CNN reported this week that new research from the CDC indicates that the incidence of allergies in children has risen almost 20 per cent.

This is a shocking rise in allergies. Given the timing of that rise, it seems to me that most of the current theories in use are missing something. The theory that is the darling of researchers these days is the “hygiene theory”, which states that children are basically living in environments that are too clean.

I don’t know about you, but my environment was pretty darned clean when I was a kid in the 60’s, but I didn’t develop allergies. Nevertheless, my son definitely developed them. What’s the difference? Could it be all kinds of environmental pollution released by us humans?

We seem to ignore the fact that we have put a whole host of artificial chemicals into our environment, without much (if any) testing of those chemicals. It’s not just what we put on our food or our lawns (which also haven’t been tested for what happens over long term, low level exposure), but also the chemicals that keep produce looking nice (like “edible” wax, which seems a contradiction in terms if there ever was one), or “ripening” chemicals (which don’t have to be labeled in any way).

And that’s just our food. There are the chemicals we use to clean our clothes - from the laundry detergent that you use every week to the drycleaning chemicals that invade our closets and our homes. Most of us are using chemicals when we clean our cars, our homes, our clothes, our bodies - literally everything around us.

Then there are our new gadgets. For instance, many of us have Teflon coated pans, which leach the chemical components into our bodies. Here’s the bad news: DuPont Corporation is involved with a class-action lawsuit in the US which accuses DuPont of failing to warn the consumer about the health hazards of Teflon non-stick coatings. How many of us own pots, pans and other cooking equipment that is coated with Teflon?

Here’s one that shocked me: did you know that all children’s clothing is treated with fire retardant? Did you know that fire retardant has been linked to nervous and reproductive system damage? Recent reports indicate that damage may be irreparable at low concentrations.

Makes you wonder about the epidemic of infertility that also seems to be occurring. After all, it used to be that people of my parents and grandparents generation had children just fine, right into their 40th birthday. Now we have otherwise healthy people in their 30’s who can’t have kids, including 2 couples I know if in my own extended family.

Okay. I’ll quit ranting. But I suspect it is good advice - whether you are living with the challenge of allergies or not - to look carefully at all those “modern conveniences” you are using and consider the chemical burden that you are putting in your body. After all, if you put enough garbage in, something is bound to break. Perhaps the immune system is just the most delicate one, so it goes first.