What I want to know is why no one ever heard of this until relatively recently and why is there apparently not another menu substance on the planet that can throw a school into chaos the way even the thought of a peanut can. Peanut butter was the sandwich filling of choice for generations of kids and we all seemed to have survived. Now the evil contained in one piece of peanut is right up their with nail files and aspirin. God help them if they ever have to deal with anything really dangerous.
Maybe you were not paying attention. I've known about this for at least 50 years. Shellfish similarly (except that peanut oil is volatile and need not be ingested.) Peanut oil is being used more often now than before (it's cheap and has good properties for cooking.)