Mom Wants school' Oak Trees Cut Down for Kids With (nut) Allergies

abcnews. ^ | Nov 14, 2012 2:44pm

[dennisw]

Donna Giustizia, a mother of two, says the oak trees near her teenager’s school in Vaughan, Ontario, are a health hazard, and even though the school is nut-free, she says school administrators aren’t protecting their students.

“A false sense of security is putting a sign on the door that says ‘nut-free,’ and there’s nuts all over the place,” Giustizia told The Star.

Giustizia says the trees around St. Stephen Catholic Elementary School are a deadly threat for kids with anaphylactic food allergies — allergies that cause shock.

She appeared before the Vaughan, Ontario, City Council last week to plead for the removal of the trees, saying : “The acorns are not only presenting a risk to the tree-nut-allergic students, but it is also becoming a great cause of anxiety among all students with nut allergies.” Giustizia also said, according to The Star, that “acorns can also be used to bully and torment children.”

Giustizia, who heads the school’s allergy committee, says she’s not suggesting the entire town become nut-free, but she worries that acorns on the school grounds could trigger an allergic attack.

Dr. Clifford Bassett, medical director of allergy and asthma care at New York University, says he’s not familiar with any reports of children having an allergic reaction by playing with acorns off the ground.

“There’s no relationship between acorns and peanuts,” Bassett said. “If people have food allergies, they need to work with an allergist on prevention, avoidance and preparedness. People with food allergies need to be careful and have a plan.”

[dennisw]

my comment -——> *********Beam me up Scotty!

[gov_bean_ counter]

there’s nuts all over the place

Oh yeah...

[Pearls Before Swine]

Cutting down the oaks (and beeches and walnuts) wherever the kid may be is a pretty expensive preventive treatment. What would the IPAB say about this?

[Bigh4u2]

“A false sense of security is putting a sign on the door that says ‘nut-free,’ and there’s nuts all over the place,” Giustizia told The Star. Sometimes these things just right themselves...

:0)

[jimbobfoster]

They are preparing a report on the “NUT” problem.

[sockhead]

Nuts! I have to admit, I am not keen on oak trees anymore. They put out a horrible yellow pollen in the spring. I have a couple of 120 footers too close to my house that I would like to take out.

[Bigh4u2]

“A false sense of security is putting a sign on the door that says ‘nut-free,’ and there’s nuts all over the place,” Giustizia told The Star. Sometimes these things just write themselves...

:0)

'Write <> RIGHT' :(

[dinoparty]

OK. Yes, there are real nuts (pun intended) out there on the food allergy issue. I agree with that. Some parents play it up to get attention, no doubt, to everyone’s detriment. However, as a parent of a child with a severe peanut allergy, I can assure you that it is real and that its frightening, so please no comments about “natural selection” or “we all had allergies when we were kids and we turned out OK” ... Those comments just show your ignorance.

[ari-freedom]

“acorns can also be used to bully and torment children.”

She does have a point.

[cripplecreek]

What an idiot.

[oh8eleven]

Giustizia also said, according to The Star, that “acorns can also be used to bully and torment children.”
What about NUTS like Giustizia who torment all of us? WTF do these people come from?

[ari-freedom]

What a nutcase.

[Hot Tabasco]

A representative for the local squirrel population promises retaliation if the tree is taken down.......

[askrenr]

When nuts are outlawed only outlaws will have nuts.

[ari-freedom]

“What about NUTS like Giustizia who torment all of us? WTF do these people come from? “

Trees.

[Logical me]

So now we should cut down all nut baring trees in the Country so this brat can survive where it goes. Where in the hell did America get these NUTS? Oh, that right, King Obama voter.

[ari-freedom]

She’s another health nutsi.

[dfwgator]

The Oaks are just too greedy.

[EEGator]

You need to teach your child to adjust to the world, not the other way around.
(I’m not saying you were, I mean the general use of you)

[cripplecreek]

there’s nuts all over the place,

LOL no doubt about it.

[NormsRevenge]

it takes a nut to know one.. geees Mom,, all the kids make fun of me. stop it

[Huskrrrr]

there’s nuts all over the place.”

Don’t move to California.

