iaink

Surely its up to the HRT to decide if they have done that?

colchar

See my comments above - the peanut allergy crowd are overreacting and many of them are full of crap (the real number of people who suffer from this allergy is 0.6% of the population but a damned sight more than 0.6% are claiming to have the allergy and are demanding that others alter their behaviour to suit them). Their child would have to ingest the peanuts in order to have a reaction, a kid eating a sandwich ten feet away isn't going to do a damned thing to their child.

As I said above, I am one of the 0.6% but have only ever had a problem if I ingest peanuts. I've sat within a couple of feet of my university and grad school roommate while he scarfed down PB&J sandwiches and not a damned thing ever happened to me. I've washed his dishes when there were knives covered in peanut butter and when there was peanut butter on the plate and nothing happened to me. Many of these parents are being overly hysterical about this and are making their kids into hypochondriacs.

colchar

As it so often is in these cases.

Jingsamichty

Please tell me you just made that word up.

ExKiwilass

unfortunately this is what I've found with allergic kids at kid's school. It's frustrating.

colchar

It doesn't. The way to deal with them is through allergy shots which, like the flu shot, introduce the pathogen (or allergen in this case) into the child's system so that they build up a natural immunity to it. Allergy shots worked wonders for me and my younger brother as we both had a ton of allergies as kids (him even worse than me). Now all I am allergic to are peanuts, cats, and oak trees. I can't remember what my brother is still allergic to but when he was younger he often couldn't play with his friends at the park because of his allergies and he is now an avid jogger/marathon runner who is outside in all kinds of weather and never has the problems he had as a kid.

iaink

Many parents are oversensitive for sure, but also some kids are hyper sensitive and can be set off by far lower exposures than you experience.

So its a question of where do you set the protection threshold. Sometimes its just easier to make a simple black and white cut off and avoid any grey areas. Im sure school board lawyers are all in favour of avoiding any areas that require legal interpretation.

In practical terms banning eggs and dairy is not at all viable of course, its barely reasonable for peanuts. However I dont at all see why this parent is being vilified for trying to do whats best for her kid to have a normal school life. They are just following the dispute resolution procedures in the province, and they eventually lead to the Human Rights Tribunal if you cant agree.

iaink

Er, no.
al·ler·gist
ˈalərjist/Submit
noun
1.
a medical practitioner specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of allergies.




I can tell you dont have kids in Canada!

colchar

No, but I am one of the 0.6% of the population that has a peanut allergy and who has personal experience with this.




And I call bullshit on most of that - according to my doctors the allergen must be ingested. Yes, there could be a mild reaction to residue if the person then introduced that to their mouth (ie. touching residue then putting their fingers in their mouth) but I would argue that the incidences of this are far far fewer than the crazy allergy crowd would have you believe.

dbd33

I think the mother will still be bothersome no matter what therapy she has. She should accept her child's failings, as should the peanut parents, and not interfere will the lives of children better equipped for living.

dbd33

That's it, isn't it? Having children in Canada leads to one being exposed to a level of parental bleating one wouldn't expect even in Islington.

colchar

So everyone else should suffer and have their diets dictated by 0.6% (in the case of peanuts) of the population?



The parent is being vilified because they did accommodate her child but the parent then decided that wasn't enough because her kid was now sad that she couldn't eat with her friends. So the parent isn't doing this to protect her child's health, she is doing it to protect her child's feelings and demanding that everyone else alter their behaviour to suit her child's feelings is selfish in the extreme.

colchar

No, that is what an allergy specialist is called.

iaink

Most of that? So not all of it then

You seem to agree that its possible that a kid can get peanut oil an their hand, stick hands in mouth (in the way that many kids do) and have a reaction that then causes their airway to close.


So,Im curious, in your opinion, how many kids are OK to die that way before its a good idea to introduce a no peanut policy to reduce the slim chances even further?

Are there stats out there for allergy related deaths in schools over time I wonder.

Jingsamichty

I also agree that it's possible that a child can stick their pencil in an electric socket and electrocute themselves, but I don't see pencils or electric sockets being banned from classrooms.

Perspective is what's required.