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Kids with allergies ask rights panel for lunch inspections (Nanny state - Ontario)
The National Post ^ | Friday, December 07, 2007 | Chris Wattie

Posted on 12/10/2007 12:06:40 PM PST by fanfan

TORONTO -- A group of Toronto-area children is asking the Ontario Human Rights Commission to force their school to launch mandatory lunch-bag inspections to screen out foods to which they have severe allergies, a case which could make all Ontario schools do the same.

The six children, ranging in age from six to 11, contend that the local school board discriminated against them when it shut down a voluntary lunch screening program at St. Stephen's Catholic Elementary School, in Woodbridge, Ont., aimed at keeping peanuts, egg products or other potential allergy-inducing foods off school grounds entirely.

Maurice Brenner, a human-rights expert who is helping the children pursue their case, said their allergies are potentially life-threatening and qualify as disabilities under Ontario human rights law. And he said that the school's lunch program, which was ended by the York Catholic District School Board more than a year ago, was necessary for the children's safety.

"Nothing is too much when we're talking about kids' safety," he said. "It's not off the wall by any stretch of the imagination. What if your kids had these allergies: would it be off the wall then? I don't think so."

Mr. Brenner said the voluntary program at the school ran for nearly six years, with parents pinning a note to lunch bags listing the contents and teachers assigned to monitor lunch hour checking that none of the children's lunches contained peanut or egg products, such as mayonnaise. If a banned substance was found in a child's lunch, a note would be sent home with them advising their parents of the fact.

But the board ended the inspection program at the end of the 2005-06 school year, which Mr. Brenner said "created total chaos."

"These kids are frankly frightened -- they're scared to go to school," he said.

Chris Cable, a spokeswoman for the York Catholic District School Board, said the program was ended because it was out of line with practices in the other schools in the region. "It was a question of bringing that school into line with the practices at our other schools," she said. "As a school board we're required to be consistent."

The children, and their parents, are currently in mediation with the board in an attempt to avoid a full hearing before a provincial human rights tribunal, but Mr. Brenner said talks are stalled over lunchbag inspections.

Ms. Cable said if a tribunal were to rule in favour of the children, "it could force every school in the province to do this."

She said St. Stephen's already has a program to keep peanuts and other allergens out of students' lunches and snacks, including reminding parents to leave potentially harmful foods out of lunch boxes and monitoring foods brought in for special celebrations.

"This school is a model for food allergy policies," she said.

Mr. Brenner said the children and their parents are not trying to make the lunch inspection program provincial law, just to get it brought back to their school.

"Every school should be able to come up with its own solution," he said. "If this becomes law, it's because the school board pushed it right to the bitter end."

He said the children's concerns need to be taken seriously. "These are deadly allergies: if these kids come into contact with these substances they can die."

The Woodbridge children are to hold a news conference on Monday, timed to coincide with International Human Rights Day, to promote their case against the school board.

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology estimates that from two to four per cent of children and one to two per cent of adults have allergic reactions to food, most commonly peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, fish, milk, egg, wheat, soy and sesame.


TOPICS: Canada; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: canada; foodallergy; foodnazis; foryourowngood; nannystate; peanuts; schoollunch
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To: secretagent

Yes, repressed lunchtime tragedies, film at eleven...

Good call... :-)


61 posted on 12/10/2007 8:27:20 PM PST by DoughtyOne (California, where the death penalty is reserved for wholesome values. SB 777)
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To: pby

Wow. Your acccount has me wondering.

People here say they never heard of anyone dying of a food-allergic reaction when they went to school.

Having studied the matter, do you think life threatening allergies like your kid has, at least the numbers reported, are a recent phenomenon?


62 posted on 12/10/2007 10:45:48 PM PST by secretagent
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To: petitfour
Our son is allergic to a medication called ASPIRIN. Should he be banned from sports because some quack parent has rubbed Icy Hot all over his/her son’s elbow/knee/shoulder during a practice and then the IcyHot/aspirin has made its way into every baseball glove on the team because it doesn’t just medicate little Johnny?

Yes. 

63 posted on 12/10/2007 10:48:54 PM PST by zeugma (Ubuntu - Linux for human beings)
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To: CholeraJoe
So what are the normal kids expected to do? Eat dirt?

I suspect that if they'd eat more dirt when they are younger, most of this silly crap wouldn't be happening.

64 posted on 12/10/2007 10:50:29 PM PST by zeugma (Ubuntu - Linux for human beings)
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To: zeugma

Ignorance is bliss, or so I’ve heard.

Our son loves dirt. Maybe he’s been exposed to too much of it.


65 posted on 12/10/2007 10:52:08 PM PST by petitfour
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To: elkfersupper
When I was a kid growing up (in the 50s & 60s), we were too worried about things like polio and nuclear strikes to worry about imaginary ailments.

