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Posted on 11/02/2003 10:04:07 AM PST by Deadeye Division
Peanuts no small danger
On the rise and potentially deadly, allergic reactions
are forcing schools to keep high-risk kids segregated
Sunday, November 02, 2003
Tiffany Y . Latta
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Though students at Wright Elementary School jockey for a place to sit at lunchtime, Evan Smith takes his time. The Dublin first-grader always has a seat. Evan, 7, sits at a peanut-free table, far away from even the scent of Jif, Peter Pan or Skippy. His friends can sit with him only if their parents have signed notes swearing their children’s lunches don’t contain peanuts.
Since he took two bites of a peanut-butter sandwich when he was 3, Evan has had to steer clear of peanuts and tree nuts.
"He is violently allergic," his mother, Sarah Smith said, recalling that first trip to Children’s Hospital. "Being around it, whether it’s airborne, contact or ingested, he could go into anaphylactic shock."
Wright administrators created the peanut-free table to protect Evan. They represent a growing number of school officials trying to cope with peanut allergies.
The number of children with peanut allergies is growing, but the medical community doesn’t know why, says the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network, based in Fairfax, Va. About 100 people — usually children — die of food allergies each year.
Peanuts can cause an allergic reaction called anaphylaxis, which closes off airways and makes breathing difficult.
In some cases, children have minor reactions — such as hives — simply when they’re near tree nuts, peanuts or peanut butter.
Approximately 3 million Americans are allergic to peanuts and tree nuts, the most severe food-induced allergy, the allergy network says.
Dr. Roger Friedman, an allergist and director of the asthma clinic at Children’s Hospital, said food allergies have become a major concern in schools.
Districts including Dublin, Gahanna-Jefferson and South-Western City Schools, and private schools such as Columbus Academy and St. Agatha have peanut-free tables for children with severe allergies.
Officials with Columbus Public Schools say schools work out individualized food plans for allergic students.
Other districts label lunch items in their cafeterias or post names of students with food allergies in the main office and outside classrooms.
Massachusetts is the only state with school guidelines concerning food allergies. Schools in Houston, San Francisco and Portland, Ore., have banned peanuts altogether.
Friedman said that, at the least, schools should have foodallergy guidelines.
"Are we going to have them go through metal detectors and peanut detectors?" Friedman said. Children with allergies "don’t need to live in a bubble. They can live a normal life with extra precaution."
In many schools, staff members are trained to use EpiPens, emergency injections of epinephrine for severe allergic reactions.
Julia Redman, a nurse at St. Agatha, said the school has an emergency plan in case a student with severe food allergies is exposed.
In 1999, the parochial school in Upper Arlington had just a couple of students with severe food allergies, Redman said. Now there are 10.
Helen Baumberger’s 6-yearold daughter is one of them.
"It’s very stressful at times," Baumberger said. "I make a lot of things from scratch and I don’t buy a lot of pre-package because of the possibility of cross-contamination."
That means, for example, avoiding all chocolate — even without nuts.
The plain M&M’s, she explained, could be contaminated if made at the candy factory in a vat that previously contained M &M’s with peanuts.
"She can’t go eat a cookie or eat a doughnut at most places," Baumberger, 44, said.
She said her first-grade daughter is now adjusting to sitting away from some of her pals at lunchtime.
At first, however, she "felt isolated and lonely," Baumberger said. "Being the only girl in her class with the allergy, she couldn’t sit with the rest of her friends."
Baumberger said that many Upper Arlington parents who have children with food allergies recently formed a support group called the Upper Arlington Food Allergy Partnership. The group is working to establish uniform guidelines for schools.
About 40 students in Dublin schools have peanut allergies, said Barb Sabatino, a district nurse.
While some parents have asked for peanut-free schools, she said, the district works to ensure that students do not share food in the cafeteria or during classroom events such as birthday parties, where peanutfree snacks are available for students with allergies.
Margie Gooch of Dublin has two sons, Robby, 7, and Peter, 10. Both have severe peanut allergies.
Robby sits far from others in the Eli Pinney Elementary School lunchroom.
"If I have a little, I could end up in the hospital. And if I have a lot, I probably will die," said Robby, who also is allergic to tree nuts.
Sarah Smith, Evan’s mother, said lunchtime can be scary for children with allergies and their parents.
