Peanut Butter Banned, no kidding

TheIowaChannel.com ^ | 13 December 2001 | Associated Press

[PatrioticAmerican]

NORWALK, Iowa -- Peanut butter is off the menu at a central Iowa elementary school.

  School officials at Oviatt Elementary School in Norwalk are also asking parents to keep peanut products out of lunch sacks.

  The move comes after the parents of one student asked that peanut butter be removed from the menu because their child is allergic to peanuts and could have a life-threatening reaction.

  School officials said medical experts have concluded that even peanut oil on the child's skin or the aroma of peanuts could trigger a serious reaction.

  Principal Tom McLaughlin said the school sent a letter informing parents of the situation. School officials said most parents were sympathetic with the child's situation.

Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

click to read 'Peanut Butter Banned' article at source.

[PatrioticAmerican]

Next, bread allergies keep sandwiches from schools. Or, maybe, cotton allergies keep cotton clothes from schools, blue jeans banned. Perhaps, sunflower seeds, or maybe tomatoes? Maybe we should just move on to the final solution of lunches to be fed via IV using distilled saline solutions and containing no known allergens.

[goldstategop]

More PC. Someone will always get offended. Just serve em water for lunch! Now there's something healthful for our kids! ;-)

[mancini]

Well maybe the parent could just sit down with the kid and tell him what not to eat at school.
Oh wait, that's too simple. We must disrupt the whole system. Me, me, me, me.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

If one child is allergic, have that child eat lunch in another room at school. I thought Iowegians were smarter than to do the opposite.

[Eagle Eye]

I've seen a house fly, but never heard a peanut butter banned.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Well, I can understand it. My niece is allergic to peanuts, and one of the children in my daughter's preschool several years ago was allergic. They would react at the scent of the stuff. The little boy at the pre-school had to be taken to the hospital because of the reaction, and he wasn't even in the same room as the peanut butter.

[irgbar-man]

Or latex allergies force schools to halt condom distribution programs ... one would only hope.

[bettina0]

There have been cases where people allergic to peanuts have died. It's not a case of someone getting the sniffles or sneezing. It can be very serious.

[scouse]

When I was a child I was extremely allergic to children with allergies.

[wjeanw]

Woe to the parents of the picky eatter who ONLY eats peanut butter!

[so_real]

So the responsibility of the parents to their child ends with them asking the school to cater to the special needs of the child? I don't think so. That's is a ball the school doesn't need to pick up and run with (especially if it is a public school!). Tell the parents to pack a lunch, educate their child, follow the school menu closely, and alert the school nurse / facility as to what care the child needs in the event of exposure. Lazy parents make me ill.

[wewillnotfail]

This has been going on for awhile. One case...a woman protested because her twins liked PB which she saw as an nutritous, economical lunch food. The school's answer was to put the twins, and anyone else who insisted on eating PB in the seperate room. No word on how they handled the peanutbutter breath issue.

If my kid had such an allergy, I would think hard about home schoolong.

[LurkedLongEnough]

I'm allergic to liberals - get rid of them.

[#1CTYankee]

School officials said medical experts have concluded that even peanut oil on the child's skin or the aroma of peanuts could trigger a serious reaction.

The school is only taking precaution necessary to protect the child and itself from a lawsuit.

Would you rather have the kid live in a plastic bubble?

If kids want to eat peanut butter, eat it at home. They'll live.

[drc43]

This is a very Serious allergy. I have two cousins that suffer from this. It goes beyond just peanut butter. They must constantly be vigilant of their food that it does not contain peanut oil This is very widely used. The allergy is life threatening. It is difficult to just eat in another room. They cannot have contact with anything that has uses peanut oil or peanut butter.

[Demidog]

This isn't about PC. This is about school administrators trying to accomodate a child who could very well die if he comes into contact with peanut butter.

[Demidog]

If you want your children to respect the constitution and you later in life, you should think hard about home schooling now. (If you have children now that is).

[Tennessee_Bob]

They cannot have contact with anything that has uses peanut oil or peanut butter.

And they're everywhere. Even in plain M&M's.

[Teacher317]

Whatever happened to the individual taking care of their own specific needs, rather than forcing the entire populace to change to suit their needs/desires/emotions/whims?