High school now a balloon-free zone

Chicago Tribune ^ | November 8, 2003 | Jodi S. Cohen

[sarcasm]

It was a simple delivery of flowers and balloons, but the bouquet was turned away at the door of Oak Park and River Forest High School.

The school's snub was the first reaction to a violation of a new ban on latex products--from medical gloves to Band-Aids, swim caps, gym equipment and even birthday balloons--to prepare for a freshman with a life-threatening latex allergy who will enroll in fall 2004.

Oak Park officials already have discarded the latex gloves used in the health department, cafeteria and science labs, and balloons were banned on school property at the start of this school year.

< SNIP >

Oak Park officials acknowledge that they can't completely rid the school of every natural rubber latex product--an estimated 40,000 items contain at least some latex, including car tires, condoms, shoes and pencil erasers. Even some foods such as bananas, kiwis and avocados contain proteins similar enough to those in latex to cause a reaction.

[Rubber_Duckie_27]

"The school's snub was the first reaction to a violation of a new ban on latex products--from medical gloves to Band-Aids, swim caps, gym equipment and even birthday balloons"

Sucks for the swim team. Latex swim caps are much cheaper than silicone ones - and to me, they're more comfortable. I'm sure the school district won't mind shelling out $8.00 apiece for silicone caps instead of $2 or less for latex ones. Is the affected child even ON the swim team? Unless I am very mistaken, latex allergies require contact with latex to provoke a reaction.

The worst part is that the affected child (if it were my kid, s/he would now even be in a public school, but I digress) isn't even a student there yet...not until next fall.

[Maceman]

Does this means they can't put condoms on bananas in health class?

[pageonetoo]

Typical liberal reaction. One person rules the world, at a time!
This child should be placed into a bubble suit, and the rest of the kids should not have their lives changed!

[billorites]

"Does this means they can't put condoms on bananas in health class"

I had the misfortune of sending my son to school with a PBJ sandwich last year.

Got confiscated.

[joesnuffy]

No gloves in the food or health depts.?????

So in order to spare one child from a "possible" allergic reaction its better the risk exposure of hundreds to communicable diseases?

Teachers & Principals.........another bi-product of 'higher learning in America'

[paulklenk]

What if there's a gay kid who's allergic to latex? Will they take away everyone's rubbers at the Harvey Milk School?

[TrebleRebel]

I had no idea latex had the transferability of anthrax....like millions of latex nano-particles floating in the air, ready to kill at any moment....jeez, how has this kid lived so long? </sarcasm>

I have to wonder about this kid's parents....what kind of strings did they have to pull in order to de-latex the kid's school?

[whereasandsoforth]

They don't use rubbers at HMHS! The use KY and a can of Raid.

[Agnes Heep]

Someone must be allergic to common sense.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

And what about all those kids who are allergic to school? What then?

[AAABEST]

Too bad God didn't make some people allergic to abject stupidity, we could clean house on the public school system.

This is beyond insane. Are we going to have a long list of banned substances to include peanuts, perfume, latex and on and one?

[TexasCajun]

I'm surprised there hasn't been any arrest for using the ole reliable Yellow No.2 Lead Pencil.

..shouldn't be too far down the road.

[gd124]

It's pointless to ban balloons and gloves, when virtually everyone will have an eraser.

[Paleo Conservative]

Does this means they can't put condoms on bananas in health class?

That wouldn't be safe.

[palmer]

The medical profession loves to believe that allergies are not conditioned behavior. It gives them a steady stream of income from "treatments". It makes the victims feel good since their disease is obviously physical and there's nothing they can do about it.

But they are wrong. Allergies are controlled by the brain. The brain turns them on and can turn them off. Severe allergic reactions are self-reinforcing learned behavior. At this point the allergy victim truly has no choice, they need outside help.

What kind of help? Certainly not the circus described in the article, it is pointless. Hypnotherapy is one possibility, I'm sure there are others.

[AlbertWang]

What about the elastic in my underware? will they ban underware? Will the whole school Go Commando?

[knuthom]

Allergies are controlled by the brain. The brain turns them on and can turn them off.

This is ridiculous. Both my son and I have allergies to some things we eat. There have been times when we have eaten foods containing the allergen without knowing it, until we had an allergic reaction. How can it be a conditioned behavior if the person is not even aware he is eating the allergen before the reaction?

My son is allergic to xanthan gum, a food thickener. That is not a substance most people know anything about. In fact, it was difficult to trace what he was reacting to. It is in a wide range of products; Hershey's Chocolate syrup, Taco Bell taco sauce, some salad dressings, etc. It took writing down everything he had eaten, and all the ingredients, for some time before we narrowed it down to xanthan. Then the allergist got a pure sample, tested him and confirmed it. Until then he had know idea what was causing the problem, so how could it be "conditioned behavior"?

[knuthom]

he had know idea

I should proof-read better.

[muawiyah]

Great thread.

A PJB sandwich. Look, when I fly United, about 20 minutes into the flight they come around with the little cracker packets and drinks. I always make sure I notify the stewardess that I suffer from a severe blood disorder that requires that I eat peanuts every 10 minutes or I will pass out dead on the spot, and gee whiz, I just ran out of peanuts. Certainly you have some?

Some of them take it seriously and ask if anybody has peanuts on them.