Food Allergy Advocates Criticize Ugly Betty Finale

Talk about ugly: The season finale of one of the past year's most successful new shows, Ugly Betty, had a pretty unattractive plotline for children with food allergies and their families. According to a statement from the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), Betty's young nephew was so eager to go from understudy to star in the school play that he tricked the lead into eating nuts, knowing it would cause an allergic reaction. Because this is more of a comedy than a police procedural, the child went home with hives, the nephew went on stage, and nothing much was made of it.

That's a distressing turn of plot for parents like Ria Sharon of Check My Tag, who wrote in her blog: "Does art imitate life or life imitate art? The sick part is that what happened in this episode, could easily happen in real life. We've already heard about mean kids throwing peanut butter sandwiches at kids who are allergic to peanuts. Or, parents who threaten to hide peanut butter in their kids lunches."

The FAAN statement cautions that "The Ugly Betty episode incorrectly gives viewers the impression that an allergic reaction to food is merely a nuisance. In reality, one bite of the wrong food can cause death in a matter of minutes. Once a reaction begins, there is no way to predict how severe it will become. Food allergies can be deadly and should be taken very seriously." Concerned parents are advised to contact ABC online at http://abc.go.com/site/contactus.html or by letter to ABC, Inc., 500 S. Buena Vista Street, Burbank, CA, 91521-4551.

Did you see this Ugly Betty episode? Did you feel the allergy plotline was irresponsible? Share your thoughts in the comments.