"It’s out of my hands. . . . I’ve done everything I can, and the school has done everything they can," Smith said. "Once you get to a certain point, you just have to cross your fingers and hope."
tlatta@dispatch.com
What an appalling attitude. I'm guessing you don't have any kids (at least I hope not).
I do not support peanut-free policies in schools -- because I am sick of tiny minorities of people believing they have a right to impose major life changes on the rest of us. But that doesn't mean that we can't have sympathy for the poor kids who suffer from this serious problem.
You would have to have a heart of stone to have such a cavalier attitude as you are displaying here.
This kind of attitude is an embarrassment to FR.
I'll assume you just forgot your sarcasm tag. There are many children and adults with serious allergies that can be life-threatening. This includes animal dander. I have a daughter who must stay away from dogs and cats - can't go into a house where these pets have even been without starting to react. She is now a well educated, productive adult who gets along just fine as long as she avoids closed spaces where there have been dogs and cats.
My nephew is one of the peanut allergy suffers. He would suffocate quickly if he somehow ate peanut anything in any quantity. He also has reached adulthood and is a productive person.
The list is long of materials causing serious allergic reactions.
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Give me a break! This is ludicrous! There is NO way that the trace amounts of peanuts from a vat surface, having been mixed and diluted in another vat full of chocolate could be enough to cause a reaction. You could coat the surface of the vat with strichnine or arsenic and not have enough molecules per volume to harm anyone.
Her statement is sheer idiocy. It almost borders on Munchausen-by-proxy. I guess doing all of that really makes mom feel like she's needed...
According to the medical journals, a severe peanut allergy kills either by laryngospasm (instantaneous swelling and closing of the vocal cords) or by anaphylactic shock, which sets in minutes or hours after exposure and is usually associated with a catastrophic drop in blood pressure.
For hypersensitive individuals, a kiss on the cheek from someone who's been eating peanuts can cause a reaction. Parents of allergic kids often carry an epinephrine syringe so they can administer prompt treatment, and adults carry their own auto-injectable supply.
Is the danger real or just hype?
Probably both. The number of deaths in the U.S. due to food-related anaphylactic shock is small, at most 200 annually, 80 percent of which are due to peanuts or "tree nuts" (walnuts, pistachios, pecans, etc). One UK study estimates that the annual risk that a food-allergic child will die from a reaction is 1 in 800,000.
Food allergies aren't as common as people think. Surveys have found that as many as 30 percent of respondents believe they have a food allergy of some kind; the actual prevalence is 4 to 8 percent for kids and 1 to 2 percent for adults. Still, that's a lot of people.
An estimated 1.5 million Americans have peanut allergies, and emergency rooms treat about 30,000 cases of food-related anaphylactic shock each year.
Are peanut allergies becoming more common?
Many researchers think so, but the evidence isn't overwhelming. News reports last fall told of a fresh study showing that the prevalence of peanut allergies was increasing. But what the study actually said was that between two groups of about 1,200 children born roughly six years apart, the number of cases had risen from 6 to 13--"a strong but statistically nonsignificant trend."
Then again, enough studies have shown some sort of increase to make you think something must be going on. But what? Nobody knows.
One theory: The developed world has become so antiseptic that kids don't build up natural immunity, and their bodies overreact when exposed to allergens. Peanut allergies show up early in life; sufferers often also have eczema, asthma, hay fever, or other food allergies (particularly to other nuts).
Though research is inconclusive, if allergies run in your family and you get pregnant, you might want to shun peanuts to avoid giving a peanut allergy to your child--and don't feed him any peanuts before age three. If he's already got an allergy, teach him to cope as best he can; there's at least an 80 percent chance he'll have it all his life.
This is common among many who are allergic to insect stings - most often wasps or yellow-jackets. Hypersensitivity develops after exposure (a prior sting, for example.) I have several friends and a daughter who carry these kits with them at all times.
Aint that the truth! You see all these commercials for anti-germ cleaning sprays and the like -- it is a wonder we of the revious genration survived.
Heck, let the kids eat dirt, make mudpies, eat from the dog's dish -- all that stuff. The human body is made to be very adaptable -- if it has a chance to generate the antibodies it needs.
Today's parents are too overprotective. They are alsoa big reason that antibiotics will be almost of no value in a generation.
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