The Popek family believes there are lots of kids out there like their son Eddie, 4, who has severe allergic reactions to peanuts.

But they don't know for sure.

That's why Christine Popek, Eddie's mom, is seeking to conduct — through an awareness group she founded last year — what may be a first for the region:

A large-scale survey of families in Erie County who have allergic children.

How many allergic children are here? How severe are their allergies, and what types of allergies are most common — milk, nut, wheat? How did the parents first find out their kids were allergic? Have they had reactions as severe as anaphylactic shock?

Those questions and more are included in an online survey that Popek's nonprofit organization, Food Allergy Support Services, is asking parents and family members to fill out this spring and summer.

Names will be kept confidential, and results will be announced as an aggregate number later in the year — and used, Popek said, to raise public awareness about how many allergic children there are living in Western New York.

"We're all just reinventing the wheel," said Popek, of families who learn they have children with food allergies. "And when you're scared, you're alone. That's not fair — and it's not right."

"We need specifics," she said. "If we want to deal with state government, with local government — we have to be able to give them a number. We want to know what kind of a group we're dealing with."

The group's Web site, www.cleanoutthepantry.org, contains the survey form, which may be found by clicking on the "surveys" page. At the end, the survey may be sent to the group with the click of a mouse.

"Families would like more services," said Popek, who conducted an initial test of the survey form with 20 families earlier this year. "They want somebody to listen."

Popek, of Orchard Park, founded Food Allergy Support Services Inc. after she learned in 2007 that her eldest son, Eddie, has a severe peanut allergy. The Popeks discovered that when Eddie, at age 1, ate a dot of peanut butter on a cracker and immediately went into a reaction.

Even today, Eddie cannot even smell or touch a fleck of a peanut without being covered in hives. Amounts as minuscule as traces of peanut in dog's saliva, or a kiss from a friend who has eaten a peanut-butter sandwich, are enough to cause him to have a reaction, Christine Popek said.

"Eddie has never had anaphylactic shock," his mom said, referring to the most severe form of allergic reaction, in which a person has a systemwide reaction and can stop breathing. "He'll get hives. I still have to look [everywhere he goes]. He can't just play."

Nationally, health experts have said that food allergies in U.S. children are on the rise.

Data from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease shows that 6 percent to 8 percent of children under 4 are currently dealing with a food allergy.

In adults, data shows, the rate is 3.7 percent.

Doctors are still puzzling out the answers to what is causing the increases in allergies to nuts and other foods among kids, but parents like Popek think a lot more could be done to raise awareness in the homes, schools, grocery stores and restaurants of Western New York.

For instance, she said, most restaurants in Buffalo Niagara do not have cooks and staff members trained on how to handle patrons with food allergies. That makes daily life challenging for families with allergic children — who often can't partake in "normal" activities like eating out, birthday parties, and the like.

And in many schools, there is still a lack of awareness about how to keep food-allergic children safe, Popek said.

"Some people think parents of allergic children are overreacting," she said. "But put yourself in their shoes for a day. Picture yourself going to the hospital because your child got exposed to a drop of milk.

"All of these allergies can result in anaphylactic shock."

The survey takes about 5 to 10 minutes to complete, Popek said.

Families with questions about food allergies or the survey can contact Food Allergy Support Services at 662-4660.

Watch this column space later this year for news about the results.

getwell@buffnews.com or cvogel@buffnews.com