formula fed, raised in playdo-infested daycare centers and have the allergy centers of their brains sensitized by too many X-rays emanating from their TV screens and computer monitors. There’s lots of factors. I do think we sanitize too much. But this same science magazine, after trumpeting the ill effects of over-sanitization, two pages later had an ad for a new sanitizing spray you can use everywhere in the home. The ad had little pointers pointing to numerous household items and surfaces with the words “use it here.” The only place you couldn’t use it safely was directly on food. Wonder if the same company owns an interest in Benadryl? Strangely, recent research blames the allergy response on early vaccination. The child’s immune system in the first year is only geared to respond to general systemic threats. The antibodies a child gets from mothers milk take care of the other stuff. Vaccinating near newborns too early conditions a more generalized response to any perceived pathogen later on. The immune allergy response is like firing your whole arsenal when you only need one sniper. Like sending billions of dollars worth of equipment and soldiers when one good assassin could do the job. Apparently, preventative actions have there risks. And that’s nothing to sneeze at.
America, ya gotta love it.