Grippies and Food Allergies

Filed in archive Food Allergies , Gadgets and Tools Against Allergies , Living with Allergies on November 29, 2008

Have you heard of Grippies? No, not those anti-slip adhesives for socks. I'm talking about those theme-based gloves that according to the product website, "provide added protection from inadvertent contact with allergenic contaminants that threaten the safety of children."

These gloves are supposed to prevent inadvertent contact with food allergens in shops, cinema, school, playgrounds, etc. They come in various designs and sell for $13.95 per pair plus $2.95 shipping and handling.

Personally? I think I'll pass. So the hands are protected. And granted, the hands are probably the most vulnerable body. But as you can see from the picture, pretty much the rest of the body may come into contact with say, peanut-contaminated playground equipment, too. With a number of severely allergic children, contact may not even be necessary for an allergic reaction to occur.

And while I can imagine that you might be able to convince your child to wear during the wintertime, you can't fully expect them to wear it during summertime and look odd, do you? In which case, what sets these gloves from normal mittens, then? And those designs? I'm no fashionista, but apart from the Spider theme, I think they lack a bit of creativity.

That's just my opinion, though. If you've used these and have found them to be very useful, I'd be happy to let you write a review here at Allergizer!