Posted on 11/15/2012 9:07:17 AM PST by 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.”
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
One theory that doctors have is that parents keep our homes too sterile and clean these days, thus reducing enemies for our immune systems to attack, so the immune systems of kids look for something else to attack, such as peanut proteins.
Glenn Beck discussed this briefly and the peanut allergic kids would have to eat acorns to (possibly) be affected. What kid is going to eat acorns which are very astringent, taste awful?
I think that’s a HUGE part of it.....the immune system is like a muscle, use it or lose it.
I was wondering the same thing, but looked it up and found this "Peanuts are a member of a plant family called legumes, which includes peas and beans. (Curiously, although people with peanut allergies are at greater-than-normal risk of tree nut allergy, and for this reason many people with peanut allergies are advised to avoid tree nuts as a precaution, peanuts are not closely related to true nuts botanically.)"
I wonder if the fact that you have one allergy makes you more likely to have other allergies.
I was raised on a farm in the midwest in the 50's and simply noone had allergies. I developed some allergies once I left the farm.
Mom, tell your rug rats not to eat the nuts!!!
Prediction: in about 5 years the “peanut butter allergy crowd” will be the newest victim group.
I have a question for everyone. Does anyone know of an adult who suffers from a peanut allergy?
Listen, lady, you’re going to find nuts everywhere on God’s green earth that you go, unless you are in the middle of the desert or above the arctic circle. So, train your precious one to stay away from them and leave our trees alone!
It is probably not the sterility of the homes but the lack of outdoor play too.
When Icame in every night from playing I was muddy or bleeding. Actually mostly both.
Kids now spend most of their time indoors playing with those stupid video games and watching cable.
My aunt swore that my cousin was deathly allergic to dairy but my great grandmother gave it to him anyway and he was just fine.
And they grab up all the light.
No sympathy from me. Why don't you demand a private place for all those with allergies instead of demanding the rest of the world live according to your needs?
My prior supervisor is allergic to peanuts and shellfish.
When my daughter was 5 months old, we discovered that allergies to milk and soy were the cause of some severe health problems she had. The specialist who finally diagnosed it told us that eczema was one of the number one pre-disposers for childhood food allergies. Eczema runs rampant in my husband's family.
I couldn't believe the "stupidity" that we had to deal with, from family and friends who just didn't understand it. One person gave her buttered popcorn, and later gave her french fries without checking the ingredient label (they contained both milk and soy). At Thanksgiving last year, relatives didn't understand why she couldn't have most of what was on the table because they weren't making the "sour cream = milk", "butter = milk", "yogurt = milk", "whey = milk" connections. Once I had to start reading the labels on EVERYTHING, I was amazed at some of the products that had milk, that you wouldn't expect.
Luckily enough, she outgrew the soy allergy at 12 months and the milk allergy at about 17 months. Her daycare was great at handling it. Instead of asking other parents not to bring things in (for parties or whatever), they would put a permission slip on the door. All I had to do was read the ingredient list, say "NO", and then bring in something she could have instead. (Vegan cupcakes for birthdays, etc.)
How sad. Oak is a sacred tree from ancient times.
I don’t get much of a reaction to poison Ivy aside from a little in the webbing between my fingers.
I brought in a PB&J one time (before I knew about his allergy). He stopped by my cube on his way out the door, asked me to step outside, explained his issue, and (politely) asked me to refrain from PB again. As his eyes were already all red and puffy, and he was obviously in some, albeit slight, respiratory distress, I said "sure". Brought Ham, Tuna, etc....no more PB, and no more problems. Up until then, I would have agreed with Beck...figured that you had to eat the stuff to have an issue. So does this lady have a point? Maybe. But if her daughter is allergic enough to have a severe reaction to something as common as an oak, she'll need to learn (quickly) to adapt to it.....rather than asking the entire world to adapt to her.
I have a simple easy cheap solution to this nut case.
From this day onward, acorns shall to be referred to as “fruit”, not nuts. Any adolescent trying to bite into this freshly fallen off the tree “fruit” shall be referred to as “nut”.
From this day onward, “nut” shall loose its classification as a noun and shall retain its position as an adjective to describe a particular mind set.
You obviously have no ability to process what I said, you dull-witted man.
Is this an urban thing?
Are you in a city? I wonder if there are as many farm raised kids with nut allergies.
Is your implication that it must be exaggerated or fake? If so, you are wrong. Watch your young child be rushed to an emergency room as he turns blue, and tell me its fake.
that’s a good question. Don’t know, but would be interested in finding out.
I’ve got 5 acres of mixed trees. If someone moves out here with an allergy they can blow up and bust before I cut down a tree.
My son developed it at about 18 months, so outdoor play (or lack thereof) wasn’t all that relevant in our case.
Some may argue that the nation’s collective nuts have been removed a long time ago.
After all, a bunch of 7th century a$$holes invade sovereign US soil and kill 4 US citizens and a bunch of brave Libyan defenders and we do, literally, nothing about it. This after people on the ground having requested military help continually for several months prior, and during the actual firefight itself.
No more nuts: check.
She’s hot.
I believe it is due to a difference in immune system development.
No, not at all. You’re being a bit defensive here. I was just commenting on the lack of that allergy in my youth. And the few people I know who have that allergy as adults.
I had a lot of allergies when I was young, fewer now that I am much older.
“Oak is a sacred tree from ancient times.”
Forget about “ancient times”. In Thousand Oaks, CA, oak trees are still sacred and it’s a pathetic and embarrassing situation. They’d rather see a person die than cut one of their beloved oak strees.
sounds like a job for the Cal tree sitters...
Need a sign "No squirrels allowed".......that ought to keep those darn rodents from picking up those NUTS.......
Oh my bad, they wouldn't want her anyway.......
I think the allergy to nuts is why out of control. They clame it is from woman breast feeding their child too long...who knows? Global Warming. Carbons...nut alergy....all wives tales.
A.k.a. "teachers". And you, Ms. Giustizia, and you.
When did all of this start? I went through 12 yrs. in public school and raised 3 sons who all went to public school....never, ever heard of or met anyone whose kid was allergic to peanuts! My little grandson can’t have PNB and jelly at daycare because 1...ONE...child is supposedly allergic. They give all the kids “soy butter” to accommodate 1 kid. Seems if a child is so allergic that even being in the same room as a peanut could cause death....then, maybe the parents need to keep him/her home.
Dunno, had lunch @ my grandson’s elementary the other day, one corner of the cafeteria was cordoned off with “nut free zone” banners.
My great grandmother was no idiot and recognized my aunt for the moron hypochondriac she was.
I feel almost the same way.
“Mom Wants school’ Oak Trees Cut Down for Kids With (nut) Allergies”
Nutty Mom Wants school’ Oak Trees Cut Down for Kids With Allergies
There. I fixed it.
LOL I got it just fine. You want, as a small minority, to be able to dictate the actions of a rather much larger majority.
No, never said that. Readding skills are your friends.
LOL, you act as if no PBJ is a serious violation of human rights. Get real ... and what are you suggesting with your comment about one child being “supposedly allergic”? Is that “supposedly” dying of cancer, or “supposedly” diabetic, or “supposedly” parapalegic? How is this for “supposedly”: I found out my son was allergic to peanuts at 18 months old when he was being carried into an ambulance, face covered in hives and turning blue from lack of oxygen. Does that sound like “supposedly” to you?
The one thing that has made this elusive to diagnose is that it takes about an hour after I eat something before I get sick. Luckily once I get rid of the offending items, I am pretty much OK. I do get more heartburn because of it, but have found raw carrots to be a fairly effective antidote.
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