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There's a lot of banning of foods going on these days - first sodas from school campuses to help fight childhood obesity, and now...nuts. With the seeming increase in peanut and other tree-nut allergies, schools, restaurants and airlines are banning foods that contain peanuts, almonds, walnuts, and other tree nuts.
I understand the idea behind "banning" say, sodas from schools. Sodas and junk foods are blamed for the decline in nutrition and increase of childhood obesity, so they must be removed from school campuses, where the target audience is likely not able to make wise, informed choices. They are children.
But peanuts? I do not particularly love peanuts, almonds, walnuts, or things that contain them like peanut butter. And I certainly understand the severity and gravity of nut allergies. In schools, removing nuts might be a good idea based on the same idea with sodas - that children with allergies don't always know what they're eating. However, it seems somewhat extreme to ban these foods from restaurants and airplanes, as if adult consumers weren't smart enough to make the choice not to eat something that is potentially life threatening to themselves.
If you have a peanut allergy, don't you know that you do? If you have a peanut allergy, you are careful about what you eat and don't have a problem asking what's in a certain food. If you have a life-threatening allergy, you're probably carrying an epi-pen, too.
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5-16-2006 @4:31PM cybele said... Having witnessed my mother going into anaphylactic shock on a streetcorner in Chinatown it's hard for me to say that adults should know what they're allergic to at any given moment.
In a confined area like an airplane, I do understand that cross-contamination is more likely. But with the reduction in food actually being served on airplanes, how are they going to control what people bring on board?
I've asked about walnuts before at restaurants have been given incorrect info by servers. Luckily I'm not THAT allergic.
I can tell you that you can't rely on an epi-pen. It's not a cure, it's not guaranteed to work, it just improves the odds and perhaps buys you a little time.
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5-16-2006 @4:36PM toscano said... peanut allergies in enclosed spaces aren't just about people not paying attention to their own allergies. It is also the fact that airborne peanut traces can affect the person with allergies.
Put it this way, the colleague i share an office with has a peanut allergy. That means no peanut MnM's for me in the office because it triggers a reaction on her.
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5-16-2006 @4:38PM moonablaze said... in the case of some severe allergies, such as peanut or shellfish allergies, it is possible to have an anaphylactic reaction just from inhaling particles in the air. I have a friend who has had to use her epi-pen and go to the hospital just from walking through a red lobster to use the restroom.
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5-16-2006 @5:46PM nika said... I agree with every comment here.
My daughter is severely allergic to nuts (esp peanuts and walnuts). Its only once you personally experience this that you realize that nuts and nut products "hide" in many foods.
An epi-pen is a last resort too (if you mainline it into a vein you can crash hard and burn, perhaps an aneurysm, do you like those sorts of risks for yourself? didnt think so).
If I were to eat any nut product (which I do not even touch tho I have no allergies) then I can not kiss my own child for hours due to there being a chance of contamination.
Even nut residue on seats, door handles, and ambient floating in the air can be a considerable threat.
For a food that is an optional item, how is the risk worth it?
Those without an allergy may not be capable of grasping the vigilance required to avoid nuts in so many of the products sold today in the grocery as well as in the restaurant.
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5-16-2006 @6:05PM Stephanie said... As the mom of an allergic son (egg and dairy in his case, not nuts), I have to concurr with the above comments. Carrying an epi-pen does not mean that you do not have to worry about exposure, it only decreases the chance you will DIE if you DO have an exposure. Your statement that "I certainly understand the severity and gravity of nut allergies" is clearly not true. If you did really understand that, you would not be so unaware of the risks.
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5-16-2006 @6:30PM yatesy said... There was a case where a lunch mother didn't beleive in peanut allergies, gave a little girl some food with peanuts in it and I believe the girl came very close to death. People are not smart. And because of that, rules like this come into play. It's always the idiots that ruin things for the rest of the world.
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5-16-2006 @6:41PM PeanutAficionado said... And once again the majority is forced to alter their lifestyles for the comfort of the vocal few...
