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.
Yes, repressed lunchtime tragedies, film at eleven...
Good call... :-)
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?
Yes.
I suspect that if they'd eat more dirt when they are younger, most of this silly crap wouldn't be happening.
Ignorance is bliss, or so I’ve heard.
Our son loves dirt. Maybe he’s been exposed to too much of it.
You are ignorant (unknowing, unaware, uninformed, insensible, unconversant, unfamiliar with, sophmoric).
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.
It is certainly increasing in frequency.
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.
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?
No. Did you?
You have GOT to be kidding.
But I am betting that some here did.
Realist would be a better description.
...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.
or even (lack of) what used to be common exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke.
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.
My grandkid is getting a M1911-A-1 Cal.45.
I'll have him return the favor.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.