Peanut Bans in Schools

[SydneyK]

I thought about posting something about this after one of my friends complained that her kids' elementary school has a peanut ban in effect. But it didn't seem that interesting, so I let it go.

Then, I saw this story on Yahoo! and thought about it again.

Is it possible that a student can be affected by a whiff of peanut butter? I mean, doesn't someone actually have to ingest something containing peanuts in order to have issues related to the allergy?

I seem to remember an incident where a kid kissed his girlfriend/her boyfriend (I don't remember which one had the allergy) and got ill because the boyfriend/girlfriend had peanut-breath, so I guess I can see why it might be a good idea. But still, to ban peanut products entirely from the school seems a bit... excessive.

What do you think, GCers? Is the peanut-ban overkill, or is it reasonable?

[SWTXBelle]

There is a middle ground.

My son's school notifies classes with students who have allergies - my son's class has at least one - so group treats can be peanut-free and students know not to bring peanut snacks (they have an in-class snack time). During lunch those with allergies are seated together - a totally peanut-free table which is not noticeably different from any other table.

[TPARose]

I've seen schools with "nut free classes" and "nut classes". I think that seems pretty sensible. Another requirement that a lot of schools institute is only allowing sealed store bought goodies (cupcakes and cookies and such). Even if you don't put nuts in your brownies, there can be cross contamination.


It's a pain for the parent's of allergy-free students, but far less worse than if a child were to go in to anaphylactic shock. And I've heard of cases where even peanut dust can set a person off, so in those cases, it's better to be safe than sorry.

It's just bizarre to me. What are we doing different today that wasn't happening 20 years ago? I know we never thought about these things in grade school, and I didn't know a soul with a peanut allergy. And don't say it's vaccines!!!

[aephi alum]

Originally Posted by TPARose

I've seen schools with "nut free classes" and "nut classes".

I'm sorry - this made me laugh. "You're in the nut class? So... you're nuts?"

I used to volunteer at a temple that ran a religious school. There was one child who was apparently VERY allergic to nuts of all types including peanuts. Every year, in addition to noting the allergy on her son's medical information form, his mother wrote a letter to the school informing the teachers and staff of her son's allergy and demanding that no nuts be allowed in the building. So the entire temple was a nut-free zone ... I don't think they were even allowed to serve foods containing nuts after Friday night services (typically snacks, soda, and coffee were available after services, so attendees could have a nibble and chitchat).

I don't recall this being an issue at all when I was a child. Kids often brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to school for lunch, and when kids brought peanut M&Ms to class, the only reprimand they got was, "Did you bring enough to share with the whole class?"

[ColdInCanada11]

I worked in a massive day camp for 4 years, and there was a nut free policy. However, if a child brought something with peanuts/peanut butter then an instructor would eat with them outside the room. The logic was why should the child with allergies always have to be removed from the situation. I'm not sure if I agree with this 100% but it worked for us.

[trisigma212]

I think the reason these allergies are popping up because kids 1) aren't going outside as much when they are younger and 2) are eating different foods than we did. I know my parents made me eat whatever they prepare and I'm sure there are a lot of parents that feed kids whatever they want in order to pacify them.

My county has required that all staff members receive epi-pen training for allergic reactions. Anaphylaxis is no joke- a child can easily die if you don't know what to do. At the middle and high school level, kids are mixed in and are pretty aware of what they can't be around. At the elementary level, we have tables that are nut-free in the cafeteria.

One thing that I have seen more and more often now are students who have Crohn's disease. I had a volleyball player who had it last year and missed most of the season due to the symptoms being so sever and having to go in for infusion shots. Crohn's is one of those things that can really keep you out of school and is super embarrassing for the kids. My mother has it and has it relatively in control through medication, but with students going through puberty and their bodies changing, it can take a very long time before its relatively in control.

Students at my school are aware of what they can't be around, but that may not happen at the elementary school level. The schools are trying to cover their behinds by being safe. It's the same thing with zero-tolerance for drugs, alcohol, and weapons. You are there to be guardians and ensure the safety of children for 7-8 hours a day.

[GeorgiaGreek]

Originally Posted by trisigma212

I think the reason these allergies are popping up because kids 1) aren't going outside as much when they are younger and 2) are eating different foods than we did. I know my parents made me eat whatever they prepare and I'm sure there are a lot of parents that feed kids whatever they want in order to pacify them.

