I think I shall call it Mini-Rant

[snakebitcat]

OK, first the context, since I originally posted this on another forum:

A friend mentioned that the parents of a kid who was particularly allergic to peanuts got the administrators of their child's school to ban all peanut products from being brought to school. Unless I misunderstood, that included kids bringing things with peanuts included in them. So here's what I wrote in reply:

Pardon my French, but that's one of the stupidest goddamn things I've ever heard of. That's like saying because your child got burned by a stove that stoves need to be banned. Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot, over?

People need to learn that there's a dividing line between protecting your children from hazards, and forcing those who don't have your child's vulnerabilities to give up that which causes them no harm. You don't want you child eating peanuts? Fine, make sure they understand that it will hurt them. But all you do by getting the powers that be to outlaw peanuts from the school is plant the mark of Cain on the child's forehead.

The other kids in school are not, as a general rule, going to think of this along the lines of "They're keeping that kid from dying," but rather are far more likely to think "It's that damn kid's fault that we can't get anything with peanuts in it." Way to go, parents.

The older I get, the more convinced I am that Twain and Mencken were optimists about the human species.

Comments

[ex-kimera823.livejournal.com]

Y'know, it really depends on the severity of the allergy. I've known people who got a rash simply by breathing in the aroma of peanuts.

Still, I suppose they could have just banned the specific class the kid was in from bringing in peanut products. Dunno if that would have been better or worse though.

Re:

[prodigal.livejournal.com]

I was not aware that people had allergies that severe. Huh.

[jacqsck.livejournal.com]

I know this isn't the point of your rant, but the thing with peanuts is that just breathing the dust off of peanuts can send some of these kids into anaphalyctic shock, so that even if they told their child to stay away from peanuts, the child could still inadvertantly inhale something. That's very rare, of course, but entirely possible.

I have heard of this happening at several schools, and because more and more children are allergic to peanuts.

I'm of two minds on this...

[theantichick.livejournal.com]

... you'd think I was a Gemini.

The other posters are right... some children's allergy is so severe that breathing the dust or getting peanut oil on their skin is enough to put them on a respirator, if they make it to the hospital in time. The severity of the potential outcome makes me think that it's only prudent to eliminate any potential exposure.

On the other hand, we start dancing around this "good of the one outweighs the good of the many" concept and one has to wonder how far it will go. Do we end up with situations where if you've got a kid in school you can only smoke in a hazmat suit under a commercial labaratory ventilator because if your kid has smoke in his clothes and goes to school, another kid might have an asthma attack? Okay, I know I'm getting outside the realm of reality here, but hopefully I illustrated my point.

And what do you do if the kid with the peanut allergy pisses off one of those anti-social kids that's hiding out in every school? It's widely known why they can't have peanuts at school... what's to prevent some twisted mal-adapted kid to impregnate a handkerchief or something with peanut dust and "accidentally" get it in contact with the kid with the allergy? Tell me there aren't any twisted kids in our schools that would do something like that because someone pissed them off. I'll go through the news archives and list off the kids that have gone to school with guns to kill someone that pissed them off. It can happen.

Basically, I'm all for keeping kids from dying, but where does the line get drawn? How far does it go?

And I could drive the anti-eugenics crowd nuts by postulating that it's natural selection. ::GRIN:: (it's a joke, people)

Etiquette for the Allergic

[oakenking.livejournal.com]

To preface: I have a dietary intolerance to a protein in many grains (wheat, barley, rye, oats, spelt, kamut) so severe that I have to quiz waiters about their menus, read all the fine print on food labels, demand special food, and often bring my own food or go without. Living with this genetic disease is inconvenient, annoying, and often hungry. If I slip, even by so much as a single crumb, or a dab of somebody's gravy that got onto my plate, I'll have two to three days of cramping, digestive distress, head and body aches, and other things not mentioned in polite company.

THAT SAID, I don't think that my own personal situation ought to inconvenience and annoy the rest of the population. Okay... so my condition is not one that would send me into anaphylactic shock or kill me. If it were, I'd likely want to be in a safe, protected environment, where I was certain not to come into contact with the allergen. Public schools are not a safe protected environment for such a condition. If one kid is allergic to grass, does that mean everybody has to stay inside for recess? Peanuts are everywhere, in so many things - are they having to eliminate all products that are fried or prepared with peanut oil? How about candies with peanut butter? No-one can have a peanut butter sandwich?

I know that states guarantee an equal access to education, but it seems like there ought to be either special classes or a home-school type situation that would better serve the needs of these highly sensitive individuals.

Most people with allergies and sensitivities have sufficiently good manners to be able to navigate their world without making everyone else suffer - I don't think that one person's allergy ought to be able to dictate the diet of an entire school full of other people. Do they expect that these folks will get into the regular work force and be able to force their office buildings to go peanut-free?

My opinion

[waterlilly.livejournal.com]

If this kid is literally deathly allergic to peanuts, the child needs to be kept at home. Expecting an entire school to be liable for exposure to something that common is ludicrous, and frankly dangerous. I agree wholeheartedly with Meg's scenario regarding some dreaful brat deciding to pull a deadly practical joke. And no school can search every child's pockets, bags, backpack, and lunch bag every single day. There just isn't time.

I can't believe the school hasn't decided this from the viewpoint of pure liability issues. If one kid gets past the school and gives peanuts to this allergic kid, since the school is theoretically "guaranteeing" these parents a peanut-free environment for their child, doesn't that make the school liable if the child contacts peanuts and dies or has a serious reaction? I mean, what are the odds they could actually keep the kid completely away from peanuts at all times?

[teal-cuttlefish.livejournal.com]

Peanut allergies are why some airlines no longer pass out little foil packets of peanuts. There are people who can go into anaphylactic shock if someone on the plane opens a packet and the peanut dust gets into the air.