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SUMMARY:A pre-peanut history of food allergy - Matthew Smith (University o
 f Strathclyde)
DTSTART:20120221T170000Z
DTEND:20120221T183000Z
UID:TALK35088@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Vanessa Heggie
DESCRIPTION:Since 1990\, food allergy has become synonymous with anaphylac
 tic reactions associated with shellfish\, milk\, and\, especially\, peanut
  allergy.  Rates of food allergy have mushroomed\, contributing to changes
  in how food is produced\, marketed\, and consumed.  Concerns about peanut
  allergy have changed what schoolchildren can have for lunch\, affected ho
 w foods are processed and labelled\, and led to the banning of peanut prod
 ucts in numerous public spaces. Food allergy is not new\, but the seriousn
 ess with which it is treated is.  For much of the twentieth century food a
 llergy was a perplexing\, dubious\, and controversial concept that both di
 vided and threatened allergists. I suggest this was due to: 1) the theoret
 ical\, diagnostic\, and therapeutic challenges raised by food allergy\; 2)
  the claims food allergists made about the scope and extent of their subje
 ct\; and 3) the threat food allergy and food allergists posed to the scien
 tific legitimacy of allergy.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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