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

SF Chronicle ^

[Paved Paradise]

Amen!

[dfwgator]

As an aside, a small number of Italians have a condition called Favism in which the individual gets quite ill after eating fava beans.

Obviously Hannibal Lecter didn't have that problem.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

I said in an earlier post, it is NO sacrifice to tell kids no peanut products in the school.

Why stop there? Do you want to kill all bees? I know some people that have terrible reactions to strawberries -- get rid of those, too? Why one group and not another?

[dennisw]

Folks have screwed up their immune systems and that of their children. This was not a problem a few decades ago. There are ways of ridding your child of such peanut allergies. But why should a parent exert herself when it's a lot easier to create chaos and get your way in school? And bully others. Peanut butter/jelly sandwiches are like manna from heaven when your are little. Are inexpensive too with good protien and oil for the child to burn off at recess and play.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Do you realize how many food products have peanut oil? If it is allowed to be banned it should be against the law to made. This makes it sound more dangerous than DDT or Agent Orange.

[CIB-173RDABN]

What would be your number to inconvenience to save the life of one child. Until you have seen a child having reactions to peanut butter, and hoping the paramedics get there in time, don't assume anything. And yes, I have seen it.

---

False argument.

Autombile accidents kill children. Should we ban all vehicles?

Bathtub accidents kill children. Should we prohibit bathtubs?

Swiming accidents kill children. Should we prohibit swimming?

I could go on, but you get my point.

The responsibility for this childs healths is his and his family, not the community. Reasonable action should be taken, but forcing everyone that may come in contact with the child to bend to his needs is not resonable.

To answer your question, none.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

School districts that that allow pre-teens to be exposed are asking to be sued.

In this litigious society of ours, that is not exactly news.

[Paved Paradise]

Well if it causes death, then it IS as bad as DDT! Not all schools have the problem. I wouldn't want to be the loser that brought in peanuts and caused some child's death, that's for sure. Just follow the golden rule here - it's easy.

[Fighter@heart]

Agreed not everyone has the ability/means to homeschool. That being agreed on, enter the Jewish or muslim student, doesn't want to be "exposed" to pork. EGGSactly has a strawberry allergy, good bye strawberries, where does it stop? Pandoras box is opened. Please don't misunderstand my position, my heart goes out to this child & parents. However altering the dietary HABITS of all to suit the few will not make things better only worse for the majority. Social engineering starts early in public schools and this smacks of "what you want or feel" isn't important as long as someone else wants or needs something differant, just "suck it up" and comply. I think the answer isn't in altering the majority, rather trying to find a way to accommodate children with maladys such as these with their own lunch area. In any case the ULTIMATE responsibility falls to the parents. I myself wouldn't feel at all right about altering everybody elses diet to suit my childs allergy.

[CSM]

"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 have no scientific proof and no idea if any exist, but this seems to be about the same time as the health boom in the US. Now, pregnancies are very controled and the environment for babies and toddlers is very sterile. Without exposure to certain elements in our environment (either as a fetus or as a baby) do we have the ability gain a tolerance for these elements?

Allergies and Asthma is exponentially rising as parents don't expose their babies to these unhealthy elements......

Just something to think about!

[MEGoody]

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

To some degree, you are correct. But some kids have a peanut allergy so severe that they cannot touch or eat any food prepared in a factory that also had peanuts in it. I mean, it can get to the point of being almost impossible to ensure the child's safety outside the home. (What happens if the kid's friend has peanut butter for breakfast, then whispers something in her ear, touching her face with her lips? In some kids, even that can cause a fatal reaction.)

If the kid's allergy is severe, she should be home schooled.

[dennisw]

I have a better idea. Take the allergic child to a doctor who can rid of peanut allergies. This can be done in many cases.

---

LEE HOCHBERG: Dr. Hugh Sampson of the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine estimates peanut products cause 40 deaths a year in the U.S.. Doctors aren’t sure why the allergy is on the increase, but they suspect children are being exposed to peanut too early. A child’s immune system can’t tolerate peanut proteins until age three, but a study of infants in San Diego found 80 percent had been fed peanut by age two. And mothers eating peanut butter while pregnant or while breast feeding could be passing on peanut proteins to their young even earlier. Whatever the cause, the allergies are prompting clashes between parents, educators, and political leaders over how far to go to protect allergic children. For example, some schools have banned peanut butter, a decision met with vigorous criticism, as in this radio commentary by Rush Limbaugh.

