Keep Sixlets Safe

Going Nuts, as a Canadian with what I consider a "safe" alternative to Sixlets (Nestle Smarties), I have managed, in my time, thanks to different dear American friends to consume copious amounts of Sixlets.
Count me in! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
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Momma Bear, have your cubs ever eaten Sixlets? (there's a reason I'm asking).
Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
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Momma Bear, the reason I was asking if your cubs had eaten Sixlets was because that would help you determine what you want to write, if anything, in your e-mail to Sweetworks. I know, for my Nestle Canada e-mail re Smarties, I used not only my experiences as a child eating Smarties (that wasn't the only product that was about to become unsafe) but also how I was going to explain it to my children, one PA and one non-PA.
So, that's why I was wondering if your children did eat Sixlets. Also, I know a lot of American friends who didn't feel comfortable with Hershey even and when they heard I had received Sixlets (obviously from other American friends who did feel okay about Hershey), they were quite shocked, if you will.
My children are currently on the last week of a two week chocolate ban (not saying that that's why your children have not tried Sixlets).
So, if you were going to write anything at all, would it be that you want to be able to continue to consume, given that you like them (I found them extremely sweet and one could get sick fast easily eating too many of them), the product because it is safer for your PA children? Also, even that, it depends on whether or not you, personally, have eliminated peanut products from your diet, including "may contains" etc. and it's certainly not something I need to know.
No, I was just trying to determine if you could play the heartbroken children angle (which there will be quite a few heartbroken children - I can still remember the afternoon we heard about Nestle and having to tell my children) in your e-mail to help you figure out what to write.
Otherwise, it may not even be something that is important for you to take part in.
For myself, even though I'm Canadian and don't require Sixlets, I still believe that Nestle Canada changed their decision because of not only an overwhelming outcry from Canadians, but from around the world, including our American members/friends here. That's why I'm willing to participate in the campaign.
Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
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Momma Bear, here's what I wrote, so you can maybe understand where I was coming from in asking if your cubs ate Sixlets or not (oh, sorry, this is what I wrote to Nestle Canada, pulled from that thread):-
I am a 42 yr old woman. I cannot tell you what joy I had, as a child, eating Smarties. We all knew how to make fake lipstick with the red Smarties. We would line the Smarties up according to colour. We all had our favourite colours. When you eat your Smarties do you eat the red ones last? Do you suck them very slowly or crunch them very fast? Eat their candy coated chocolate and please tell me when I ask, when you eat your Smarties do you eat the red ones last? How many Canadian children actually did eat the red ones last? Through the years, I grew to love Coffee Crisp, in particular and Aero bars. Very rarely did I feel the need to have a chocolate bar that had peanuts in it. I am now the Mother of a 5 year old son with a deadly allergy to peanuts. How thrilled I was to learn that Nestle's line of chocolate was "safe" for him to consume. My son could enjoy Smarties as I had when I was a child! I am a member of [url="http://www.peanutallergy.com"]www.peanutallergy.com[/url] We found out that our American friends didn't even know what Smarties were. Plain M & M's are unsafe in the U.S. (and Canada) for peanut allergic individuals to consume. I started the co-ordination of a Canadian family sending Smarties to our American friends so their children could enjoy a good "safe" treat that we had long taken for granted. I just finished mailing a large quantity to a friend in California who was happy to share them with another peanut allergic child. Your economic decision to not maintain your peanut free facility, I think you will find, is not based in true statistics. You maintain that only 1.5% of the Canadian population is affected by a peanut/nut allergy. I beg to differ. Yes, my son is one of the 1.5%. However, because he is deathly allergic and has almost died because of his allergy, our whole family of four cannot consume any products that "may contain". Extended family and friends do not buy these products either. My son is in a "peanut free" classroom at school and the only chocolate that is currently allowed into his classroom is Nestles. That affects 40+ children and the treat they either choose to bring in their lunch or the treats they receive as a group at special occasion parties. I also understand that the decision was based on a survey or study that concluded that most people want to see peanuts/nuts in their chocolate bars. I'm sorry, do they not have enough chocolate bars to choose from already? I have been quite comfortable accepting that Smarties are not "safe" at special occasion time for my son. I have been quite comfortable accepting that Smarties ice cream is not "safe" for my son. However, your decision to-day, I cannot merely sit back and accept. Solely as a parent of a peanut allergic individual I am able to contact many people and ask them to voice their concerns to Nestle and even go so far as to boycott Nestle products. However, as a member of [url="http://www.peanutallergy.com,"]www.peanutallergy.com,[/url] we have an international voice with which to voice our outrage, our deep sense of betrayal, and our feelings that yet another company has completed negated either ourselves or our children. This is something I do not understand when the peanut/nut allergic population is actually growing. I would suggest that no one at Nestle who made this decision even knows remotely a person that is peanut/nut allergic. Have you ever shopped reading every label over and over again and finding that most products you go to buy are "unsafe"?
Have you had to contact manufacturers on a weekly basis to see if their foods are, in fact, "safe" for your child to consume? What will our children be denied now? Smarties. I am angry because I know the joy that Smarties brought me as a child. I am angry because only yesterday when I was in the grocery store with my peanut allergic son, we were going through the chocolate bars and identifying which ones were "safe" and not "safe". Most were not "safe", but my soul, YESTERDAY, he could point out that Nestle chocolate bars and Smarties were "safe". He will no longer be able to do this. His response to me to-day was that when he grows up he is going to make Smarties that are "peanut free". What a brave little soul. I understand that the plant in question is antiquated and could not withstand renovations to separate peanut products from the rest of the facility so that these products could still remain "safe". But why? I'm sorry, but I do not agree that it is consumers wanting MORE peanut products in their chocolate bars. I do not believe that it is not economically viable for you to keep this facility peanut free. I suspect that there is something much larger in this picture that the public is not being made aware of. To top it off, The Anaphylaxis Network of Canada has been working with you for months, asking you for a reversal of your decision. My only wish is that they had come to us, the parents of peanut allergic children, to peanut allergic people, and we would have banded together with them when the decision was first in it's making. How can you ignore what this well respected organization has to say? How can you even ignore an evening newscast I watched this evening where the reporter thought that it was truly sad that a treat such as a chocolate bar, or our beloved Smarties are something that peanut/nut allergic children will NEVER be able to enjoy. I am begging you to re-consider this decision, not simply for my son (as he probably will make "peanut free" Smarties one day), but for all peanut allergic individuals and their families, friends, teammates, and class and school mates. If you do not re-consider your decision, I would be very interested in seeing your sales report for the year ending 2002 to see how adding the "may contain" warning to these wonderful products has actually benefited your sales.
May I suggest that it won't and that you may actually find yourself at a loss.
I would ask you again to re-consider your decision and thank you for your time and consideration.
Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
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Sorry, and shorter, less personal examples of what people wrote, which I do think are appropriate for this campaign as well (Sixlets would be in my mind the American equivalent of Smarties as far as substitutes for M&M's plain) can be found in this thread (with a special thank-you to Nutternomore who actually contacted me off-the-board to show me how easy placing a link in a post was [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img] ):-
[url="http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/Forum23/HTML/000022.html"]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/Forum23/HTML/000022.html[/url]
Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
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