Peanut allergies and public schools - revisited

[chimpy the poopthrower]

There is a thread in the Lounge regarding a school that is banning a number of food items (nuts, seeds, legumes, fruits with pits) because a student has a severe nut allergy. It is so severe that even smelling peanut butter on another child's breath could trigger a severe and possibly fatal reaction. The ban applies not just to school lunches but to packed lunched brought by students.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x1597324

I think this topic is too important to stay in the Lounge. Also, I'd like to expand the discussion to less severe allergies and other situations. Who would like to start? :)

[onebigbadwulf]

1. You cant ban normal things like this to accomodate the few

If the allergy is THAT bad this child shouldnt be at a public school. Perhaps schools of special needs should include the highly allergic as well as handicapped.

[LeftishBrit]

4. I disagree

In the UK, there is a general push for greater inclusion of children with disabilities in mainstream schools; and while sometimes this is under-resourced, I think that it is a good idea in general, at least as regards physical disabilities and chronic illnesses. Children with special physical needs should be able to mix with others and have a normal education wherever possible; and those without such needs should learn to accept and deal with other people's special needs - there are few people who won't at some point have to cope with special needs either in themselves or in a friend or relative, so there is no harm in learning about such things early.

I have worked in a primary school which was declared a 'peanut free zone' for similar reasons. No one seemed to have a problem with it.

If he were that allergic to a 'staple diet' item such as milk, then it would be a bit more of a dilemma. But though many children like peanut butter it's not an essential item; it's not a terrible deprivation for them to wait until they get home to eat it.

This is about primary schools. By secondary school age, one could argue that the allergic children should learn to take responsibility for their own diet, and for avoiding the dangerous items themselves. Even then, the school should be informed about the allergies, and should keep a close eye on the situation, but perhaps an absolute ban on the items coming into school is less necessary by that stage.

[chiburb]

7. Wow! A reasonable, intelligent post...

On what seems to be a very emotional issue for a lot of DUers. (Thinking back to yesterday's original thread, no aspersions cast on anyone in this thread!)

Thank you!

[NashVegas]

11. It's Not Just "Normal" Things But a Host of Nutritious Stuff

We're talking about several fruits and beans that go into what would be a balanced diet for everyone else. What are you going to do with vegetarian kids, put them on an all-broccoli diet?

This is about primary schools. By secondary school age, one could argue that the allergic children should learn to take responsibility for their own diet, and for avoiding the dangerous items themselves.

Unfortunately, this is America in the first quarter of the 21st century where no one wants to take responsibility for anything if there's a lawsuit to be gotten out of it.

What we ought to be doing is screaming for environmental research to determine why this is becoming an increasing problem and finding out what can be done to nip it in the bud.

[LWolf]

17. You cannot exclude children from public school.

That's the whole point of public school, isn't it? It's an institution of inclusion, not exclusion.

That's also the whole point of democracy, isn't it? To make sure you are not excluding minority voices and choices?

This issue is not that simple. Exclusion is not the answer.

What kinds of issues would we never progress past with the idea that you can't ban "normal" things to accomodate the few? Take a look at our history; at things that were once considered "normal," and at some of today's destructive norms.

[Cronus Protagonist]

2. What about farts?

Are they allowed to fart peanut butter from breakfast, or do they also have to refrain from eating when outside of school?

And should the whole community change their diet so this person can go to all other government instutitions without an oxygen tank?

I think the solution is to wear a mask and only breath a perfect oxygen/Nitrogen mixture.

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[Dogmudgeon]

3. On the Perilous Evil of Accommodating the Few

Gay marriage?

--bkl
(For discussion. I'm pro GM and against neo-anti-PC outrage over nut allergies.)

[NashVegas]

12. Totally Different

Allowing gay marriage takes nothing away from hets that's concrete.

[Dogmudgeon]

13. That's not what is being argued

The outrage is over the supposed idea that the many are being forced to accommodate the few.

This is exactly the secular reason used by opponents of gay marriage.

I think it's a phony issue, whether it's outrage over children with peanut allergies or gay people wanting to marry.

It's also a long-term loser. The incidence of allergies is rising dramatically, faster than even the incidences of obesity and fatigue syndromes. Allergic asthma, for instance, is a major killer of black children. My own view is that allergens are the inter-species version of hormones and do not ordinarily sicken people. But the Earth is undergoing a massive die-off, and the "signals" of that process are not going to make people healthy.

As to the peanuts etc., we need to put our heads together and figure out how to handle a growing empidemic of hyperallergism. Promoting outrage over a new kind of "Political Correctness" is not going to help anyone except the news media and ultimately, the Republican Party.

--bkl

[alphafemale]

5. Ban Peanut Consumption everywhere.

No secoundhand peanut-breathers.

It can be FATAL!!! /Sarcasm

[annabanana]

6. My son is allergic to peanuts

The schools know, the teacher's kept "home-brought" PB&J sandwiches away from him, he never ate "treats" sent in by other Mom's for birthday parties, he learned to read packages (cookies, candy, salad dressing, cereal etc.) He made it to 17 and prognosis for survival is good.

[TrueAmerican]

8. Peanuts belong in school

Peanuts are very popular with kids of all ages. Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and the gang are beloved throughot the world. Good Grief, what are they going to ban next?

