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
Let's change the term "defective" to "allergic." The answer is both - society and those suffering from allergies must make accomodations. For example, my daughter is very allergic to dog and cat dander. Excessive exposure would cause her to suffocate. She carries an inhalent and can use it to relieve the symptoms when she senses she has had exposure to pet dander AND is able to leave the location.
Many motels say clearly "no pets in the rooms." Yet we have stayed in motels where there have been animals and have had to relocate to another room (or motel) due to the dander contamination. Seems reasonable to me that "society" accomodate to this type of allergy through signage and restrictions like "no pets in rooms." Is this unreasonable?
If it saves just one child....
Well said.
It is those with the peanut allergy who must adapt to the school environment - not vice versa. What are these kids going to do when they get out of school and into the workplace? Is the workplace now going to have to ban peanut products and set up a special space in the cafeteria? What if one of these kids gets a summer job at Dairy Queen? Is Dairy Queen going to have to take nuts off the menu to accomodate the one worker they have who is allergic to them? I'm not trying to poke fun. I actually see something like this happening if we continue our trend of altering the entire environment for the sake of a single (or small group of) individual(s).
Of course I feel bad for those who have to deal with such a disability. As I feel bad for those born with Downs syndrome or AIDS. But we cannot expect the rest of the world to alter itself for them. These people must adapt to the world around them and make the best lives for themselves that they can.
I think you have something in that statement. I read somewhere recently that we are using too much antiseptic liquid hand soap for our own (and children's) good.
It make sense for kids to get a little dirty to train their bodies to tolerate a non-sterile world.
Was it the Hawaiians who had never been exposed to measles (or something like that) and were killed by the disease from visits of early sailors from England who carried it but who themselves did not die because they had better immunity?
Are we threatening the survival of our offspring by extraordinary measures not in their best genetic and physiological interests? Survival in nature favors the tough over the weakened.
Having lost a young (exceptionally healthy) son to accident, I am well aware my children are not guaranteed any specific longevity despite a parent's heartfelt hopes and prayers for a long and healthy life for the child. Each day is important and it's a wonder any of us live as long as we do.
Neither had I until a good friend of mine died from it. One Saturday morning he was having breakfast with his wife and year old daughter. He started feeling uncomfortable. By the time his wife got him to the emergency room, five minutes away from their home, his lungs had collapsed and there was nothing to be done for him. 30 years old. The vegetable oil used to make breafast had traces of peanut oil in it.
I always used to complain about how I had to give up peanuts on airplane flights because of people who had some "stupid allergy to peanuts, of all things."
Still am puzzled over whether modern medicine did him any favors. From his childhood he had to take increasingly potent medication to combat his allergies.
That phrase is used in all sorts of situations. Such as "If you were never fat yourself, you can never understand what it is like to be fat."
The statement implies that those who do not have the condition have no right to comment upon it. I disagree with that notion. Otherwise, we will not be able to have an opinion on war unless we ourselves were a soldier. Or men cannot comment upon abortion because they can never get pregnant in the first place. And so on.
Thus, I do not believe that one needs to have a peanut allergy (or have somebody close to them with a peanut allergy) to be qualified to comment upon the subject. One can certainly sympathize with those who have this particular plight but one does not have to be a slave to political correctness and kow-tow to some of the extreme measures being proposed to accomodate those who do.
I don't think that reasonable people would have a problem with a table in a school cafeteria being deemed "peanut free." However, when the entire school becomes a "peanut free" zone on account of one or two kids who have the allergy (and this has happened in school districts across the nation), it does become quite ridiculous. Especially since peanuts (and peanut products) are such a staple food for so many. Surely, it does not make good sense to restructure and inconvenience the lives of the majority in order to create a false sense of security for the distinct minority. And I say a false sense of security because no matter what precautions are taken, pranksters or sick, twisted people will find a way to circumvent them.
My allergist gave me one of those tests and said I was allergic to peanuts - and yet I'd eaten them for 40 years and enjoy them. I've never had a bad reaction to them. But now that I know they'll make kids walk around with little allergy kits --- hmmm maybe this is all just a potential revenue stream for them.
Maybe somebody is selling short in "Big Peanut".
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