“Potentially Toxic Paste banned in Rural School District”!
Doesn’t that look like the title and lead in of a sensationalistic sound bite? Sadly enough, except for the wording, it has been announced and happened in our little school district. All peanut products have been banned from our grade, middle and high schools. Here are some quotes from the school’s paper:
“to operate a “peanut free” school district…..The food allergies with which our district is contending make it necessary……..that all sandwiches and any desserts brought into the district will need to be without peanuts……. significant risk when foods are brought from home for lunches and/or classroom celebrations”.
I was surprised, alarmed and dismayed to see this announcement. The surprise- how many kids could possibly have a serious enough allergy to peanuts to warrant such a drastic measure in our district? I knew the allergy existed and I’d seen a TV show several years ago about a little girl who had to have a service dog with her to detect peanuts, peanut products and alert to them. At the time, I thought how awful to have to send your precious child out the door with nothing but a dog to protect them from possible life threatening contact with something so small? Granted I know three people who train service dogs and two who rely daily on their service dogs. I’ve always been amazed how competently and faithfully the dogs do their job. But the little girl was the extreme case. Right?
The alarm was for my lack of knowledge. How many serious food allergies besides peanuts are there? How many kids in our small school system are affected? The dismay is for the kids(we have more “have nots” than “haves” in our town) that rely on peanut butter sandwiches for school lunch. In grade school that’s all my child would eat but at least I was confident he had lunch before going back to class if PB&J was in his lunch box. For Pete’s sake, when he was in grade school kids with cleaned plates were rewarded with peanut butter sandwiches. I never did understand that concept. Is a peanut ban in school going to be that effective? What happens when the child leaves school? There are peanut snacks at our Dollar store, gas station, and grocery store. But surely the kids affected know how to keep themselves safe, right? In what products do you find peanuts? What about certain bird foods? What about candies made in factories that also make peanut filled candies? Cross contamination? How serious is that for sufferers? What about tree nuts are they as toxic? There are walnut trees around the school grounds. I wanted some answers so I started looking.
According to the CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db10.htm), 4 out of every 100 children have a food allergy. Wow, that means roughly 32 kids in our district should have some kind of food allergy with reactions that could range from hives to possible death. Peanuts being one of the worst triggers. That’s kind of scary from a parental point of view but the site did say most children outgrow this by grade school or at least by adolescence. These are the major 8 food allergy triggers: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy and wheat. They account for 90% of allergic reactions. There’s also been an 18% increase in children’s food allergies between 1997-2007. In 2007 3.9% or 3 million children under the age of 18 reported food allergies. This site also states children with food allergies suffered from an increase of other health related issues such as asthma, skin allergies-eczema and other respiratory issues.
I found it curious that “fish” was on the list of the “Nasty 8“. What does that mean? What kind of fish? Fresh, saltwater? According to Food Allergy Facts(http://www.foodallergy.org/page/fish-allergy) that means tuna, salmon and halibut. But to be totally safe if you suffer from a fish allergy you need to avoid Asian food (might contain peanuts too), Worcestershire(contains anchovies) sauce, BBQ sauce(might contain Worcestershire), fish sticks and meatloaf. I’m guessing the meatloaf might contain one of those sauces. Also be wary of cross contact during cooking so avoid seafood restaurants. Fish and shellfish proteins can escape in the steam during cooking. One statement on this site I found interesting. A reaction does not mean you have a food allergy it could be an intolerance to the food. So you should avoid that food. I imagine those with lactose intolerance know all about that.
Also, there are uncommon food allergens to be wary of (Food Allergy: Medline Plus-http://www.n/m.nih.gov/Medline plus/food allergy.html). FALCPA-Food &Labeling Consumer Protection came about so colors, flavors, and spice blends would say if they had the “Nasty 8” in them. But if you have a less common food allergy you must contact the food manufacturer for further information. For instance, sesame can cause severe reactions(anaphylaxis). Eggs are listed in the “Nasty 8” but can cause anaphylaxis, too. Suffering from dairy allergies watch out for casein. Soy problems make sure you don’t eat foods with lecithin. I imagine those last two might depend on how severe your allergy is.
During my fact finding, I talked to 6 people with food allergies. Dairy, soy, wheat-2 people. Dairy-2. Wheat-2. Symptoms with dairy-stomach upset & skin rash. Symptoms with wheat-again stomach upset and skin rashes. Symptoms with dairy, soy and wheat- aches, moderate congestion, stomach upset and vile(their words not mine) mood swings. Nothing life threatening but they all said the symptoms were enough to make them very miserable. Which makes me wonder how would a child suffering from any of those allergies be able to concentrate in class after ingesting food containing one those 3?
Is our school district doing the right thing banning peanuts? It’s certainly not the only one. A private day school in Manhattan, NY banned peanuts for one child (http://www.nytimes.com./1998/09/23). I found the article interesting because there were a lot of pros and cons in it. One Dr. said proper labeling was more necessary than the ban. The mother that instigated the ban due to her child’s severe allergy stated- “my child’s life vs. your kid’s lunch”. As a parent, I fully understand her actively lobbying for the school ban. That parent also stated she did not want her daughter stigmatized or segregated because of the allergy. Sadly, a parent’s protection can only extend so far and so long. At some point her child, like mine, will leave home and go into the world. What then?
Do I agree with our school district? Since my child is a senior, the decision doesn’t affect us as much. Still the question needs to be brought up and probably will be most strenuously by parents just starting out in the district; if peanuts are banned what next? The rest of the “Nasty 8”? How about the sesame? What about members of the nightshade family-potatoes and tomatoes? And citrus. For those suffering from certain diseases those 3 items exacerbate their symptoms. As of yet, I’m still unsure of how many children are affected in our district out of the 800+ attending by the peanut or any other food allergy.
The last article I looked up, Peanut Allergy and School bans on Peanut Products (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/421318/peanut_allergy_and school_banson_peanut.html) was from 2007. Basically, the article contends while no one wishes a child to suffer, a ban isn’t the best way to go. There are other logical and safe options to utilize. Also noted was the fact the schools were more prone to ban not for safety’s sake but to avoid possible litigation. Unfortunately, I believe that is highly likely in our school’s case. At least the school can say they did all they could with the ban if any child brings peanuts or peanut products ,knowingly or unknowingly, in contact with those children suffering from this allergy. That way any possible lawsuits could be directed away from the school district.
I still have questions left. Why the rise in food allergies? Shouldn’t that be fully researched? Maybe something or a way could be found and used to decrease the food allergies. Wouldn’t it be better to prevent, if at all possible, than to ban?
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