Reports are showing over the past 5 years deadly peanut and tree nut allergies have doubled. Is it fair to?

Question

compare this to the issue of the laws against smokers. Smokers are banned from smoking in public because it is a danger for people to be around second hand smoke. It is a known fact that it is also a life threatening danger for people with peanut and tree nut allergies to be exposed to these products. Do you think they will eventually come out with a law that will ban eating peanuts and tree nuts unless you are in your own home? Why or why not?
Thanks for your mature answers.

Not a homework assignment....but maybe it should be.

Punchy...you are wrong (but the thumbs down wasn't from me). People that are allergic to peanuts and tree nuts don't have to have it "shoved down their throat" for a reaction. A allergic child that drinks from a water cooler at school after his playmate ate a pb&j sandwich can die. I have read that when people with a nut allergy are going to be flying, the airline accommodates by not passing out peanuts on that particular flight. I respect your argument though.

Inzarth...I would like to comment on your allergy to cats. You say you will die, so you don't go there. So does that mean that children with nut allergies should stay home and out of public education? What if when you were a child your teacher brought her pet cat to school every day because all the other kids loved petting and playing with the cat. Would that be fair that you couldn't attend school and learn because of the "majority" ruling?

Ahcho...I said mature answers, but thanks for proving there is always one.

Inzarth, I also wanted to respond to your "I do not expect anyone else to change for my kids allergies and WILL NOT for theirs." comment. You WILL if the law says you will, or you will pay the price of a fine or whatever the law would determine suitable for your punishment for breaking the law. Don't think you are above the law.

gunplumb....you sound as if you are in the military and have been exposed to some dangerous chemicals....please take care!!

Answer 1

Well, it is against the rules at my daughter's school for us to bring anything with nuts in it, or pack anything in her lunch with nuts because so many kids at her school have those allergies.

But on the flip-side, my niece is allergic to tree nuts and could die even if one of her friends gives her a kiss after eating nuts. It is very serious. Same with eggs. If someone stirs her food with a spoon that has stirred something with eggs, she can have a deadly reaction. So I can see why those individuals and their families are concerned.

I don't think they will actually ban eating those items in public, but expect some regulations, like they have already in my daughter's school.

Answer 2

Smoking presents a danger to *all* people, regardless of race, age, and any allergy present. It's unanimous that no one willingly wants to be put in harms way. (Most people who start smoking eventually want to quit.) Second-hand smoke diffuses into the air and anyone breathing around the area at the time can inhale it.

Because less than one percent of U.S. citizens are affected by peanut and nut allergies, it is up to the individual to look out for themselves. The people without such allergies are in the majority here. People who are allergic have to touch or ingest (depending on the severity of the allergy) the peanut. Unless someone walks up and rubs a peanut on you, covers you with peanut butter or oil, or forces them down your throat, etc. then there should be no direct threat.

It's not a fair comparison because you can't protect yourself from polluted air the way you could from peanuts.

There are schools that have banned nuts from schools because 1, there are children there and kids do stupid things, and 2, the school does not want to be held liable if something were to happen, regardless of whose fault it may be.


*Edit* My son has peanut allergies. It is actually the oil from the peanut that cause the reaction. The only way a kid could have a reaction from a water fountain is if some other kid rubbed his peanut-buttery mouth all over the drinking valve, and then the water shot peanut particles into the next kid's mouth. Not ever *not* going to happen, but still the probability is unlikely. Like I said before, it depends on the severity of the allergy. The oil has to touch his skin, or "fried" into the air and small particles may be breathed in. We will never take my son to a Japanese or Chinese restaurant because of this. Easy to avoid.

The reason why airlines do this, is because they don't want to be held liable if something were to happen. No one wants to be sued.

And to gunplumb.... that would actually backfire. Early exposure to some allergy producing foods can actually cause them to manifest in some people. You would just create more people who are allergy carriers.

Answer 3

My preschoolers are already not allowed to bring peanut based foods to school. I understand the problem. But a law will be issued based on two things, the quality and the quantity of people wanting it. Quality means, how influential they are, it would only need one congress member, to draw up a measure. Quantity means, the sheer amount of people, who want to vote for a law. I would really like to see some truth full number of cases involved and what medicine can do about it. I am against new laws in general, before looking at the options.

Answer 4

Sure, I'm a smoker with a severe wheat intolerance, I see the connection plain as day.

If I wanted to be an omniscient busy-body I could make all the anti-smoking arguments against wheat.

-Travels in the air
-Someone else's chemical choices affect my health
-Increases my cancer probability
-"Cross contamination" affects 95-97% of food products
-Can't eat a public meal without second-hand cross-contamination

Honestly, millions of people would get healthier if all pizzas, cakes, and cookies were banned. Does that make it a good idea, or in any way compatible with a concept of freedom?

No, but what goes around comes around...

Answer 5

I send my own kids to school with peanut sandwiches almost every day, so I hope not. I have to buy a special kind that has no soybean oil in it. We are vegetarians and that is the best source of protein for them so I will continue to pack it for them. I do not let my kids buy lunch in school because I monitor their soybean allergy myself. I also cannot afford to buy three school lunches on a daily basis. Peanut butter is one of the best protein and most healthy sandwiches they can have, it has the best protein for the money and is one of the most economical.

One of my daughters is very allergic to latex. She cannot play with rubber toys or balloons etc. I myself am extremely allergic to cats and can die from being near them. I do not go to very many people's houses including my best friends, but I don't tell them they can't have a cat.

I do not expect anyone else to change for my kids allergies and WILL NOT for theirs.
Kids need to learn about how to handle their allergies from an early age and parents need to teach them to take care of themselves.

Edit:
My kids soy allergy was just as life threatening as peanut - caused complete closing of the breathing passages as does my cat allergy. My son is allergic to just touching soy as is my daughter with latex. I used a desensitizing treatment so it is not as bad now. Completely keeping kids like the bubble boy is not the way to fight allergies.

I would fight such a law as it is unfair to the 95% who do not have the allergy.
If what you said happened soon there would be nothing to eat, because every food allergy could demand that others not "expose" them to it. If peanuts were made against the law, I could demand soy be made against the law too, and it is in almost everything, or perhaps wheat, egg, shellfish etc.
Soon everyone would die of malnutrition.
Smoking should be against the law in public because it serves no purpose and makes everyone sick not just a few.

Answer 6

Blame it all on Jimmy Carter's peanuts. I knew he was secretly trying to kill people all over the world and now we have the proof.

Answer 7

Guess there are alot of people who dont like flying - seems all they give you nowadays is a damn packet of honey roasted peanuts - yuck

Answer 8

This sounds a bit like a homework assignment. Anyway, who knows where our crazy lawmakers will take us.

Answer 9

Life's dangerous. Suck it up.

Maybe what we need to do is get MORE peanuts into the food processing network and eliminate the allergy carriers.