What's with peanut allergies in the United States?

Is it just us, or do you also feel that there are more kids with peanut allergies out in the United States than other parts of the world? And, more today than yesterday?

Here are the different explanations I've heard. Tell me what you feel. More importantly, share your solutions to this serious problem.

1. The premise itself is wrong. The spread of peanut allergies is the same worldwide, but it just gets reported more and diagnosed more accurately in the States. i.e., we must be, there's no problem here!


2. Peanuts come from the ground in the rest of the world ("groundnuts") - fresh and organic. They come in a Planters package in the US - processed and maybe genetically morphed to increase saleability and inadvertently making it less safe? i.e., Blame it on the Corporations!


3. Peanuts are the same everywhere, but the clean, low-germ environment in the States has made our children far less immune to nasty surprises that nature springs their way. i.e., Blame it on Cleanliness!

There may be a point with 3, nutty as it may seem. Somehow using chemicals (the ubiquitous Purel hand sanitizer) to wash off germs sounds like a zero sum game to me.

Well, what is the fix? Safer peanuts? Medical cures? or, a bit of germs all around?

Until then, this is what we can do:

1. let's vow to keep schools peanut-safe (at least in the early grades).


2. monitor the news for any food recalls related to peanuts (and other allergens), and for medical breakthroughs related to allergies


3. share any news / recalls / recipes we come across.

Alertpedia addresses 2 & 3. Please tell your friends and families susceptible to allergies to use this free service to set up alerts and report news.

Stay aware and stay safe!

-- dharani

New Look: Alertpedia turns Web 2.0

This week we launched the new design. Believe us, developing PHP is easier than picking colors, any day.

In the end, Looks are not everything, but they are the first thing a visitor notices - and we know what they say about first impressions. We decided to go with the mainstream 2.0 look (reflections, shading, larger fonts) that is really popular these days and added our own minimalist, clean touch to it. The new logo is pretty cool, isn't it? Kind of like digg, addthis, etc. There are plans for spreading it, stay tuned. 

But we also went beyond just cosmetics with this upgrade: we added easy social bookmarking links (via addthis.com) so that you can easily add any web page / blog / alert on Alertpedia to your favorite bookmarking site, like digg, delicious, reddit, etc.

What else did we do with this release..

• made it easier for users to participate: no logins needed to add comments.


• added RSS feeds


• added google ads.. ok, this is not a feature for anyone except Google


• fixed bugs, not that there were too many to start with ;-)


• and, did I say we revamped the site's look and feel? like, adding a launch page?

Do you like the new look? Please provide your valuable comments on what you like or don't like. Usability is easier with user feedback!
Here's the OLD and the NEW at a quick glance.





- dharani