I'm in this camp. There was a section on this in an infectious diseases class of mine (well it's not quite infectious, but it's slightly relevant), and the basic conclusion was that parents aren't exposing kids to enough substances during the window of time where their body can learn to handle it. Everything is sanitized, sterilized, gluten-free, etc. and some kids aren't developing the antibodies they need at the fault of overprotective parents. Basically, let your kids eat dirt, and stop applying Purell to every non-porous surface they touch. Make them have a variety of food, even if it's just a little bit. Remove them from their plastic bubble.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by trisigma212

I think the reason these allergies are popping up because kids 1) aren't going outside as much when they are younger and 2) are eating different foods than we did. I know my parents made me eat whatever they prepare and I'm sure there are a lot of parents that feed kids whatever they want in order to pacify them.

I don't buy that. It would be one thing if the allergies developed around the same age uniformly, but they don't. I ate what was in front of my plate and it didn't stop me from having food allergies; I went outside all the time, and run about 20 miles a week now, and I've always had environmental allergies, even as a tiny kid. My parents are outdoorsy types, so it wasn't that I was holed up inside the house. My grandmother developed a very severe shellfish allergy in her late 20s, after her first pregnancy and after a lifetime of eating shellfish. So, while I'm sure it's cute to blame the increased prevalence of allergies on overprotective parents, it's not the case.

This is probably an extreme case, but every so often I go in for my allergen testing. Each year I have a reaction to a different allergen that I didn't have an issue to the previous years. I wonder if kids are reacting to the allergen in the skin tests, where they wouldn't necessarily present symptoms in real life. That triggers the allergy notifications and it's all downhill from there.

While peanut reactions are the most common food allergy death, they're still pretty rare. Because of the 24-hour news cycle, increased parental education/awareness of issues, and the fear of litigation, we're just hearing a lot more about it.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by preciousjeni

These stories are surprising. It just doesn't seem logical that someone could react to the scent of peanuts (outside of a psychosomatic reaction). I could understand it if someone were cracking open peanut shells and letting dust into the air.

With so many children developing allergies from lack of exposure to certain foods, are there not options for controlling the allergy instead of reacting to it with epinephrine?

Researchers are working like crazy on a vaccination for those with peanut allergies. At this point, the goal is to delay or lessen the reaction to allow time to get treatment for the symptoms.

My daughter had allergy shots for all of her environmental allergies, but with the severe reaction to a tiny amount of allergen, it wasn't an option for the peanut allergy. Her last "peanut exposure" that gave her a reaction requiring epinephrine and IV steroids was from eating half a cashew that, it turned out, was roasted in peanut oil.

[amIblue?]

We don't suffer from nut allergies at our house; however I do suffer from other severe allergies. I've experienced anaphylaxis several times in my life. It sucks.

There's nothing more irritating to me than when people believe that I am overreacting or that it's all in my head. I feel for these kids and these parents. I would never want to do anything to make a child sick. I happily comply with th peanut-free guidelines at my daughter's school. It's not as if keeping peanut products only for at home is a huge and unbearable inconvenience.

I hear parents complain about how how it wasn't a problem when we were kids. So what? It is a problem now for whatever reason. Think of the guilt one would feel if he/she were responsible for a child going into shock and dying because of a peanut butter sandwich.

I'm fairly certain that throughout history medical conditions have evolved that "didn't use to be a problem." Denial of the condition or disease won't make it go away.

[33girl]

There have always been SOME children with allergies, even if they grow up in a very outdoorsy situation, but what we're seeing now is different. It's SO many kids with the same allergy. And call me crazy or knee-jerking, but the schools I hear about that institute peanut bans are usually in middle to upper class neighborhoods.

What hit home to me was the person in the article who said that some autistic kids will only eat PB & J. My friend's daughter is autistic and on a special diet besides. She can't have gluten or soy, but my friend isn't trying to ban those things from the school.

You have to tell your child that they WILL NOT trade food - just like they WILL NOT play with matches.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by 33girl

There have always been SOME children with allergies, even if they grow up in a very outdoorsy situation, but what we're seeing now is different. It's SO many kids with the same allergy. And call me crazy or knee-jerking, but the schools I hear about that institute peanut bans are usually in middle to upper class neighborhoods.

I think you're right, I also think that there are a few factors behind that that might apply to kids today in general and that we hear about these things happening in more affluent areas because that's what's covered in the media.

One is that kids go to the doctor more often. My parents were always insured; they just never took us to the doctor outside of symptom-specific information. It wasn't until I was an adult with my own insurance that I had a full allergy panel, even though I had been diagnosed with asthma at like 7. My parents aren't uneducated or poor; they just didn't see the need in our going to the doctor when it wasn't necessary. My sister, on the other hand, has her kids take an annual physical above and beyond the one they need as athletes. As a result, they have a lot more diagnoses than we had. None of them are serious or life-threatening, but my sister is a lot more aware of their health challenges. I'm going to chalk that one up to being generational.

