Schools, States, Restaurants Take Steps; Beyond the Peanut-Free Table
By LIZ RAPPAPORT (abstracted from a Wall Street Journal article)
The new awareness is partly because the number of children with severe food allergies has increased sharply. About six million school-age kids in the U.S., or one out of every 13, has serious food allergies, according to the latest medical research published in 2011 in the American Academy of Pediatrics’ official journal – having risin 18% from 1997 through 2008, according to the CDC. Scientists have been unable to explain the increase. Some theorize that greater attention to cleanliness has made people more sensitive to allergens. More…