Posted on 09/03/2014 10:02:25 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The parent of a child with a life-threatening peanut allergy is fighting for new rules to protect airline passengers who have severe food allergies.
Lianne Mandelbaum, who says she was practically kicked off a United Airlines flight last year because of her sons condition, has been lobbying for new protections for allergy sufferers.
Now, more than 14,000 people are coming to her aid, petitioning lawmakers and federal regulators to establish a "buffer zone" around passengers who are allergic to certain foods.
I am not after a nut ban, Mandelbaum said. Just the ability to preboard, wipe down the seat area and make an announcement that will let everyone live with their own moral compass around me.
The petitioners are calling for a rule that would prohibit airlines from serving snacks containing nuts to any passenger sitting near someone with a peanut allergy. Furthermore, passengers who bring peanuts on board would not be allowed to eat them during the flight, if they are sitting within the buffer zone.
The buffer zone would extend to passengers sitting in the three rows in front of or behind someone with a severe peanut allergy.
The rules would also prevent airlines from removing passengers who have peanut allergies.
When Mandelbaum reported her son's allergy to United Airlines, she recalls being told: "Well, if you think he's going to die, don't get on the plane."
"Children and adults with food allergies should be able to report their allergy without fear of being kicked off a flight," Mandelbaum said. "As it stands, they have no such rights and cases have been reported of people being taken off a flight for reporting a food allergy."
Currently, there are no federal rules protecting airlines passengers who have peanut allergies, Mandelbaum says something she is hoping to change.
Mandelbaum successfully convinced the New Jersey Senate to protect airline passengers with peanut allergies in 2013.
But she is pushing for federal rules that would expand the protections for passengers around the country.
Mandelbaum is also meeting with officials at top airlines, asking them to establish company policies protecting passengers with peanut allergies. She noted that "different flight crews on the same airline will react differently to a food allergy request" without set policies.
She has had some success in her efforts.
WestJet has stopped serving peanuts on board, while Jet Blue Airways will create a buffer zone for allergic passengers upon request, Mandelbaum said.
However, United Airlines has shown "no signs" of changing its policy, following the incident where she was asked to take her son off the flight, Mandelbaum said.
Delta Airlines has not responded to her request, she added.
The petition is being hosted by Care2, an activist website that hosts petitions from public interest, environmental and health groups.
I think there is a willful lack of knowledge about how severely life-threatening some peanut allergies are.
Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh from the libtards once again. I’ve never seen such a group of babies in my life....
Peanuts are here to stay.
This woman is a nut ball.
If you have the special condition, it is your job to take your own special precautions, not the entire worlds to make sure you are taken care of.
Another typical lib.
Shouldn’t the parents just carry a strong antihistamine kit like the ones available for folks allergic to bee stings?
And what can be done about those women who wear strong perfumes and cause allergic sneezing?
Correct.
Im all for it as long as the free peanuts are replaced with something else just as substantial. Like free roast beef sandwiches :-)
Did she ever hear of:”See The USA In Your Chevrolet”???
What would you do?
How do you know this is her FIRST effort to protect her child?
You would have to Wait In Line Behind Me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just have peanut free flights just for those people. Of course not many planes would be available to fill. Or don’t serve peanuts at all - and - people will have to go through a TSA rinse to clean whatever peanut residue might be on the person - then too, ban peanuts at airports ..../sarc
What about a section of the plane that is free from perfumes, colognes, fabric softeners, etc???
I would decide if it was that severe that he couldn’t go to places that might cause a threat to him including air travel. It is called sacrifice.
Pretty basic.
You have to be a special kind of weird to lobby the federal government to change the world for your individual situation.
A young girl died at a mall in NC when she ingested Chinese food that had been cooked in a wok used to make Kang Pao chicken. The ambulance didn’t have an epipen that would have saved her life.
That being said, no amount of cleaning or trying to regulate others’ behavior will take away every peanut molecule floating in the air or embedded in an airplane seat from an airplane where tens of thousands of passengers have eaten peanuts for decades.
Why don’t ALL airline passengers just add a one-dollar fee to their tickets to hire private jets for these”Folks”(Obongo’s Verbiage/Not Mine)???????????
There’s a smaller fraction who are so allergic, that merely inhaling small airborne peanut particles triggers a severe allergic reaction. However, that is a subset among those allergic to peanuts.
I move to”Boycott”ALL Airlines that”Knuckle-Under”to this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Things not to do when you have a peanut allergy.
#65- eat Chinese food at a mall, regardless of what they say.
That settles it!!!
Ban zoos, ballparks, grocery stores!
We can’t have this plague. It must not stand. Call a congressional committee asap.
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