For better or worse, there's just a heck of a lot more information out there about allergies, and there's always good old Dr. Google to make people even more neurotic. I remember when I was diagnosed with asthma, my pediatrician told my parents to take it seriously because childhood asthma is often perceived as being faked or not that serious in some black communities; as a result, the death rate among black kids with asthma is much higher than among white kids. I'm not sure if a pediatrician would tell a mother that today, for obvious reasons; that same mother today, however, would probably go to WebMD or Google to supplement whatever the doctor told her.

Also, like I mentioned upthread, you can test for sensitivities for allergens without ever having presented symptoms; as a result, the diagnosis can shock people into action that may be unnecessary. Not only do wealthier families take their kids to doctors more regularly, they'll be more apt to visit specialists who, with insurance co-pays, can cost twice as much as a PCP.

Finally, there's just straight up fear of litigation. I suspect this fear is more common in affluent areas and schools/parents will make a bigger deal about it. I think that a lot of private schools did this first because it's easier to make a decision like this at the single-school level.

[scrapcat]

Omg this drives me nuts! (no pun intended). The district I work in just established a NO FOOD AT ALL ban. We used to have an adorable program called "passports" to teach all about the world and cultures from all over. A big (huge) part of many cultures is the food. Parents would bring in family goodies from all over the world. It was awsome. Until... one parent complained (the child had several allergies) so the program was scrapped. I know it seems heartless but why should 350 kids be denied a great program for one? I think if it was my kid I'd just try to bring something he could eat!

[AGDee]

My daughter has a peanut allergy and thankfully, she only has an anaphylactic reaction if she ingests it. If she touches it, she only gets hives in that area (so far). However, each time she is exposed, her reaction is more severe so continued exposure in any form frightens me. She has lesser reactions to other legumes but realized that when she eats garbanzo beans, soy, lentils, etc., her throat gets irritated.

I was buying the Barilla Plus pasta in an attempt to eat a healthier pasta (more fiber, more protein). After about 6 months, she said "Every time we eat pasta my lips feel puffy". I checked the package and found it has "legume flour" as an ingredient. I never bought that again!

I don't know that I agree with the reasoning for the increase in peanut allergies. It certainly doesn't fit her situation. She had gastro reactions to soy formula at four weeks old (after having lactose intolerance to milk based formulas and gastro reactions to my breast milk, probably because I ate a ton of peanut butter). She had her first peanut butter and jelly sandwich around age 2 and had her first peanut reaction with the second peanut butter and jelly sandwich about a week later. She definitely ate a wide variety of foods and my home was not a sterile environment. They have found some common genetic markers in kids with peanut allergies. Perhaps, before there were better medications to deal with it, people died of these reactions before they could reproduce and pass the genes on? Perhaps it is recessive (neither my ex husband or I are allergic to peanut products and neither is my son).

I was lucky that we didn't have to go to extremes with her at school. She knew she couldn't eat it and her friends knew she couldn't eat it. My son and I eat peanut butter. I make our sandwiches with plastic knives on paper plates so I can throw it all away and not get peanut oil on anything. I wash my hands after putting the peanut butter on the bread, before I touch the jelly jar. I use a separate utensil for the jelly. It's a hassle.

I have a friend whose son has had anaphylactic reactions from being in the same cafeteria as a child who was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I don't know what I'd do if my child was that sensitive. Perhaps the better solution is to have children who are that highly allergic eat in a separate space.

And my son was that kid who wouldn't eat any kind of sandwich except peanut butter and jelly.

[GeorgiaGreek]

Originally Posted by AGDee

They have found some common genetic markers in kids with peanut allergies. Perhaps, before there were better medications to deal with it, people died of these reactions before they could reproduce and pass the genes on? Perhaps it is recessive (neither my ex husband or I are allergic to peanut products and neither is my son).

Without going into nitty gritty genetics, it's highly unlikely that this upsurge in allergies is a natural selection type of shift. Natural selection doesn't happen over 2 or 3 generations. While there are certain diseases, notably cancer, that people used to die from because it went undetected or untreatable, there isn't a huge history of kids suddenly going into anaphylactic shock from peanuts and nobody being able to do anything about it. I'm not saying it never happened, but if it did, it was nowhere near as common as seeing kids today who can't be around peanuts without a severe reaction. The huge gap between the number of kids with such an allergy now and the number of kids who had it, say, 50 years ago, is so large that it couldn't possibly be considered a normal genetic shift.

Whether the change is caused by our lifestyle, an environmental agent, underexposure to peanuts, overexposure to peanut products (like latex allergies), I couldn't exactly say, but to me, it's apparent that these allergies are a byproduct of people's actions over the last few decades, not just random genetic selection.