Many schools ban students from bringing peanut butter and other peanut products

[obamanut2012]

Because they may harm other students if they eat them. But yet it's not a public health issue and a danger to other students for unvaxxed kids to attend school? How about their fellow students who have depressed immune systems? Whose vax didn't "take," so they need herd immunity?

God forbid they sniff some PB & J, which won't even hurt them if they do, but it is A-OK to to possibly spread LETHAL diseases?

Just what the actual hell with this "logic."

[aikoaiko]

1. Banning peanut butter is ridiculous.

Schools can keep sick kids from attending, though.

[obamanut2012]

2. They cannot stop unvaxxed kids from sttending in most areas, though

And, yes, the PB thing is ridiculous, and not even scientifically sound in the HUGE majority of cases.

[womanofthehills]

17. banning peanut butter is NOT rediculous

More and more kids have peanut allergies and esp. in elementary schools, kids can have peanut butter on their lips or hands after eating a sandwich and just playful kissing or wresting a fellow student could cause that child to possibly die.

[tblue37]

21. Thirty years ago a little kindergarten girl died from a peanut allergy in one of our

schools. She didn't eat it, but was exposed through cross-contamination. It happens.

[aikoaiko]

25. The extent that peanuts can cause serious problems or death is overstated.

Normal avoidance plus epi pens in nurses offices is sufficient.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/peanut-allergies_b_2885819

[defacto7]

29. It most certainly is not. My daughter has a peanut alergy

and she's gone into anaphylaxic shock twice and close to is too many times. She carries an epi pen and there's an extra in the school office. Even so if she comes in contact with a trace amount she's in bed sick for at least a day. Each time she's in contact with it the reaction is worse which is how this alergy works. The anti peanut alergy hype is no different than the anti-vax hype.

[aikoaiko]

30. I'm not dismissing your daughter's condition or experiences.

Its just that such cases associated with life-threatening anaphylactic shock appear to be relatively rare.

[womanofthehills]

58. Not so. "Every three minutes, a food allergy reaction sends someone to the emergency room."

Life threatening anaphylaxis is on the rise.


https://www.foodallergy.org/life-with-food-allergies/food-allergy-101/facts-and-statistics

[vsrazdem]

27. Plenty of kids are allergic to odors and perfumes too, but they don't ban those.

Kids don't need to be kissing each or other or wrestling in school. This is absurd, PB&J has been a home staple for kids lunches for years. This is going too far.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

56. Teacher here. I am not allowed to have any sprays/odor creators in my room.

[womanofthehills]

59. Wrong. "Fragrance Sensitivity a Disability Under ADA"

A recent court ruling means that some employers will have to ban perfume, cologne and other scents in the workplace.


In McBride v. City of Detroit, senior city planner Susan McBride was awarded $100,000. In addition, the City of Detroit (the employer) agreed to revise its ADA handbook and training, and to post notices about the fragrance-free policy.
Fragrance Sensitivity a Disability Under ADA


McBride, who suffers from Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, complained when a new coworker wore heavy perfume and used a room deodorizer. The coworker agreed to unplug the room deodorizer at McBride’s request, but refused to stop wearing perfume. McBride appealed to her supervisor and the HR department. The city failed to recognize this as an ADA issue and informed McBride that her coworker had a constitutional right to wear perfume to work. They also informed McBride that since she had the allergy, it was her problem, not the employer’s. McBride took time off under FMLA but that failed to resolve the problem when she returned to work.


However, the federal courts disagreed. The court ruled that an allergy to scents can be a disability under ADAAA, the most recent amendment to ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act. Under this law enforced by the EEOC, when an employee has severe symptoms as a result of being exposed to odors or scents, that can be a disability. Such symptoms would include asthma, breathing difficulties, or an itchy, inflamed rash called contact dermatitis. Once an employee has an allergy to a chemical, the symptoms are likely to be triggered by smaller and smaller amounts of exposure.

The court found that McBride’s MCS was a disability that interferred with the major life activity of breathing.

https://www.laborlawcenter.com/education-center/fragrance-sensitivity-a-disability-under-ada/

[democratisphere]

3. What about peanut butter and jelly?!

It is a staple of life!

[obamanut2012]

5. And inexpensive!

[dalton99a]

7. Change it to mashed pinto beans and jelly

[PupCamo]

28. what flavor jelly?

[democratisphere]

43. I use only fruit spreads from Wegmans made in Canada.

[CrispyQ]

53. Jalapeo, of course!

[PupCamo]

55. thank goodness someone with taste

I love jalapeno jelly

[artislife]

57. Hee

When I took the bus in Mexico, they gave us ham sandwiches with a mustard pack and a jalepeno pack.