[chiburb]

9. I beg to differ...

The banning of Peanuts in public schools is something I've been advocating for years. All it has done is make a generation or two grow up with NO SENSE OF HUMOR! It isn't funny, never has been, it's the Wonder Bread of comic strips, totally devoid of any nutritional value. I am in total favor of banning Peanuts in schools!

;-)

[KittyWampus]

10. The One Allergic Kid Can Eat In Nurse's Office. How Simple Is That?

[LeftishBrit]

14. Few other allergies are as life-threatening as those to peanuts

Severe peanut allergy is a relatively common problem. I think if it's just one, non-vital food, then it may be simplest not to have it on school premises. No one is saying that other children should not eat peanuts at all - just not bring them to school. When it's just peanuts that are concerned, then I think it's a greater hardship to the child to be isolated, and to the staff to supervise him/her in a separate area, than for the others not to eat peanuts in school.

If a child has a life-threatening allergy to lots of different foods, then it's probably indeed best to find a separate area for them to eat under supervision, though space and staff are limited in most schools. I don't know about American schools, but most British schools don't have special nurses' offices.

I do see the difficulties in cases where a child is allergic to quite a few foods and others' diets may become significantly restricted. But a few of the posts, especially in the Lounge, have indeed been uncomfortably reminiscent of conservatives' arguments about why the majority should have to accommodate disadvantaged minorities. I think that a closer analogy than the gay marriage argument is the taxes-and-welfare one: "Why should the working majority have to give up some of their hard-earned money to assist the unemployed?"

(Of course, it could be argued that one must have peanuts in schools, as what else would one pay the teachers!)

[progressivebydesign]

15. What other inexpensive, easily kept food can kids eat at school?

I am all for kids with disabilities (like a peanut allergy) going to school right along side all children.. however, one child's disability should not affect the entire school. Sometimes I think parents push too hard for that. Their child will not cease to exist if they are home schooled or privately schooled by a home tutor. The child has a medical condition that makes going to a public school a potentially fatal thing, the parents should accept that. But to ask the entire school, hundreds of kids and parents, to change their lives so that one child can attend, seems to be over the top.

I don't know about other parents, but I'm grateful for peanut butter sandwiches. I know of no other sandwich that provides the nutrition, the lack of spoilage, AND the value of PB&Js. For many families, it's a matter of affording lunch.

I appreciate what they're trying to achieve. I would NOT ask that of my child's school, if she had a similar condition. I understand that not every child can attend a public school setting... life's not fair, but I'm not going to change the lives of all the other children just for my own. Also, if my child was THAT allergic, that peanut butter breath could kill them, then why in the world would I have them out there... someone could have had peanut butter for breakfast.

[Nikia]

20. I wondered if anyone else would mention that

Peanut butter is cheap, does not spoil in un air conditioned lockers, and is something that a lot of children enjoy eating.
Looking back at my elementary school days. I am suprised that half the children didn't die of food poisioning. The school was not air conditioned, students had to keep packed lunches in their lockers, and most students brought a variety of meat sandwiches to school. Many of these lunches were in paper sacks.

[knitter4democracy]

16. This is a special case, though

Peanut allergies are among the most severe for some reason. My daughter can't have dairy, and I'm a little peeved at parents who send their kids to our preschool with ice cream. I send my daughter to preschool with a snack every time, just in case no one read the lable or just didn't care. When I sent a snack for the whole school, I called to check on allergies and offered another option for the couple who couldn't eat the main snack. Was that required? Obviously not, as I send a snack every time. It was nice, though. My daughter cried the day she couldn't eat the ice cream cones and got to eat the cone only. Wow--let's make a four y.o. feel like crap today just so we can show off!

How would you feel if you found out a kid was sent to the hospital because of a lunch or snack you packed and put on major drugs and the ventilator? You guys all sound huffy now, but kids do die of these things, and the deaths are simply preventable. We're vegetarian, and my daughter loved peanut butter, but I don't send her with that at all (except for the time this summer when I found out the kids with the severe allergies weren't in the summer session).

[Ms. Toad]

18. In most cases, there is a difference

in the severity of the reaction between consumed peanuts and inhaled peanut odor. For the vast majority of folks with peanut allergies, the most that happens in response to smelling peanut odors is itchy eyes or a runny nose.

Just as there is a difference between not serving peanuts (which might lead to a potentially fatal consumption) and forbidding students from include a peanut product in their own lunch (which might lead to a potentially annoying runny nose and itchy eyes).

When the balance is between further limiting my daughter's own already limited food choices (she packs her lunch to accommodate her own allergies) and potentially creating a reaction equivalent to seasonal allergies, that accommodation is unreasonable.

If the child is one of the very few that has an allergy that is so severe that smelling peanuts might be potentially fatal, it still may not be reasonable (or healthy for the child long term) to accommodate the allergy by completely banning the product. That child will need to learn to live in a world full of smell, including peanuts. It will likely involve carrying an epi-pen and reacting quickly. Children are remarkably capable at a very young age, and the more of childhood that the child is in control of his or her own chronic illness the more likely that those good habits, and ability to cope with normal environments, will stick with the child his or her entire life.

[Ediacara]

19. Peanuts can kill

It's as simple as that. If the kid has that severe of an allergy, then his life is more important than other kids' lunches.

[bacchant]

21. Weird... I eat them all the time

It's disturbing to think I could kill a child simply by breathing on them. Maybe I'll switch up, how do these kids fare against almond breath?