A few years ago, a scary story made international news: A 15-year-old girl had apparently died from an allergic reaction after being kissed by her peanut-butter-loving boyfriend. Amid headlines (such as Girl Dies in Peanut-Butter Kiss), a Canadian allergy group began planning a big awareness campaign, and the millions of people with severe food allergies added intimacy to the long list of things they worried about.
But a funny thing happened on the way to a full-fledged smooching panic. The Quebec-based coroner who investigated the girl’s death reported the cause was not anaphylaxis related to her boyfriend’s peanut-butter-laced kiss. In fact, the teen had died from an unrelated asthma attack.
Still, it raised the question: When you have a food allergy, can a show of affection turn into the kiss of death? Read More
It’s hard to believe our 
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In junior high, I was every bully’s fantasy: awkward, short, pudgy, and dressed in ill-fitting hand-me-downs with a curly perm, braces, and glasses. I was the butt of jokes—routinely cuffed, tripped, and otherwise humiliated in between classes and after school. (If you’re looking for the part where I stood up for myself, it’s missing; I eventually transferred to another school where I apparently appeared less geeky.)
By mid-August my wife had already purchased Halloween-themed T-shirts for herself and our kids. She also began rotating at least 10 different sets of Halloween hospital scrubs into her wardrobe at our local children’s hospital. And did I mention that she heads up the Halloween decorating committee on her surgical unit’s floor? Yeah, she’s a Halloween freak.
A few weeks ago, my wife and I took our children to a work-related event at our city’s minor-league baseball park. The company set up a spread of ballpark fare—hot dogs, hamburgers, potato chips—but we packed a lunch for our son, Graeme, who has 
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Pick up a bag of Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels. Under the list of ingredients—sugar, chocolate, cocoa butter, milk fat, and soy lecithin—you’ll find this phrase: Made in a facility that also processes peanuts.
When people ask my wife and me what we feed Graeme, our toddler with 