[dinoparty]

Depends on what you mean by “adjust”. If it means that I don’t have a right to ask his school to ask other parents to bring only nut free snacks for the class Christmas party, I disagree. Those types of requests are perfectly reasonable. I agree, however, that I don’t have a right to require other parents to send peanut-free lunches with their kids every day. My son can simply be careful around his friends at lunch.

[sockhead]

Surveys say most rich old white men when asked by Barbara Walters, “If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?” would answer oak tree.

[Dahoser]

“The acorns are not only presenting a risk to the tree-nut-allergic students, but it is also becoming a great cause of anxiety among all students with nut allergies.” Giustizia also said, according to The Star, that “acorns can also be used to bully and torment children.”

The Most Potent Weapons In The Arsenal of Today's Bullies Preparing for Deployment

[Cicero]

The school is “nut free.”

I don’t think so.

[dfwgator]

I think the Maples are behind this.

[Huskrrrr]

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Giustiziaid nuttier than squirrel poop!

[Hegewisch Dupa]

Do the have "guilty/not guilty" in Canada?

[txrangerette]

There is an answer to this, but of course the mom won’t like it.

Sadly, the daughter needs to be taught at her home. I’m assuming the home has no oak trees near it. Most school districts have homebound programs...if one doesn’t, they’d better start one or be subject to a lawsuit which would have merrit.

I’m talking about a modified school curiculum that would work in the home setting.

If the girl has school friends she wants to see she can interact with them at prearranged times in a setting other than school.

[PGR88]

when nuts are illegal, only criminals will have nuts.

[Hot Tabasco]

“acorns can also be used to bully and torment children.”

I preferred the slingshot.....

[cripplecreek]

Enough of this faggotry I say!

[EEGator]

You can certainly ask, but they’re under no obligation to do so. I personally would respect your request as I think it’s quite reasonable. I think most parents would since they understand the worries of a parent.

[Cold Heart]

When the market is right, sell the standing trees to someone that cuts hardwood into fine lumber.

A friend of mine had a mobil mill in which he trailerd to the customers site. He custom cut the lumber and charged according to board feet. He also bought or removed for free various trees for his own lumber use.

Once he bought a special mill to build over a huge oak tree which he could not cut up any other way. He sold the mill after that one tree was cut to lumber on the spot where it fell.

[subterfuge]

Sorry lady. In the minds of the liberal ruling class trees are far more important that your son’s health. Those trees will be “taken out” over your son’s dead body! Where is your compassion for TREES?!!

IF anyone touches those trees it is they who will be cut down!!! (I LOVE pitting liberals against each other)

[EEGator]

Never anger Treebeard the Ent!

[animal172]

She’ll see a real nut if she looks in a mirror.

[Dr. Sivana]

However, as a parent of a child with a severe peanut allergy, I can assure you that it is real and that its frightening, so please no comments about “natural selection” or “we all had allergies when we were kids and we turned out OK” ... Those comments just show your ignorance.

Yes, these things are real. I think there's no question that it is getting worse and no one has a definitive explanation(s).

That said, we cannot accommodate every single severe allergy out there. I have a sister-in-law with numerou severe allergies. Perfume, cat dander, incense and tobacco odor being just several of them. They can land her in the hospital pretty easily. She basically has to live her life around her allergies.

People whose lives or healthy are threatened by such commonly occuring ordinary things may have to consider special measures, including home schooling, rather than make everyone else miss out on things like a pet cat, church incense or an oak tree in the playground.

[stayathomemom]

I was actually thinking about squirrels crossing over onto school property with nuts in their mouths would be shot.

[massgopguy]

They can’t help it if they like the way they’re made. Why can’t the Maples just be happy in their shade?

[illiac]

Wonder if she had her husband “de-frocked”???

[massgopguy]

They can’t help it if they like the way they’re made. Why can’t the Maples just be happy in their shade?

[buffaloguy]

I would think that a peanut allergy would not translate to a tree allergy.

I wonder where this allergy comes from. I don’t remember any of this when I was a child. None whatsoever.

[sockhead]

Thanks for the tip.

[duckman]

Is she related to Bloomberg?

[Hot Tabasco]

I was actually thinking about squirrels crossing over onto school property

If it involves crossing a road, they'll never make it......

[dinoparty]

I don’t disagree with you. However, there are some minimal things that can be done as a courtesy to the allergic person, without much inconvenience to the others. It angers me when people object even to these.