Peanut Butter Sandwiches Banned from Schools

[guywithashovel]

I didn't learn about this until recently, but some schools have banned kids from bringing peanut butter sandwiches to school because of kids with peanut allergies. These schools typically ban any other food that has peanuts in it.

They say it's because the kids who eat PB&J for lunch might get it on their hands and then touch a table that a kid with a peanut allergy will touch, thus triggering an allergic reaction.

http://snacksafely.com/2011/11/why-y...ter-to-school/

This is a letter from a parent advocating the peanut bans.

Is this a good measure to take?

[bara]

Is this a good measure to take?

No.
Peanut butter is awesome and should not be banned because some speshul snowflakes are allergic and others arent smart enough to wash their hands or keep their hands to themselves.

If they follow this line of logic there are all kinds of things that could end up being banned from school.

[AdminAssistant]

Oddly enough, I was sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's yesterday, and the only reading material they had was a Parenting magazine with an article on this very thing. The pediatricians they interviewed advocated taking such measures in preschool and kindergarten, but that by 1st grade, the child should know how to avoid contact with their allergen.

ETA: That article also mentioned 'milk-free' tables because apparently a lot of kids are now allergic to milk. I'm sure gluten will be next.

[Seifer]

No.
Peanut butter is awesome and should not be banned because some speshul snowflakes are allergic and others arent smart enough to wash their hands or keep their hands to themselves.

Some children can have a deadly reaction simply by smelling peanuts or inhaling peanut dust. They don't have to necessarily get peanut butter on their hands in order to be in danger.

Banning peanut butter isn't because parents think their kids are "speshul snowflakes", it's because kids can literally DIE from this allergy.

But hey, I guess it's worth a few peanut-allergy deaths so other kids can eat peanut butter sandwiches for lunch.

The pediatricians they interviewed advocated taking such measures in preschool and kindergarten, but that by 1st grade, the child should know how to avoid contact with their allergen.

ETA: That article also mentioned 'milk-free' tables because apparently a lot of kids are now allergic to milk. I'm sure gluten will be next.

Children can learn how to avoid contact with their allergen, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to expose them to a potentially deadly situation. Like I said in my answer to bara, kids can have an allergic reaction to the smell of peanuts. So in that case, you either ban peanut products so it's safe for the child to eat with their peers, or you have the child(ren) eat by themselves. Neither is a nice option, but banning children from eating peanut butter one meal out of the day isn't going to be detrimental to their social and emotional growth. Segregating a child (or children) can be detrimental, and can lead to some serious bullying.

[Andara Bledin]

No.
Peanut butter is awesome and should not be banned because some speshul snowflakes are allergic and others arent smart enough to wash their hands or keep their hands to themselves.

Banning peanut butter isn't because parents think their kids are "speshul snowflakes", it's because kids can literally DIE from this allergy.

As Seifer says, not wanting your kid to suffer an acute allergy attack is not "speshul snowflake" activity. It's a very real threat to their health and well being, and having kids not eat peanut butter during the school day has almost no negative effects. As an alternative, I have a jar of sunflower seed butter that's quite tasty.

^-.-^

[telecom_goddess]

This may sound insensitive...but if a smell can kill a child then maybe they need to go live in a sterile bubble. You're not going to find high schools, restaurants, grocery stores or colleges or work places banning peanut anything. If they are that bad off they could get killed just walking around the neighborhood.

[Seifer]

This may sound insensitive...but if a smell can kill a child then maybe they need to go live in a sterile bubble. You're not going to find high schools, restaurants, grocery stores or colleges or work places banning peanut anything. If they are that bad off they could get killed just walking around the neighborhood.

It's safe to say that an adult is better equipped to handle a serious allergic reaction. Once a child has grown up, they have more knowledge of helpful medications and a better understanding of how to stay away from dangerous areas or situations that could upset their specific allergy. Children (especially really young children) haven't learned how to do that yet.

Schools are required to protect the children on their property. If banning peanut products can help save even one child from a horrible death (dying of asphyxiation is probably not fun, just sayin'), then I say go for it. The other children can live without a peanut-butter sandwich for one meal out of the day.

[bara]

http://pbskids.org/arthur/parentstea...Allergy_QA.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12847496

Both state that you cannot die from inhaling peanut butter since odors do not contain the protiens that trigger an alergic reaction.

Skin exposure causes a rash.

[Duelist925]

My initial reaction was "this is stupid" but the more I think of it, the more I change my mind.

I see no reason why the children HAVE to have peanut butter during the school day. There are alternatives that are safe for everyone, and would introduce some variety into their lives.


I DO see a reason for it to be banned--there is a distinct possibility of a kid dieing from it. Even the most attentive kid, who washes his hands after every meal, etc, can slip up once, or have some kid with a sandwhich run into him, and have an allergy set off. And As pointed out before, some allergies are sensitive enough that peanut dust can set it off.


So...unless someone can come up with a reason why kids have to be able to have peanut butter during the school day, as opposed to just at home, then...I see no reason not to ban it.

