It’s a bit more complicated than that.
I know a child with peanut allergy who went into anaphylactic shock and required emergency treatment when he inadvertently touched peanut butter on a school lunch table. True story.
He’s fine now, but it is, for those who have the allergy, a true matter of life and death.
A friend of mine died when a Chinese restaurant (his favorite) stated that there were no peanut pieces in the egg rolls. They forgot that they used peanut butter as a filler.
Died in the ER.
I think there is a willful lack of knowledge about how severely life-threatening some peanut allergies are.
If someone is truely that sensitive, there's no telling where in the world they might encounter some peanut residue, much less on a plane. They should just stay home, or arrange for some other form of travel. Certainly, they should be carrying epi-pens, and other emergency devices.
Do people not realize that every time we ask for such accomodations, we're adding costs and complexities to goods and services? And it's not just those allergic that will pay for this; everyone will pay for this.
And you can also bet that this won't stop with peanut-free zones, we'll next have to consider meat-free zones, and organic-only zones, and kosher crackers, and who knows what else.
Don’t take this as personal as it will sound. I’m just tossing this out there. You mentioned it and I am responding. I’m not sure if you totally disagree with me here or not.
Jedidah, I realize there are problems with allergies to nuts. The question is, to what extent do we impact the vast majority of people without nut allergies?
There are other allergies out there too. Do we sanitize all places of all things for the few members of our society that have these maladies?
Should we ban peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for every child in the public school system? Is that reasoned?
Don’t people who are healthy have rights too?
I am sorry that some people have allergies. I don’t think the rest of society should be handicapped by it.
I’m sure there will be a lot of folks who disagree with me.
Let me ask you this. Should we just ban nuts altogether?
They are a serious threat you know.
So, then he should not go where there will be peanuts. Don’t punish a huge majority for the weakness of ONE.
Well, sometimes shit just happens. If one of my children were to drink Clorox or Gasoline, they'd probably need to go to the hospital too. You can't make special accommodations for EVERYONE for EVERYTHING that MIGHT harm them. In the case of airplanes, if a child is allergic to something - peanuts in this case, a parent should take responsibility and make sure the child doesn't get exposed to them. Make sure they're not given to them, alert the staff on the plane, ect. This stuff isn't THAT difficult.
One of our kids was allergic to eggs, and that was a REAL problem for us, because you'd be surprised how many foods contain eggs. We managed to get through it. Over time, she got to where she could have them again.... (thank God). We never asked for special treatment or accommodations from anyone. We just looked out for her, as responsible parents SHOULD.
Scary stuff , peanut allergies.
A couple of questions, not because I don’t believe you. Just curious.
Did he simply touch peanut butter, or did he transfer the allergen by rubbing his eyes, nose, etc?
Were the parents and the school aware of the child’s peanut allergy? Was an epi-pen available for the child at school? One would think an epi-pen would be standard fare for emergency situations. A child with any documented allergy severe enough to cause anaphylaxis should have one at the school with his name one it.
I am having a little trouble comprehending why a peanut allergy is different from a bee sting allergy. Anaphylaxis is anaphylaxis.