One 5-year-old's allergy leads to class peanut ban [lunch searches?????]

SF Chronicle ^

[Sub-Driver]

An East Bay elementary school's ban on peanut butter sandwiches and other nut products in its kindergarten classes has some parents questioning whether school district administrators overreacted to concerns for one allergic child.

At the center of the storm is a 5-year-old boy enrolled at Valle Verde Elementary School in Walnut Creek. He suffers from "peanut and tree nut" allergies that his mother says are life-threatening.

[EggsAckley]

People that are allergic to so many things usually have some psychological issue

Congratulations. You have just posted the dumbest statement of the day!

[Cobra64]

The entire United States should be made a nut free zone.

Thenwe could send Al, Jesse, Maxine, the other Al, Janet, Madelen,... oh never mind. Just export all the libs.

[BSunday]

One kid eats a peanut butter sandwich. Being a kid, some residue remains on his hands. He touches a chair. The peanut oil is on the chair. The allergic child touches the same chair and then touches his mouth.

If that is truly the case then the child does not belong in public school.

[EggsAckley]

I agree. Five year olds are very maleable. They can have the issue explained to them and then be proud to be a part of helping their classmate.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

VERY small amounts. What she told me is that she eats small amounts several times a day, and is constantly washing her hands (in case she touches something and inadvertently touches her mouth). I had to give her credit - although her allergist describes it as an unusually severe condition, she still works as a corrections officer.

[tru_degenerate]

I was wondering why there is a sign on my daughter's new school that says 'no peanuts or peanut products'.

[Paved Paradise]

Giving up peanut products during the school day in order to ensure that another child doesn't DIE is not a sacrifice. Give me a break. We had a tragedy here locally where a middle school student died from taking one bite of a cookie that had a couple of pieces of nut. It really is no laughing matter. Some children are so allergic that even the oil from another kid's hand on the swing set can cause him to go into anaphylactic shock. In these cases, I urge people to err on the side of caution.

[mtbrandon49]

I applaud you. My son has asthma also. It's only bad in the spring when the pollen is up. He's been able to use his inhaler by himself since he was 4. I talk to the teachers about it before the school year starts and let them know he knows when he needs it and how to administer it.

[Eva]

Let the kid eat in a room by himself if the mother is so paranoid. My kids lived on peanutbutter and jelly and would have felt severely deprived if it had been forbidden.

They have a school nurse, so epenephrine is always available anyway. I have had an anaphylactic reaction and it is scarey, but you learn very quickly how to avoid another one.

[ctlpdad]

It was not as if the whole school was affected, just this classroom. the poor kid wore gloves everwhere he went, even in the bathroom, because if he touched a handrail or toilet handle that had a trace of peanut oil (NOT JUST IN PEANUT BUTTER BTW) he would have had a violent allergic reaction.

The allergic kids parents did not (nor did the kid) force the whole school to forego the pbj's and wash hands, just a class of volunteers.

like i said, it wasn't a real big deal, because my daughter Annalia didn't like (at the time, now she loves...) pbj's

[montag813]

Why not ban the allergic child?

[Paved Paradise]

They are in some schools in the Cleveland area.

[DBrow]

I agree with the comments that the kid should learn to fend for himself. The mom should be teaching Jr. how to live in a poison infested world. The kid does need a safe zone though, at least one area where he can relax his guard a little, if just for a while.

Searching bags for peanuts is a bit strange and probably not needed. Next they will add a peanut fume detector to the metal detectors at the doors of the school!

The incidence of severe allergies is indeed up, nobody is sure just why, yet. There are now many more people with peanut allergy, and more and more allergic to soy products (not as serious an allergy).

I do know that until a few years ago, food was not allowed in classrooms, so a nut-free table in the caf was enough. Now that there are vending machines in the halls and food allowed in classrooms, it is more difficult for a kid with allergies to avoid the offending items.

www.foodallergy.org

www.peanutallergy.com

Start reading food labels, for cookies, cereals, snacks, and the like. You will find many packages with warnings like, May Contain Peanut Pieces, Processed on Equipment Also Used to Process Peanuts, May Have Peanut or Tree Nut Ingredients. Try to imagine what your own life would be like if you needed to absolutely avoid such things, and had to get the people around you to change their habits a little.

As an aside, a small number of Italians have a condition called Favism in which the individual gets quite ill after eating fava beans. Even breathing fava pollen can be serious. People even die from it. Many Italian areas have strict laws about growing fava beans, and anything containing fava must be labeled. A similar problem to peanut, but in Italy.

[petitfour]

I suppose the schools are vigilant about making sure there is no mold growing in the walls and in the air ducts, too.

Pretty soon we will see signs: This is a peanut-free zone. This is a smoke-free zone. This is a drug-free zone. Etc.

[The KG9 Kid]

Welcome to being ostracized and named 'Peanut Breath' by your classmates until the 6th grade, kid.

By now, the story has already circulated around the school that "If Jamie breathes a fart, he'll die".

[Chancellor Palpatine]

In this instance, the lady had been rendered unconscious and wound up hospitalized over minor food contacts. Hers was real, not the psychosomatic form (and I know what you're talking about).

[TheBattman]

I guess I am just a cold-hearted jerk. Where were these severe allergic reactions to peanuts 15-20 years ago (or more)? Have humans just sudenly become alergic to peanuts in the last decade or two?

And yes, I know someone who is super alergic to peanuts - can't even walk into the school cafeteria on days that PB sandwiches were made - even after clean-up. This still doesn't clarify the situation.

I also can see how I might feel differently if I or my wife were severly alergic to peanuts.

[Doctor Stochastic]

I know people who are so badly allergic to bee stings they can die if stung -- do we ban bees?

Of couse bees are banned in schools. Would you approve is someone regularly let loose a bunch of bees in your child's classroom?

[Paved Paradise]

Read the other posts. Obviously you aren't aware about the oil that the kids transmit onto desks, pencils, play equipment, etc. If one child in the school has an allergy to the level that it could lead to death, then as I said in an earlier post, it is NO sacrifice to tell kids no peanut products in the school. The school here in my community has sent letters home to all parents explaining the situation. A life is priceless!! Keep the peanuts at home!

[MrsEmmaPeel]

Giving up peanut products during the school day in order to ensure that another child doesn't DIE is not a sacrifice. Give me a break.

You want to kill all bees to protect those who are allergic to bee stings? Why one group and not another? Where does this end?