Bullying takes many forms, but when it involves a food that triggers severe allergies, it could be potentially deadly.
Once, when Brandon Williams, a 16-year-old from Kentucky, was on a trip with his bowling team, his teammate decided to eat some food from McDonald's on Williams' bed. One item had so much mayonnaise that it dripped onto Williams' bed and jacket. But for Williams, who was diagnosed with a life-threatening egg allergy when he was one, it was a potentially dangerous situation. "I told the person not to eat on my bed," Williams recalls. His teammate just smiled at him, then he shoved the mayonnaise-laden sandwich in Williams' face.
It's always the same. People wave food near Williams that they know he can't eat. They see him and yell, "Hey let's feed this guy egg." It's not original, all the jokes are the same kind of thing, Williams says, yet the bullying carries an undercurrent of risk. "It wouldn't be funny to break someone's arm to send them to the hospital," Williams says. "Why would it be funny to send someone to the hospital for an allergy?"
While it's hard to know for certain, it's unlikely that food allergy bullying is a new phenomenon. But the number of children diagnosed with food allergies is growing, which means it could harm more people. From 1997 to 2007, the number of children with food allergies increased by 18 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hospitalizations associated with these allergies also continue to grow.