[Iggo]

49. I swear to gawd I read that as mashed potatoes and jelly beans.

Slow down, Iggo.

Slow down.

[womanofthehills]

18. Peanut butter should not be a staple of life

because of the aflatoxins. It should be one of those foods you might eat once a week or month. Peanuts are not a true nut but are legumes. Might be a better idea to eat almond or cashew butter. Peanuts grown in dry states have less mold than ones in humid states.

[Mosby]

41. the peanut butters in the US are considered safe.

For health reasons though, almond butter is a better choice IMO, because of the abundance of omega 3s.

It's also better tasting I think, but the price needs to come down for it to replace peanut butter. Same with the oil, your not going to replace canola and soy so long as almond (or avocado) oil is so expensive.

[democratisphere]

42. I use Crunchy Natural JIF.

[ck4829]

39. We do need staple foods

[dalton99a]

4. Don't forget Reese's and M&M's in the vending machines

[obamanut2012]

6. !!!!!!!!! QUARANTINE!!!!!

[Sherman A1]

8. Good

I’ve lived my entire life with this allergy and it is absolutely nothing to joke around with.

[randr]

9. My Granddaughter has peanut allergy, not a good thing

We thought she may grow out of it, as some people do. The incidents have only gotten worse. The last time was in a restaurant when she asked for a taste of someones food that had a peanut product in it. I held her in the ladies room as she violently vomited while fighting for her breath; making it impossible to get required medication down. The thought that she would die as I held her entered my mind.
I agree with your assessment of how antivaxers put us all at risk. Please do not make light of a serious condition that we have made important precautions for do to the severity. We should be as diligent regarding all threats, especially with a growing population that have chosen to put themselves and the rest of us in danger.

[hunter]

10. We need to figure out what's causing these allergies and do something about it.

There is something seriously wrong with the environment we live in.

Is it exposure to some kind of pollution? Lack of exposure or over-exposure to some sort microbe? What?

I suffer some serious food allergies, thankfully not a lethal allergy to peanuts.

It's similar to my brother's allergy to bee stings. Having an epinepherine pen, inhaler, and antihistamines within reach is wise.

[Trailrider1951]

11. I started getting a skin rash after eating peanut butter in 2003

I am 67 years old. I've eaten peanuts and peanut butter all my life, and never had a reaction to it until the summer of 2003. Also, at that time, my 1 year old granddaughter was diagnosed with allergies to peanuts, soy, canola and other gmo products. I am thoroughly convinced that the genetic alteration of the most widely grown peanut plants, and possibly other food crops, has lead to the explosion in allergic reactions. We now eat certified organic whenever possible. YMMV.

[womanofthehills]

22. Besides mold or maybe because of the mold, peanuts are also a heavily pesticided food

They also contain high levels of glyphosate according to recent studies because they are sprayed with Roundup right before harvest for even drying.

[TexasBushwhacker]

14. Peanuts and other stored crops often have mold

I suspect that it some cases it's an allergy to the mold, not the actual food.

[Drahthaardogs]

16. The aflotoxin from peanut mold would do a hell of a lot more than cause an allergic reaction

It's one of the few molds that is seriously dangerous

[womanofthehills]

23. Especially in third world countries where people have less food variety & more humid conditions

(the second paragraph of this article says aflatoxins are closely monitored in the US - I DOUBT that they are monitored under Trump who is taking away all our food safety inspections (Skippy was recently reported to have high levels of aflatoxins) - forget about ever eating pork or bacon again)

In 2010 Kenyan authorities reported that 2.3 million bags of corn harvested in that country had been contaminated with fungal poisons known as aflatoxins.1 These toxins—which include aflatoxin B1, the most potent naturally occurring liver carcinogen ever identified—are produced by Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus, and they infect corn (maize), nuts, and other crops, especially during periods of drought stress and intense heat. Aflatoxins have been implicated in poisoning outbreaks that killed hundreds of people in developing countries, and experts suspect many aflatoxin-related fatalities go unreported.2

Toxicity risks from aflatoxins are very low in the United States and other developed countries, according to Charles Hurburgh, a professor of agricultural engineering and an extension grain specialist at Iowa State University. People in these countries eat a wide variety of foods with little or no risk of aflatoxin contamination, and for those foods where aflatoxins may occur, contamination is closely monitored and tightly regulated.