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5-16-2006 @6:48PM Sam F. said... I feel very strongly that airplanes should be peanut free. My sister has a severe peanut allergy, and she has had an allergic reaction just from being in a plane when they serve peanuts. As stated above, in a closed environment like an airplane, the risk is very high. Also, if someone goes into anaphylactic shock on an airplane, the plane has to emergency land, which is very expensive for the airline on a full flight.
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5-16-2006 @7:34PM Sir Not Appearing in this Blog said... Look, if a private corporation wants to put forth a mandate saying that X product is banned from their premises, that's their prerogative. I have no problem with that.
To that end if an airline decides to ban peanuts and tree nuts from their airplanes, that's fine with me. The reason they're doing it is sad though: they're protecting themselves from litigation in this sue-happy society we live in.
Tort reform, o tort reform! Wherefore art thou, tort reform?
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5-16-2006 @7:53PM Wendy Mac said... I am allergic to shellfish. Once I ate something that wasn't labelled or advertised as having shellfish in it. I took one bite, and there I was in the ER. I was lucky it wasn't worse.
My daughter is allergic to peanuts, and sometimes we just don't know what is in something. I tell her it is always better to avoid it than to be sorry later, but I worry about those items being correctly labelled.
Once a parent brought in peanut butter cookies into the classroom, and oh how my daughter cried and cried when she found out she couldn't have them. I personally applaud the decision to remove them from schools, and I have had time and time again restaurants say they don't KNOW what is in the food, exactly. I'm all for better education about the severity of food allergies, because these commenters are right, there are too many idiots not getting it right.
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5-16-2006 @7:53PM Hawk said... It sounds like banning peanuts on an airplane isn't an excuse to avoid litigation, but it's also for the benefit of people who may be deathly allergic to nuts and also on the flight.
Which seems reasonable.
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5-16-2006 @10:42PM Nuttygal said... My husband and I have discussed this ad nauseum. Where ARE all these nut-allergic, wheat-allergic, lactose-allergic... people coming from? My mother hates perfume and scents in general, she says she is allergic, but has no problem with her cigarette smoke. I get hives from caraway seeds. My brother-in-law gets positively overwhelmed when he's anywhere near a cat. Where does it end? When we start banning things there's no way to stop. Am I to be stripped naked and sprayed down before every flight? What if someone's allergic to the sanitizing spray? If it's okay to ban nuts on an airplane then why not ban perfume? Polymorphic Light Eruption is a condition where you're allergic to light -- and its victims must live in darkness, so surely we can't discriminate against that allergy. I think we'll all be happier living in a nut-free, wheat-free, lactose-free, shellfish-free, fragrance-free, animal-free, light-free world. Now if only we could do something about cell phone users.
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5-16-2006 @11:23PM Hoolie said... I have been allergic to peanuts my ENTIRE life. As a child I had severe food allergies, including tomatoes, wheat, nuts, seafood, shellfish and every type of milk imaginable. I had to be fed with a meat based formula. Thankfuly at age 27, I have grown out of nearly all my food allergies, except peanuts and seafood. I have had to leave my seat at a MLB Baseball game because peanut shell dust of those around me was starting an anaphylatic reaction. Everytime I am on a flight that serves peanuts, I get nervous. Epi-pens do not always work. Pretezels are better.
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5-17-2006 @9:28AM liz said... yeah, ditto to all.
nuttygal, people can have fatal reactions just sitting next to someone eating peanuts or wheat products. it's not about getting a headache or a stomachache, as with lactose intolerance or perfume sensitivities. my mom's former fiancee ended up in ICU for three days just from eating lunch in a cafeteria that served brownies with nuts (which he did not himself eat).
for what it's worth, if the passenger with the allegy alerts the airline, the airline will usually switch to somthing safe at least for that flight.
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5-17-2006 @12:28PM Sir Not Appearing in this Blog said... Hawk, corporations NEVER do anything just because it's the "right thing to do". It's totally a CYA maneuver. They're not going to call attention to that fact though. Naturally they'll issue a press release saying they're doing this because they care, but they're really doing this to help protect their bottom line. I haven't got a problem with them doing that, either. A corporation's first responsibility is to make money for its shareholders. It's sickening and sad that they need to do something like this, though. But in a world where you can sue McDonald's for making their coffee too hot, a corporation can't be too careful.
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