What a bs knee jerk reaction, latex based paint should not cause problems with allergies due to its chemical make up, and for the most part the allergy has to be extremely severe before being in the vacinity causes a reaction, usually only OR nurses get this bad due to their constant exposure to cheeply made latex gloves. i am allergic to alot of perfumes and a few other things, i am forever on benedryl and now started to carry an epi, but it has never occured to me to ask the people i come into contact with not to wear perfume. except for my coworker, hers just stank!
Well, I can offer a little perspective on this as I am highly allergic to peanuts and peanut butter.
I ate a Reeses Pieces candy when I was eighteen months and almost died as a result of the reaction to it. I was tested and found to be allergic to peanuts and obviously didn't eat it anymore at home - at least not on purpose.
Growing up until I was six or seven, I had to go to the hospital a few times because I would accidently eat something with peanuts. Once or twice probably because I was a kid and didn't know any better. I know I ate some at school once when another kid brought cookies to kidnergarten and I asked the kid and teacher if there were any nuts. Both said no and they were wrong and I got sick (that was the end of eating snacks brought by other kids).
As a child, if I ate enough of it, it probably could have killed me. And I would feel a little swelling of the throat if someone was eating it right next to me and breathing on me. I would just move to another spot in the cafeteria and deal with it. Which is what this kid (and all others with similar problems) should do.
I know that other kids probably have much more severe allergies than I did but lets get real. Setting up a peanut gallery or 'peanut free zone' is stupid. You know a troublemaker would go breathe on or do something worse to the kids trying to avoid PB (setting up the school for a major lawsuit, I would think). The best way to handle it is to pack your kid's lunch and tell them if anyone around is eating it, to move away from them. It is not that hard for a kid over the age of five to comprehend this.
I don't think my parents or any others should be ashamed or are awful parents for sending me to public school. A little common sense is needed here by all sides - the kids (eat the lunch that is packed and move away from PB-eating kids), the parents (by telling their kids to do as mentioned) and the school (not really sure what their responsibility is here). The cries to home school the kid or other ideas are a little out of line. As a parent, perhaps calling a few of the kid's friends and seeing if they can stop eating PB at school to give the child someone to sit with or something. Involving the school is just going to cause more problems.
Fortunately for me - I have outgrown my allergy, at least to the point where I don't have to be hospitalized or anything drastic if I eat a little bit of the stuff. I will just get a horrific stomach ache and be in some pain for a few hours. Not fun but I'll take it over not being able to breathe.