However, chronic exposures are endemic in developing countries, because aflatoxin monitoring is inadequate, populations tend to rely heavily on just a few staple crops that are vulnerable to Aspergillus infection, and growing conditions often favor mold growth. In a recent analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, only 1.3% of more than 2,000 U.S. blood samples had detectible levels of aflatoxins,3 compared with 78% of more than 3,000 blood serum samples from the nationally representative Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey.4

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 4.5 billion people in the developing world may have chronic exposure to aflatoxins in the diet.5 And according to one analysis, these exposures account for between 25,200 and 155,000 cases of liver cancer every year, particularly in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.6 Now aflatoxins are drawing international attention from development groups and aid agencies, who are teaching farmers and buyers how to spot and combat the pervasive threat.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3764082/

[ck4829]

48. Indeed

[Lancero]

15. Improved medical technology in the case of hereditary allergies.

What no longer kills one generation, can now be passed onto the next.

[ck4829]

47. Yep

[womanofthehills]

19. I think the environment and all the toxins we are exposed to definitely adds to the problem

I never had any food reactions until I was exposed to Malathon by my cities mosquito control spraying. My whole neighborhood came down with asthma and I got severe food allergies and reactive airway disease. So, I moved - to the country for clean air and I am 90% better - but it took years.

[artislife]

52. I wonder if that has mutated

in the DNA and we are seeing the effects to toxins from the 30s and later showing up three generations later.

[Mariana]

20. I suspect kids who had lethal allergies

to such common foods as peanuts mostly didn't survive long enough to go to school back in the day. That's why we didn't hear much about it.

[ck4829]

46. A strong reason

[Igel]

12. There's an obvious difference.

One requires that a person relinquish control over what's done with their bodies in order to protect those who can't protect themselves.

The other requires that a person show restraint in what they carry on their person, so as to avoid having de facto control over what's done to other people's bodies.

It's not the "eating" of peanut-containing products that's the problem; you can smear peanut butter over your backpack with no intention to ever eat the peanut butter. It's exposing others to the peanut antigen that's the problem. I know somebody with a latex allergy; it's the same kind of issue, but nobody's eating the balloons.

It's worth pointing out that measles was eradicated while a certain number of kids were *not* vaccinated. Herd immunity wasn't a problem until the numbers of the un-vaxxed swelled, primarily with secular "oh, no, vaccines cause autism!" anti-vaxxers and the occasional person who says, "I simply don't want this in my body--I have a right to control what's done with my body or my kids' bodies, at least until they reach an age where they can make their own decision, now pass the raw water." I haven't seen any sort of breakdown as to the relative numbers of the three groups.

It's also worth pointing out that the incidence of measles in the US corresponds rather nicely with outbreaks in other countries with large populations of un-vaccinated people. This is as true for measles as it is for other diseases. Given how measles works, however, there was no reservoir for the virus in the US, and no call for those who import the virus to be called upon to show any restraint. In fact, most of the emphasis seems to be to make the usual political point about secular anti-vaxxers or religious anti-vaxxers, and to repeat the assumption that most of the secular anti-vaxxers are anti-social benighted conservatives.

As for those actually affected to see distribution and compare it with education levels or beliefs/ideology, it's hard to track down the data because of all the news reports with attitude. I assume the CDC has this available on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction map, but I can't find it.

[womanofthehills]

24. Latex allergy - you say nobody is eating the balloons but....... the smell of latex balloons .....

in a close space can close up my throat. When my grand daughter was in the hospital, I went into her room and instantly could feel my throat closing because of all the balloons people had brought her. I figured if it can close up my throat, it has to be affecting the air quality for her, so the balloons all went into the bathroom and the door kept closed.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

13. Siccing kids who can't help their allergies against anti-vax parents is a bad look.

[ck4829]

38. It's time to be bad

[Crash2Parties]

26. Peanut allergies are not trivial and restricting peanut-containing foods is not silly

My kid's school has several students who have an epi-pen stored in the nurse's office, just in case. And no, it's not mold, preservatives or anything like that, it is a 'normal' immune response to proteins in peanuts.

The problem these days is that manufacturers will use peanut in just about anything they can b/c it's the cheapest "nut" (though not a nut at all) and adds protein - again, cheaply. In their quest for more profit, they are creating a world where people allergic to peanuts are finding them everywhere even in products that don't obviously have them.

So yes, it is imperative to get as many people vaccinated as possible, including students.
It is also important to restrict certain food ingredients if some students could die from even airborne exposure.
One does not preclude the other, so let's not pit them against the other.

[Jake Stern]

33. It can be taken to ridiculous extremes

I recall at a local school board meeting that a mother was DEMANDING that the board institute an absurd system of washing hands that quite literally would have seen them wash their hands if they've handled their backpack or lunch box or have exited the building for any reason.

Plus we Paras would have to inspect all students backpacks and pockets for signs of peanut products like some fucking TSA checkpoint. I'm talking about digging into all openings in a backpack and if there is suspected peanut found then this gazillion step procedure must be implemented to remove the offending item plus things, such as pencils, crayons, and so on that were in the backpack.