RUSH LIMBAUGH: But isn’t this a typical liberal solution? You’ve got 440 students and 1 of them has a peanut allergy. What do you do? You ban peanut butter from all 440 of the children, spread the misery around, deny everybody the right to eat peanut butter in order to protect the 1 child who cannot.

LEE HOCHBERG: Some parents are angered by accommodations made for other allergies. When a preschool in Virginia banned milk, cheese, and yogurt to protect a student with an allergy to dairy products, some parents pulled children from the school and withheld tuition. Critics also have lashed out at a recent ruling from the U.S. Justice Department that obligates school teachers to treat allergic reactions. Peanut-allergic children could need a life-saving shot of adrenaline but La Petite Academy, the nation’s second largest child care provider, said it would not take on the liability of administering it. Parents of allergic kids said the school was violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires schools make reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities. In an October settlement with the government the Academy agreed to administer adrenaline. Like many schools, St. Ann’s Episcopal in Denver, has begun adapting to its peanut-allergic children, like nine-year-old Caroline Curtiss. Though Curtiss brings her own peanut-free lunch, the school stopped using peanut oil in its cafeteria food to reduce her risk of reaction.

[EggsAckley]

I find it interesting that here, on FR, where just about everyone believes avidly in the right to life, we find some who care not a whit about a little boy who is ALREADY HERE.

Odd.

[DBrow]

Actually there is no treatment or cure, but people are working on it. There is a treatment costing about $10,000 per year that can reduce sensitivity to PA in some people, and insurance does not cover it. It will be generally available in a few years, but is experimental right now. The treatment merely increases the amount of peanut that can be eaten before a serious reaction is triggered.

The snip below mentions a possible cure that may be developed in several years, and if affordable, will make "peanut free" classrooms unnecessary.


http://www.foodallergy.org/press_releases/pnresearch.html
New Peanut Allergy Research Gives Hope that a Cure is Closer for Millions of Sufferers Living in Fear of Deadly Reactions, Says FAAN

Fairfax, Va., July 10, 2003 -- For peanut allergy sufferers, including 1.5 million U.S. adults and children who live each day afraid that one mistaken bite may cause a deadly reaction, a cure may be on the horizon. A new series of studies published this month in the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology indicates that scientists are closer to finding a cure for peanut allergy, according to The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN).

"Carefully reading labels, asking questions about ingredients at restaurants and carrying epinephrine are a way of life for peanut allergy sufferers," said Anne Muñoz-Furlong, founder and CEO of FAAN. "So is hoping that scientists will one day find a cure. The future looks promising."

Peanut allergic people do change their habits a great deal. This 5 yr old should start learning these habits soon, if he's going to survive. As I posted earlier, it used to be that food was not allowed in classrooms at all, making things easier.


Bees? Bees are easy to avoid in the classroom because kids do not bring them in for snack. Apples and oranges.

[Fury]

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.

Face it - pretty soon the only things folks will be able to eat are bales of straw or wood shavings.

And then there's Soylent Green - I never saw any of those folks complain who nibbled on those tasty wafers...

[Paved Paradise]

I know of no instances where strawberries cause death, other than by choking. Also, unfortunately, there is some risk in this world, so, alas, those allergic to bees need beware, but it's all about taking control where one can. If you can control the environment rather easily by not allowing in the peanut products in order to prevent a death, then that is a good remedy. We are talking death here.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

"I'm saddened...deeply saddened."

[snooker]

" Is this mother going to force this issue for the rest of his life? "

could be good for everyone ... NUT FREE CITIES.

[Arthur McGowan]

Abolish government schools--problem solved.

[EggsAckley]

Hey, I never said anything about "goodbye strawberries!" I lived with it; eventually I grew out of it, and now LOVE strawberries.

BUT......hives are not deadly. Peanut allergies ARE.