Posted on 10/15/2013 6:11:53 AM PDT by ConservativeStatement
When the Northwestern Wildcats face off against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Ryan Field in Evanston on Saturday, something will be missing: peanuts.
Northwestern University is hosting its first peanut-free football game to give fans with allergies a chance to focus on the game instead of worrying about negative reactions to the popular stadium snack, which can range from mild irritation to life-threatening anaphylactic shock.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
It seems to me they have peanut free zones at the Saints games. I know I have seen peanut free zones at school cafeterias.
I don’t think “peanut allergies” were invented until maybe 20 years ago.....
As i was flying into Houston recently, the flight attendant came through the cabin with small packages of snacks, as is their custom.
As she reached the row I was seated in, she dutifully asked the gentleman seated next to me, “Peanuts?”, while offering the snack toward him.
Looking up from his crossword, he replied, “No thanks, I have one.”
Ba-dum-ching!
There are peanut bans and dopers think they will be able to light up wherever, whenever if it is “legalized”.
My son is allergic to peanuts. The first time he ate peanut butter his face broke out in hives and swelled up. His allergy is bad but not nearly as bad as some have it. What I worry about at games is not so much people eating peanuts around him but the shells and dust all over the seats and ground. If his allergy were more severe I would not bring him to sporting events.
Yes, put those words in quotes and say it was “invented”, sure. So the parents who have lost their children to this allergy are just inventing it? My son’s swollen face was just invented? If you want to claim that there is an overreaction, fine we can debate that, but don’t tell me it is “invented”. Stupid.
I know a couple with a child who has a severe peanut allergy. They request priority boarding on airplanes to get in first and wipe down the seat, in case anyone sitting in the seat prior was eating peanuts. The child also has a host of of other allergies, including diary and gluten as well, so they are super-vigilent about visiting other children’s homes, birthday parties, etc.... Parents carry an epipen at all times. I was around recently when the child had to be taken to the emergency room because she mistakenly ingested some dairy.
Interestingly, their view is that they would never request or expect to inconvenience anyone, especially an entire football stadium, for what is their family’s problem. They have developed a strict protocol of knowledge of their surroundings and food, and they manage to it. Others around them also are quite understanding - certainly when they visit, I make sure all peanuts are out of the house.
Removing peanuts because maybe 1 in 10,000 may have an allergic reaction. Maybe 1 in a million might die.
Good to know.
And beer? Which kills tens of thousands every year? I’m sure there’s not a drop of beer in the whole stadium.
I don’t disagree with your reasoning when it comes to sports stadiums. Things like school classrooms, however, are a different story. It is very easy, and hardly an inconvenience at all, for a classroom to either be peanut free or to segregate a peanut free zone when there is an allergic child.
That is our family’s view as well. I hate even raising the issue unless I see a clear threat. Most of the others I know with allergic kids are the same way. This is why it is so frustrating when people say that parents are “just making it up” or “looking for attention” ... usually it is the exact opposite.
I am allergic to beer, a sip would swell my throat shut, but it doesn’t bother me if everyone in the stadium is drinking it. I’m fine with peanuts.
Actually, if I see an obese person who needs space, I do accommodate them. It is called decency and manners, and it is not much of an inconvenience to me.
Next they’ll be touting ‘penis free’ games.
That said, I think the point being made about "inventing" is that in the past (20 years ago?) food allergies were much more rare. When I was growing up none of my friends had a food allergy; pbj sandwiches were everywhere and no one cared. It was not too long ago that peanut packs were actually tossed around on SW Air flights. That is all gone now. Every gathering of children will likely have several with severe food allergies. I saw this imy son's scout troop, in our church, and in every school class or gathering my children were in.
What is the cause? No one seems to know. I think there may be a link to the cumulative effects of industrial food.
All this is to say that while those of us who do not have children with food allergies need to be aware of the danger to children who do, parents of the affected kids also need to be aware that this is a new situation that has come out of no where. Not to judge you, but I have experienced parents trying to get their kids into a church run day care and presenting a long list of demands that would be expensive and burdensome on everyone to implement. I felt we were being set up for a lawsuit.
Statistically speaking, the vast majority of parents who claim their children have peanut allergies are making it up.
But no worries, I’m sure your special snowflake is different.
Not so sure. When little Billy brings some peanuts from home to eat with his lunch and he gets suspended for bringing a banned substance - we will have yet another example of PC going too far and intruding into our lives.
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