You are ignorant (unknowing, unaware, uninformed, insensible, unconversant, unfamiliar with, sophmoric).

66 posted on 12/11/2007 5:25:14 AM PST by pby
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To: fanfan

I have a better idea. Put all the kids with severe food allergies in their own school and let them inspect each other’s lunches.


67 posted on 12/11/2007 5:27:18 AM PST by Little Ray (Rudy Guiliani: If his wives can't trust him, why should we?)
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To: secretagent
Having studied the matter, do you think life threatening allergies like your kid has, at least the numbers reported, are a recent phenomenon?

It is certainly increasing in frequency.

68 posted on 12/11/2007 5:28:22 AM PST by pby
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To: fanfan
I wonder how many of the non-whining, anti-nanny state tough guys, here, signed up for the federal telemarketer no call list.
69 posted on 12/11/2007 5:33:45 AM PST by pby
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To: secretagent
From the Food Allergy Initiative website:

The number of Americans with food allergies is dramatically increasing. In the past five years, this number has risen from seven to over eleven million! Over 6.5 million adults are allergic to seafood and over 3 million children are allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. In fact, the number of children allergic to peanuts doubled from 1997 to 2002. Eight percent of children less than 3 years of age have food allergies in the United States and that number is increasing each year. It is estimated that each year hundreds of Americans die due to the ingestion of allergenic foods and over 30,000 receive life-saving treatment in emergency rooms.

70 posted on 12/11/2007 7:44:49 AM PST by pby
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To: pby; fanfan
I wonder how many of the non-whining, anti-nanny state tough guys, here, signed up for the federal telemarketer no call list.

How about you, fanfan...Did you sign up for the federal telemarketer no call list?

Is the nanny state helping to keep your home free from the horror of a meal time telemarketer phone call?

71 posted on 12/11/2007 10:45:40 AM PST by pby
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To: pby
How about you, fanfan...Did you sign up for the federal telemarketer no call list?

No. Did you?

72 posted on 12/11/2007 10:59:11 AM PST by fanfan ("We don't start fights my friends, but we finish them, and never leave until our work is done."PMSH)
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To: petitfour

You have GOT to be kidding.


73 posted on 12/11/2007 11:39:43 AM PST by Eaker (If illegal immigrants were so great for an economy; Mexico would be building a wall to keep them in)
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To: fanfan
Nope.

But I am betting that some here did.

74 posted on 12/11/2007 11:51:22 AM PST by pby
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To: pby
You are ignorant (unknowing, unaware, uninformed, insensible, unconversant, unfamiliar with, sophmoric).

Realist would be a better description.

75 posted on 12/11/2007 5:51:02 PM PST by elkfersupper
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To: elkfersupper
Calling a life-threatening peanut allergy an "imaginary ailment" is not in any sense realistic...

...just ignorant.

76 posted on 12/11/2007 8:20:31 PM PST by pby
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To: pby
Calling a life-threatening peanut allergy an "imaginary ailment" is not in any sense realistic... ...just ignorant.

I have a life-threatening nanny state allergy (other's lives-not mine).

What is that?

A friend of mine's child's "peanut" allergy was cured by letting the child crawl around the house and yard, then "reintroducing" her to peanuts at a very early age.

We don't even know how many acute or long-term illnesses may be caused by over-protective parents, antibacterial this and that, "organic" foods, an enforced low-fat or vegetarian lifestyle, or even what used to be common exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke.

77 posted on 12/12/2007 5:52:47 PM PST by elkfersupper
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To: elkfersupper

or even (lack of) what used to be common exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke.


78 posted on 12/12/2007 5:53:50 PM PST by elkfersupper
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To: elkfersupper
I already said that I do not agree with, or advocate, the nanny state approach.

And we are not over-protective of my son. He has always played in, and around, dirt. If we, or his Johns Hopkins doctors, thought that exposure to more dirt would cure his allergies and asthma, then we would do that (but that is not the case). I do think that there is an environmental component to this issue but it is uninformed to completely ignore the genetic one.

Again, it is ignorant to assume that all allergies are the same and can be handled the same.

A Life-threatening peanut allergy is real, as I have experienced (and as medical studies document). Your calling it "imaginary", and then claiming the "more exposure to dirt" cure-all is ignorant and ridiculous.

I hate the notion of the nanny state (and we aren't vegetarians, clean freaks, or liberal in any way) as much as you do...but your response to this allergy is foolish.

My kid is getting a compound bow for Christmas...I'll have him use a copy of your "imaginary ailments" post as a target.

79 posted on 12/13/2007 8:27:55 AM PST by pby
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To: pby
My kid is getting a compound bow for Christmas...I'll have him use a copy of your "imaginary ailments" post as a target.

My grandkid is getting a M1911-A-1 Cal.45.

I'll have him return the favor.

80 posted on 12/13/2007 7:56:30 PM PST by elkfersupper
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