Quebec teen died of asthma, not nutty kiss
Last Updated: Thursday, May 11, 2006 | 1:41 PM ET
CBC News
A coroner in Quebec says a severe asthma attack, not a peanut-contaminated kiss, killed a 15-year-old girl in an incident that made headlines around the world last November.
Christina Desforges died in Saguenay of asthma-linked respiratory failure, coroner Michel Miron said Thursday.
Miron also pointed out that traces of the active ingredient in marijuana were found in the girl's system, indicating that she may have smoked some of the drug shortly before collapsing.
Dr. Michel Miron noted that Christina Desforges's boyfriend ate the peanut snack nine hours before kissing her.
(CBC)
Desforges' death hit the headlines when officials speculated publicly that her boyfriend had eaten toast spread with peanut butter shortly before kissing her.
She was severely allergic to nuts.
Early reports last December also said that a shot of adrenaline had failed to save the girl's life.
Miron's report concluded that there was no way traces of peanut in her boyfriend's saliva could have killed Desforges, since he ate the snack nine hours before kissing her.
He cited research that found nut allergens totally disappear from the saliva of most people within an hour.
In March, Miron went public to deny the peanut story because he was growing concerned that misinformation was circulating about nut allergies.
"The Canadian Association of Food Allergies intended to use the Desforges case to launch an education campaign," he told Associated Press. "I had to tell them the cause of death was different than first believed."
He also said the report that Desforges had received an adrenalin shot after the kiss was false.
However, Miron refused at that time to reveal her actual cause of death, because he was still awaiting some test results and had not yet filed his final report with provincial officials.
