Thread: Let them eat peanut butter at school?

I can understand the school trying to protect kids with allergies, but this sounds a bit draconian. Educating the kids with the allergies sounds like a better way to go. That said, I am not sure what the school's reasoning process was, perhaps they had a valid reason?

Originally Posted by Bleedin Thumb

I'm not sure if I am turning into a cranky old so & so, but I find it hard to swallow that my kids aren't allowed to take peanut butter sandwiches to school because there are a couple of other children who are allergic.:confused:

Some people are allergic to seafood...they dont ban that.
Some people are allergic to milk etc etc.
Surely its the responsibility of the parents of the kids with the allergies to teach their kids never to accept food from other kids.

And if you are going to give me that excuse of peer pressure being too great, well how many kids die as a result of peer pressure jumping into dams, driving cars and all manor of dumb things? Those activities aren't banned.

Why does all of the school society have to suffer for the sake of a few. The few do have my sympathy but it seems that this is a case of PC gone mad, or another example of the litigious world we have created for ourselves.:mad:

I did a first aid course with the Red Cross a couple of years ago. The topic of peanut allergies came up. The instructor told us that peanut allergies can be so severe that just the smell of peanuts on someone's breath can be enough to send someone with a bad peanut allergy into anaphylactic shock (that's bad).

For the sake of the apparently growing number of kids who suffer peanut allergies (I personally know of two such kids) I don't think banning peanut butter from schools is a bad thing.

My daughter (who does not have a peanut allergy and loves peanut butter) is starting pre-school next year. The pre-school she is to attend is a peanut free and an egg free zone. The pre-school in question even provides us parents with egg free and nut free recipies for birthday cakes should we want to provide one for our children to celebrate their birthdays.

I don't have a problem with peanuts being banned.

As I understand it Peanut allergies are not just a bit of a nauseas reaction. My neighbour a 18 year old girl is allergic to peanut I did not know and I had made a new dessert at work, bought some home and she asked to try some. Within 10 mins she was in hospital and on deaths door.

I checked and rechecked the ingredients. One of the ingredients had a very small disclaimer saying in may contain traces of peanut products.

I was amazed at how quick this happened and am only too happy to adhere to schools banning peanut butter and peanuts at school. I would hate for my son to share his lunch and put some 5 year old in hospital or worse.

Pete

Originally Posted by Mirboo

up. The instructor told us that peanut allergies can be so severe that just the smell of peanuts on someone's breath can be enough to send someone with a bad peanut allergy into anaphylactic shock (that's bad).

.

That could be problematic on a first date if your partner has been eating nuts. One kiss and....:eek:

Seriously, I wasn't aware of how bad the situation was so I was right about being a grumpy old fool.

When I went to school I didn't know anyone with serious allergies and didn't even know an asthmatic. Now every school has at least 2 kids with allergies to nuts not to mention the raft of other things and it seem that about 1 in 10 kids have asthma......What the hells going on??????

I find it hard to beleive that in the midst of such a health epidemic that the authorities don't know what is the cause.

CONSPIRACY THEORY # 506. The petroleum companies have suppressed the health reports that prove breathing vehicle emissions is destroying our immune systems.

Had a packet of peanuts at home with a warning that it may contain traces of peanuts:confused:
I was listening to an interview with Margaret Throsby some months ago and it seems that the problems arose from our hippie generation who were so averse to meat and eating anything that walked, flew or swam they created the problem by overloading themselves with peanut products and the (some)offspring were born with this allergic reaction.

I've read and head from several sources that the cause of the growing number of food allergies is a result of the manufacturing process becoming too clean and sterile. Some scientists even suggest that at the current rate of allergy growth, humans will be allergic to most food in the next 4-500 years at the current rate :confused:

Originally Posted by Dean

I've read and head from several sources that the cause of the growing number of food allergies is a result of the manufacturing process becoming too clean and sterile. Some scientists even suggest that at the current rate of allergy growth, humans will be allergic to most food in the next 4-500 years at the current rate :confused:

Same with the airborne allergens. Scientists claim we don't let our kids get dirty enough any more (anti-bacterial soap, etc.) so they cannot build up the anti-bodies to fight. I'm allergic to a few things (like raw rubber--don't go there ), but I know people who are (or claim to be) allergic to darn near everything and must live in a virtually sterile house. I must say it's become more prevalent in recent years. Growing up I didn't know anyone allergic to peanuts--schoolwork maybe, but not peanuts.