[Andara Bledin]

Both state that you cannot die from inhaling peanut butter since odors do not contain the protiens that trigger an alergic reaction.

It's not the smell, but the dust that is at issue.

Mind you, dust wouldn't be an issue when talking about peanut butter. However, just putting up a blanket ban on anything peanut is easier and safer all the way around than having to list out individual products.

^-.-^

[Seifer]

http://pbskids.org/arthur/parentstea...Allergy_QA.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12847496

Both state that you cannot die from inhaling peanut butter since odors do not contain the protiens that trigger an alergic reaction.

Skin exposure causes a rash.

I keep finding personal stories where people say the smell of peanuts (or peanut butter) sets off their allergies. There are also a lot of articles that quote or mention the scientific experiment in 2003 that gave those results listed in the articles above. I'm wondering if any more experiments have been done since 2003. Maybe they would get different results? (I'm genuinely curious.)

I wonder if a smell could lead someone into a sort of panic attack, which could then bring on an allergic reaction (or even a phantom one)? I say that because I have that problem with nausea. I'm not allergic to bananas, but they do make me horribly ill if I eat them. It's gotten to the point that the smell of bananas makes me feel like vomiting outright.

I don't have a peanut allergy, so I can only go by what I've read and heard. According to the study, smell isn't enough to set off a serious allergic reaction. However, peanut dust can cause a serious reaction in large quantities.

[HYHYBT]

How do you determine acceptable risk? Unless peanuts are banned *entirely and everywhere,* people with such a severe allergy are at risk of running into danger somewhere in their lives. So there aren't any at school. And presumably there aren't any in the home either. How about a friend's house, or a restaurant, or any number of other public places both a child and someone who eats peanuts might happen to be?

Kids with that problem need to learn what do do, and be ready and able to do it, at as young an age as possible, because there is NO way to guarantee a problem won't come up. There's not even a practical way to ensure someone won't sneak a sandwich or something to school, in which case under such a rule the problem would be compounded by a false sense of security.

Of course, as other threads here have gone through, schools also love to ban things like epi-pens or make them be locked away and thereby made worthless, and that's easier to excuse if they can pretend to protect their owners from any danger of needing them.

[AdminAssistant]

Some kids won't eat anything but peanut butter, and it's a cheap, non-perishable source of protein. Maybe it's different where you live, but the 'alternatives' available at my local market cost twice as much and have to be refrigerated.

A dear friend of mine (in fact, she's a bridesmaid) is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. Granted she's an adult, but she'd also be appalled if I went so far as to ban all peanut anything from my reception. All she's asked is that nut items be clearly marked.

The problem is that now, it's peanuts. Next, it's milk and dairy. Then gluten. Placing more and more restrictions on school kitchens that are struggling to feed moderately healthy meals to millions of school kids on very small amounts of money.

[Mishi]

My daughter's school has a ban on peanut products as well as a junk food ban and it really is amazing how many foods have peanut oil used as shortening. Hell, it's even in some sunscreens! Thankfully, they have finally sent a list home so that I know which foods I can and can't send. I think the problem is that most kids like to swap or share their food, so it's just easier to have a blanket ban on the food products than police which kids have what food and are sharing/swapping with whom. Besides that, her school tries to mainstream as much as possible and some strong smelling foods are overwhelming for some of the kids in the class. It's just to make it easier for the teacher so that they can do the job they were employed for: Teaching, not babysitting.

[fireheart17]

This may sound insensitive...but if a smell can kill a child then maybe they need to go live in a sterile bubble. You're not going to find high schools, restaurants, grocery stores or colleges or work places banning peanut anything. If they are that bad off they could get killed just walking around the neighborhood.

It's not the smell like someone said earlier, it's the dust from the nuts.

My daughter's school has a ban on peanut products as well as a junk food ban and it really is amazing how many foods have peanut oil used as shortening. Hell, it's even in some sunscreens! Thankfully, they have finally sent a list home so that I know which foods I can and can't send. I think the problem is that most kids like to swap or share their food, so it's just easier to have a blanket ban on the food products than police which kids have what food and are sharing/swapping with whom. Besides that, her school tries to mainstream as much as possible and some strong smelling foods are overwhelming for some of the kids in the class. It's just to make it easier for the teacher so that they can do the job they were employed for: Teaching, not babysitting.

Most schools in my state are nut-free or nut-friendly schools. Usually parents are discouraged from sending along any nut products in their childs lunchboxes and also discouraging kids from swapping food which may have nuts in it. Class parties are almost verboten down here these days anyway.

As for the junk food ban, most, if not all, primary schools have banned the sale of junk food in their school canteens. There may be an occasional junk food treat in the canteen, such as mousse, but those are usually advertised well in advance. As for high schools, they do try and encourage healthy eating where possible (i.e. they no longer sell sweets or soft drinks) but it doesn't stop the students from walking to the shops if needed. (Especially my high school, which had a McDonalds and a little strip mall with a fish n chip shop)