Posted on 09/03/2014 10:02:25 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The parent of a child with a life-threatening peanut allergy is fighting for new rules to protect airline passengers who have severe food allergies.
Lianne Mandelbaum, who says she was practically kicked off a United Airlines flight last year because of her son’s condition, has been lobbying for new protections for allergy sufferers.
Now, more than 14,000 people are coming to her aid, petitioning lawmakers and federal regulators to establish a "buffer zone" around passengers who are allergic to certain foods.
“I am not after a nut ban,” Mandelbaum said. “Just the ability to preboard, wipe down the seat area and make an announcement that will let everyone live with their own moral compass around me.”
The petitioners are calling for a rule that would prohibit airlines from serving snacks containing nuts to any passenger sitting near someone with a peanut allergy. Furthermore, passengers who bring peanuts on board would not be allowed to eat them during the flight, if they are sitting within the buffer zone.
The buffer zone would extend to passengers sitting in the three rows in front of or behind someone with a severe peanut allergy.
The rules would also prevent airlines from removing passengers who have peanut allergies.
When Mandelbaum reported her son's allergy to United Airlines, she recalls being told: "Well, if you think he's going to die, don't get on the plane."
"Children and adults with food allergies should be able to report their allergy without fear of being kicked off a flight," Mandelbaum said. "As it stands, they have no such rights and cases have been reported of people being taken off a flight for reporting a food allergy."
Currently, there are no federal rules protecting airlines passengers who have peanut allergies, Mandelbaum says — something she is hoping to change.
Mandelbaum successfully convinced the New Jersey Senate to protect airline passengers with peanut allergies in 2013.
But she is pushing for federal rules that would expand the protections for passengers around the country.
Mandelbaum is also meeting with officials at top airlines, asking them to establish company policies protecting passengers with peanut allergies. She noted that "different flight crews on the same airline will react differently to a food allergy request" without set policies.
She has had some success in her efforts.
WestJet has stopped serving peanuts on board, while Jet Blue Airways will create a buffer zone for allergic passengers upon request, Mandelbaum said.
However, United Airlines has shown "no signs" of changing its policy, following the incident where she was asked to take her son off the flight, Mandelbaum said.
Delta Airlines has not responded to her request, she added.
The petition is being hosted by Care2, an activist website that hosts petitions from public interest, environmental and health groups.
The boy I mentioned is doing well. In the intervening years, he has learned to live very carefully. He is in college now and carries an epipen.
Yet, even with all his precautions, danger remains.
I’m not arguing for or against removing peanuts from flights. Rather, my post was to shame those hateful and uninformed posters who implied that peanut allergy is not a serious issue.
I’m sorry your kid is defective. It’s not my problem. First peanuts, then dairy, then scented soap, then wool or cotton or polyester, then meat...
It doesn’t stop.
People flew with smokers on airplanes for decades. Now the same people are complaining about e-cigarettes because it looks like smoking. That is apples to oranges.
I guarantee peanuts will follow the exact same path to banning if there is no pushback.
I am calling for complete civil disobedience on this. Buy a big jar of any kid of peanuts crunch a mouthful and put out a peanut-breath plasma all around your seating area.
Please see my post #61.
Your questions certainly verify my comment in post #42 that it is a complicated issue. Thank you for that.
?
My, aren’t we becoming a genetic freak show.
Sure, a person can fly in a plane if he’s black and infected with full blown Ebola but if he’s got a bag of peanuts he gets tossed from the plane?
It’s been years since I’ve seen any airline serve nuts. I wish they would bring them back, because those pretzels taste like plastic.
So, then he should not go where there will be peanuts. Don’t punish a huge majority for the weakness of ONE.
Not a lack of knowledge, just a lack of giving a damn.....
Good point.
I fully understand how life threatening it is. Its not my problem. We all have issues to deal with; don’t make one person’s disability another persons obligation. I cannot digest pork or pork products. When I go to a diner I don’t order anything that needs to be grilled on the flat top where the bacon is fried. My problem, my responsibility.
Thanks Jedidah. I read you comments and understand where you are coming from.
First INSTINCT—not first effort.
Yup. Smokers damage their health severely. That second-hand smoke, especially intermittent and occasional, has similar effects has not been proven.
Despite what the EPA, in a shamefully politicized study, and multitudes of activists might have told you.
The actual fact is that tobacco smoke is not really any different in its effects on the lungs when inhaled than any other type of smoke.
This doesn't mean that tobacco won't give you cancer, but the issue isn't that it's tobacco, it's that people don't routinely sit around and inhale such vast amounts of the smoke from any other plant. IOW, it's the dose, and the dose one gets from occasional secondhand smoke is tiny relative to that even a moderate smoker is exposed to.
I have never smoked, and don't intent to start, but facts are facts, even when they're socially unacceptable.
Then don’t fly......
Apathy beagats ignorance.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.