Originally Posted by Bob Childress

Scientists claim we don't let our kids get dirty enough any more (anti-bacterial soap, etc.) so they cannot build up the anti-bodies to fight. .

Got to agree there.
We went to a local agricultural show last weekend and of course it had a few well trained sheep.

A woman with a coupla kids nearly blew a gasket as the kids ran towards the sheep to get a touch of them.

She was shouting at the top of her voice.
Dont touch them, they are full of disease ( I bet the sheep were thinking the same about the kids)
Stop don't touch them, they are dirty.

Poor kids, I felt sorry for them.

Al

People with severe allegies, whatever they may be can suffer from a state called anaphylactic reaction, or in very severe cases, anaphylactic shock. Essentially, the body sort of shuts down, but the most visible effect is swelling and particularly of the windpipe. They can't breathe. Many of these people are licenced to carry adrenalin injections with them. You may also be aware of people allergic to penicillin who wear "Medic Alert" bracelets.
My wife has allergies to seafood, which is not good when you come from Portland Vic and live for a year in Japan, but we have to be clear when booking a restaurant that there is no seafood of any kind in the cooking. This includes fish sauce and Oyster sauce (which we have found a Veg substitute or.)
Incidentally, I knew someone who bought a cheap bottle of bubbly and it had the warning about containing traces of nuts as well:confused: Go figure.
It does appear that the increasing demand for a sterile environment by many parents is causing increased allergies. I shudder when I see an air conditioning company advertising a Hepa 2 filter in their product. Land sakes, can't their kids even breathe someone else's air without it being treated first?!!

Regards

Rob

I don't know if I trust that argument about a too sterile environment...well it doesn't sit well with my conspiracy theory.

If it were as simple as that couldn't they just give us all a dirty immunisation shot or something. A lozenger under the tongue containing the essesence of sheep dung, dog hair, camel spit etc.

No the too sterile argument is just a smoke screen put inplace by vested interests.

There may be something in the theory about hippy parents and peanut allergies....... Its good to blame hippies for lots of things

Originally Posted by Bleedin Thumb

I don't know if I trust that argument about a too sterile environment...well it doesn't sit well with my conspiracy theory.

If it were as simple as that couldn't they just give us all a dirty immunisation shot or something. A lozenger under the tongue containing the essesence of sheep dung, dog hair, camel spit etc.

They did. Don't you remember all those needles we shared when we received the polio vaccine back in the 60's. How ever did any of us survive?

Originally Posted by Bleedin Thumb

There may be something in the theory about hippy parents and peanut allergies....... Its good to blame hippies for lots of things

No argument here........peace man.

You gotta feel sorry for people that sensitive to common foods, especially something so yummy!! No satay, no boiled peanuts at the pub, no peanut butter on toast in the morning....:eek:
I don't conciously eat or drink anything containing dairy products, very hard to avoid completely because its added to so many things, but I don't have a life-threatening reaction to it. It simply makes me sick and not very pleasant to live with!!
Should peanut butter sandwiches be banned at school, perhaps, but so long as it stops there at primary school where kids don't have the maturity/responsibilty to look after themselves. In saying that though, I've heard (urban myth??) of a prank at high school level with kids holding down another kid, allergic to peanuts, with said sandwich in their face.

I'm interested in why this sudden rise of allergies, and asthma. In the case of peanuts, it could be over consumed, but that hasn't happened to me, despite daily intake...so does it somehow build up and get passed on genetically. Hasn't happened to my kids. Maybe there is something in the nut itself that has changed, chemicals building up maybe. The nut itself would surely be the site of maximum concentration of any given chemical in the plant, like most fruits, grains and nuts (I think).
But I tend to agree with Bob and Dean and others...something is changing in our make-up to react like this.


Regards,

Originally Posted by Bleedin Thumb

CONSPIRACY THEORY # 506. The petroleum companies have suppressed the health reports that prove breathing vehicle emissions is destroying our immune systems.

About eating the name brand peanut butter/paste.......read the ingreadiance and have a check with what all the preservatives in it. You will find that it is made with petroleum bi-products. So why would you let your kids eat it anyway. My kids don't...............

Originally Posted by duckman

They did. Don't you remember all those needles we shared when we received the polio vaccine back in the 60's. How ever did any of us survive?

Yeh and what was with that "turn your head and cough" thing!
Who kept the records?
Do they actualy mean anything?
Where are those Nurses now? Are they traumatised?