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.”

[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.

[dinoparty]

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.

[dennisw]

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

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?

[Dr. Sivana]

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.

Agreed. It really wasn't that big a deal for the airlines to move move from crappy peanuts to equally crappy pretzels. (I am hoping that no one with a super severe wheat allergy doesn't have a problem.) I'd rather it happen outside of the legal process.

[dfwgator]

I think that’s a HUGE part of it.....the immune system is like a muscle, use it or lose it.

[w1andsodidwe]

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

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.

[Dr. Sivana]

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.

In the same vein, people with really severe allergies also have to understand that even intelligent people don't always no what things like "no sugar" and "no dairy" mean. In the case of the former, I don't know how many don't realize that ketchup is loaded with sugar, and most of those thigs with an "-ose" on the end are forms of sugar. In the case of the latter, my brother-in-law, as an infant was given butter in a Canadian HOSPITAL even AFTER being told he couldn't have dairy. The nurse assumed that he was lactose intolerant. In fact, he couldn't deal with dairy proteins and almost died (butter being a concentrated form and all). How a nurse could make such a stupid assumption with almost no upside and so much downside is beyond me.

[dalereed]

Mom, tell your rug rats not to eat the nuts!!!

[I want the USA back]

Prediction: in about 5 years the “peanut butter allergy crowd” will be the newest victim group.

[cripplecreek]

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.

I was allergic to baby chicks but built up an immunity through proximity.

[buffaloguy]

I have a question for everyone. Does anyone know of an adult who suffers from a peanut allergy?