Why do store employees DO THIS!!!!!! - Page 10

[NYCVeg]

Originally Posted by MusicianDad

My beef with the focus some schools have on peanut allergies is why single out that one allergen? Last time I checked people can and many do have life threatening allergies to all types of things. But you know what, no one ever bothered to ban dust, or cat hair, or peaches in schools. Heck, my highschool didn't even ban perfume and I can promise you it caused some big problems for at least one student who had multipul chemical sensitivities which are life threatening to her. So why keep the focus on just one allergy if the goal is to keep all kids safe.

Because in most cases, peanut allergies ARE different. I'm saying this is the parent of a child who has an anaphylactic allergy to WHEAT (she's allergic to peanuts, too, but not to peanut dust). As I wrote on the other thread, peanut allergies are:
1) much more likely to be anaphylactic, 2) much more likely to cause shock by contact with microscopic particles (dust, trace), 3) far, far more unpredictable than other allergies--a peanut allergy can transform from "mild" to "life-threatening" with no warning whatsoever, and 4) less likely to be outgrown.

Dd can go into shock if she ingests wheat, but she only has surface reactions due to contact. For many kids with peanut allergies, walking into a room where someone ate peanuts the day before can kill them. Dd's school goes to great lengths to keep her safe--we provide all of her food, she eats on her own placemat, next to a teacher, and all of the kids are required to wash their hands after they eat. But a kid eating a cracker in the room won't hurt her, as long as she stays away from it.

There simply aren't that many kids who have peanut-like allergies to other foods (and, again, I say this as a parent with a severely food-allergic child--over a dozen allergies, many of them extremely serious). If there are, then those situations can be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, finding ways to keep the kids safe.

[MusicianDad]

Well I speak as the friend of someone who ended up in the hospital with a sever reaction after agreeing to hold the coat of someone she didn't know had a cat.

So I guess those reasons don't cut it with me because I know (as I'm sure you do) that any allergy has the potential to be life threatening. One being more likely is no reason to ignore the others.

[pokeyrin]

Originally Posted by MusicianDad

Well I speak as the friend of someone who ended up in the hospital with a sever reaction after agreeing to hold the coat of someone she didn't know had a cat.

So I guess those reasons don't cut it with me because I know (as I'm sure you do) that any allergy has the potential to be life threatening. One being more likely is no reason to ignore the others.

While I agree that any allergy has the potential to be life threatening especially food, bites and stings, I've never heard anyone dying from an allergic reaction to cats and I have several friends who are allergic to cats and own cats.

My cousin's son doesn't have a severe peanut allergy where they need to carry epi-pens, but at a family reunion he accidentally ate a cookie that touched another cookie that had peanuts in it and his whole face swelled up really bad and he had trouble breathing and we ran for the Benadryl. It was really upsetting to witness that.

[NYCVeg]

Originally Posted by MusicianDad

Well I speak as the friend of someone who ended up in the hospital with a sever reaction after agreeing to hold the coat of someone she didn't know had a cat.

So I guess those reasons don't cut it with me because I know (as I'm sure you do) that any allergy has the potential to be life threatening. One being more likely is no reason to ignore the others.

Well, there's no way to ban cat hair from schools, unless you ban people from having cats at home.

If there's a kid who has an anaphylactic allergy to traces/dust from other schools, then, yes, the school will probably have to find a way to accommodate it. And I wonder how many instances people know of where schools have completely banned other foods. Because I'm pretty well immersed in the food-allergic community and I haven't ever heard of it happening. Anaphylactic allergies to airborne particles of foods other than nuts are extremely rare--not impossible, but extremely rare. The extreme rareness of those allergies mean that they need to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis and that it is highly unlikely that whole school districts will be banning, say, strawberries. So the "slippery slope" argument doesn't cut it with ME, because it's just not happening, despite the hysteria from those who can't bear to imagine Junior enduring lunch without PB&J.

[MusicianDad]

There have been cases when schools have said that their students aren't even allowed to eat peanut products at home because of peanut allergies. We had a school in our area that tried to do that. There are people on both sides who try to cross the line into controlling what other people do at home.

And sorry, but rare is no reason to ignore it. People have died because "rare" wasn't even on the radar.

[MusicianDad]

Originally Posted by pokeyrin

While I agree that any allergy has the potential to be life threatening especially food, bites and stings, I've never heard anyone dying from an allergic reaction to cats and I have several friends who are allergic to cats and own cats.

You should come for a visit. I can introduce you to someone who has to severly limit contact with extended family because most of them have cats and she has had a close call because of that allergy.

DH has mild allergies and he can handle a certain amount of what he's allergic too, but that doesn't mean that I am going to say to everyone who has the same allergy "Well I've never heard of anyone dying from being allergic to X allergen and I know someone who has/eats X who is allergic to it."

Also see my above post because that sort of statement is exactly what I was talking about.

[pokeyrin]

Originally Posted by MusicianDad

You should come for a visit. I can introduce you to someone who has to severly limit contact with extended family because most of them have cats and she has had a close call because of that allergy.

DH has mild allergies and he can handle a certain amount of what he's allergic too, but that doesn't mean that I am going to say to everyone who has the same allergy "Well I've never heard of anyone dying from being allergic to X allergen and I know someone who has/eats X who is allergic to it."

Also see my above post because that sort of statement is exactly what I was talking about.

I see your point and it's excessive if they are trying to stop people from eating peanut butter at home. I would have no problem packing my child a peanut-free lunch either.