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> the most dramatic and visible increase has been the rise in global incidence rates for food allergies, which began in earnest in the 1990s and has grown stead

> the most dramatic and visible increase has been the rise in global incidence rates for food allergies, which began in earnest in the 1990s and has grown steadily ever since Modernity has being going on for a lot longer than the 1990's, so if the data indeed show a well defined break at that time, then at least for some group of allergies there might be a simple cause and effect relation. But the broader pattern of modern civilization modifying the environment at scale on the assumption that nothing can wrong in the long run if it is not obviously toxic in the short run is indeed the root of many of our growing problems.

meitham 3y ago
It varies from one region to another of the planet. Iraq is an example where all food was organic in the 90s due to sanctions forbade import of most chemicals. You could hardly hear a single case of allergies in the generation of that period. Now most food is imported as the two great rivers drying up, all the younger generations have various forms of allergies, nuts allergy is still virtually absent there though.
- nologic01 3y ago
  Food imports are generally well documented and medical records too. I am sure if people would spend the time one could create a good and detailed dataset to trace the culprits. Dont expect this to be financed by the food industry though...
  - toofy 3y ago
    > Dont expect this to be financed by the food industry though... which, honestly is the exact industry that should foot a decent amount of the bill. along with many of the pressing issues a number of commentators have already brought up, we need to do something about industries who become gigantic simply because they externalize all the negative costs and pretend they had nothing to do with it or just muddy the waters enough that they’re never held accountable. do we know if food industries are the primary culprits? no, but i’m also not sure it matters. if we allow industries to have significant benefits over everyone else, from writing laws themselves to never being held accountable to externalizing costs onto society, maybe industries should bear the costs of finding out what’s happening and the costs of fixing it. maybe not tho, but it’s becoming more and more clear how unsustainable it is to let these behemoths externalize everything onto us, walk away with everything, and all but say “not my problem.”
deleted 3y ago
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meitham 3y ago

It varies from one region to another of the planet. Iraq is an example where all food was organic in the 90s due to sanctions forbade import of most chemicals. You could hardly hear a single case of allergies in the generation of that period. Now most food is imported as the two great rivers drying up, all the younger generations have various forms of allergies, nuts allergy is still virtually absent there though.

nologic01 3y ago
Food imports are generally well documented and medical records too. I am sure if people would spend the time one could create a good and detailed dataset to trace the culprits. Dont expect this to be financed by the food industry though...
- toofy 3y ago
  > Dont expect this to be financed by the food industry though... which, honestly is the exact industry that should foot a decent amount of the bill. along with many of the pressing issues a number of commentators have already brought up, we need to do something about industries who become gigantic simply because they externalize all the negative costs and pretend they had nothing to do with it or just muddy the waters enough that they’re never held accountable. do we know if food industries are the primary culprits? no, but i’m also not sure it matters. if we allow industries to have significant benefits over everyone else, from writing laws themselves to never being held accountable to externalizing costs onto society, maybe industries should bear the costs of finding out what’s happening and the costs of fixing it. maybe not tho, but it’s becoming more and more clear how unsustainable it is to let these behemoths externalize everything onto us, walk away with everything, and all but say “not my problem.”

deleted 3y ago

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