And if a child has suspected peanut crumbs in their pockets? They would have to wait in the office for a change of clothes.

She had a freaking 3 inch binder full of this shit.

I don't think it's silly. I think it's become ludicrous.

[womanofthehills]

60. I would welcome this in any school - small price to pay for a child's life

[ck4829]

37. No, let's pit them against the other

The party that occupies the Senate and the White House has based itself on pitting poor white people against poor black people, pitting private sector employees against public sector employees, pitting straight people against anyone non-heterosexual, pitting centrists and independents against liberals, pitting Christians against Muslims, etc. Conflict is how things work around here and it's naive to think it's not happening and outright stupid to not participate in it ourselves in order to throw the authoritarians, this ultra right off guard.

Peanut allergies are not trivial. Nor is measles, we shouldn't have cute memes for the anti-vax movement being spread around when it's causing people to be hospitalized.

It's time for society to stand up. People with peanut allergies are in the conflict now.

[artislife]

31. I am pretty sure you understand that peanut allergy

is not so benign anymore.

The thing with schools is that kids trade foods between each other. To ask a child to have a high level of what is an allergen pitted against what they would rather eat is a tough sell.


I ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches almost every day until 11 years old and just finished a peanut satay.


However

I developed a severe shellfish allergy recently and have been to the hospital three times already. One time it was just eating something that had been made in a factory that also had shellfish. I rarely ate shellfish throughout my life. It wasn't something I grew up with. No one in my family has this allergy.

[womanofthehills]

61. I have not been able to eat shellfish for over 25 yrs

I grew up not far from the ocean, so I ate it quite regularly. I read that allergies to shellfish are very common with sea food workers who handle lots of shrimp.

[artislife]

62. I had started to notice weird sensations with shrimp

but I ate it maybe 3 times a year. Then I went to petsit a dog and the woman had open containers of shrimp, crab and god knows what else. At least ten shellfishy things in the fridge.

It was there I woke up with swollen lips that were so huge I looked like that crazy woman who had so many face lifts. I went to the right aid and the pharmacist said to go to the nurse they had on staff. He would not answer any of my questions , just kept repeating to go to the nurse with eyes bugging out. She told me to go to the hospital. Now. I said I should be alright because I hadn't died within the first ten minutes. She said it doesn't always work that way and shoved me towards the door.

The dog was a nightmare, too.

[Major Nikon]

32. Tu quoque isn't "logic" either

Just sayin'

It's estimated about 3-5 million school aged kids in the US have peanut allergies, some of which will die from exposure. Adverse reaction through inhalation would be extremely rare, but kids do routinely swap food items in their lunches which is the most common method of exposure in schools.

While anti-vax loons are a significant problem, they have exactly nothing to do with peanut allergies, and unlike the irrational fear of the anti-vax loons, food allergies are a clear danger to millions of children and peanut allergies are the worst of the bunch.

[Hekate]

34. Actually, PB causes anaphylactic shock in the severely allergic -- even smelling it. ...

I wish this were not the case, but it is.

Thank gods no one in my family has this allergy.

[3catwoman3]

35. Excellent question.

The pediatric office for which I work is on the verge of no longer accepting families who do not immunize.

[ck4829]

40. Good for them

[Doreen]

36. I was a custodian at a few Washington state school district's.

The children who had peanut allergies would get to have a couple of friends who knew not to bring that stuff for lunch and would go out to the hall and eat.

Most lunches offered by public schools ( where I live at least ) either contain peanuts in some form, processed on the same machinery, or are in close enough proximity to have contact.

[alphafemale]

44. Maybe we should ban peanut butter everywhere and kill all the bees.

Some people are allergic to bees.

We must kill all the bees I guess.

[ck4829]

45. Ouch

[artislife]

51. I don't know how many students

who are bringing bees for lunch. Perhaps we need to look into that.

[womanofthehills]

63. Have you read the news lately? The bees ARE dying from Roundup.

Also, the FDA could not find American honey without glyphosate.

Your comparison makes no sense.

[Iggo]

50. Many schools ban students who aren't vaccinated, too.

[Throck]

54. As a kid they use to give government peanut butter to my school for lunches.

When my dad was unemployed he would get government peanut butter through the union hall.

Personally I liked the cheddar cheese better.

[cwydro]

64. Jeez. They actually served peanut butter sandwiches

when I was in school.

No one died that I recall.

[alphafemale]

65. We had these peanut butter fudge bars with a chocolate topping.

So good...indeed.

[Cold War Spook]

66. I was born in 1943 and graduated high school in 1961.

Not one child in my town died of a peanut allergy in all that time. In fact, not one child died that I know of and it was a small area so we all would have known. I am not saying there isn't a peanut allergy now, but what would be causing it now?