to challenge the schools nuts ban

[pigglewiggle]

The school has a strict no nuts policy. Apparently this is because someone in a higher year has a peanut allergy. I can understand banning peanuts if the allergy is severe but peanuts are very different to normal proper nuts and reactions to these are not to my knowledge anywhere near as bad as peanuts. It just makes lunch quite difficult as we are vegan and would love to pop something like a nakd bar in lunchboxes.

Aibu to go to the school and at least establish if a total ban on nuts is needed / necessary?

Has anybody sat down and thought where all these fucking silly allergies are coming from. At school in the late 60's early 70's, out of probably 300 kids we had a couple who were asthmatic , that's it, no other allergies, think about it, have we brought it on ourselves!!'

A lot of them probably died from the allergies before they got to school though patsy! Thankfully medicine has come on a lot now.

Goingmad
the airbiund thung is not relevant in a school situation. beung im the same room as a peanut butter sandwich will not cause a reaction

Thank you youarekiddingme. That's a great relief!

Being in the same room as a snickers caused a reaction for my sister at school.

I think total nut bans in school are wrong for all the many reasons stated above.

It publicises nut allergy as life threatening (which it is) without also recognising the many other life threatening allergies there are (dairy, eggs, shellfish, berries, kiwifruit, etc etc). It can lead to an air of complacency with a reluctance to use epipens, etc, as "DC can't be having a reaction, no nuts allowed".

What would be more beneficial is education regarding allergies in general, an "allergen free" area where susceptible children can eat, with more supervision to make sure that lunches are not shared, with easy access to wipes to keep contamination of hands etc to a minimum and a sink for handwashing before and after meals.

I have anaphylaxis to peanuts and cashew nuts - and avoid all nut containing products as they are often processed in the same plants, leading to potential cross contamination. I don't eat the shared baking at work because I don't want to take the risk. The last anaphylactic reaction I had was from eating chicken at work (from the kitchens, sent up as list overrunning) that I was assured contained no nuts at all. "Just chicken and rice". After I'd collapsed, been resuscitated and sent to ED for observation, someone asked the serving staff whether there were nuts in the chicken after all. "No, no nuts or peanuts at all," was the reply. "Sure?" "Yes, definitely. Oh, well, there is peanut butter in there, does that count?" More education required.

I bet they didn't sirzy, we have fed ourselves full of antibiotics, become paranoid about hygiene and bred a generation who have no natural immunity!

Has anybody sat down and thought where all these fucking silly allergies are coming from
One of those fucking silly allergies, killed an 8yr old child at my kids school.

But egg and milk allergies maybe through digestion only. So when your DC eats their cheese sandwich and then plays tag with their dairy allergic friend who then outs their hand to their mouth - that's ok - because you didn't send them with nuts to school.

Well said Hic

I genuinely do understand the worry as a parent having an anaphylactic child. I've been there and got that T shirt.

But the allergens are everywhere - they are going to school on the children who've had peanut butter or crunchy nut cornflakes for breakfast.

Inclusion and a total nut ban are not 2 of the same thing.

We recently took an internal flight in South Africa and was horrified that every person on the flight was given a pack of mixed nuts for lunch My dd is severely allergic to peanuts. I watched in horror as all around the plane people were tipping nuts into their hands, eating the nuts and then touching seat rests, tables, door handle to the toilets, touching tops of seats as the moved around the cabin. Frankly, it was fucking horrendous. Imagine that in a school context. Unless you had rigorous handwashing procedures the contamination potential is hideous. I realise that people can be allergic to lots of things, but most people don't eat fish or yoghurt or milk in their hands. The potential contamination is easier to contain than for nuts.

derivatives of milk and fish can he found in things that you do eat with your hands.

things like crisps. quavers and wot sits and niknaks, scampi fries etc are covered in the powdery seasoning.

things like yogurt drinks and smoothies and and drives are messy for young children to eat. drips down the bottles and round the top where they've struggled to turn the lids mean that their hands are also coated and sticky.

drives??? frubes

Patsy - I was diagnosed allergic to milk in 1967 shortly after I was born -apparently this was considered very rare back then.

Youarekidding - dairy allergy can produce severe reactions from touch as well as digestion. And also from breathing. My skin blisters and swells if it comes into contact with milk proteins which can be a real issue because they get everyfuckingwhere. When I was 4, I broke two fingers, went to hospital as you do, X-rays etc, had it all bound up - either the ointment/cream/whatever they used or the gluey stuff on the plaster contained milk protein. My arm swelled up like a balloon, blistering and suppurating and I had an anaphalactic collapse - in hospital for more than a week. I can't remember breaking the fingers but I can remember being in hospital with an arm like something out of dr who. :( And this was a big London hospital. And they knew I was allergic (had been in there before, in all my notes etc).

op talk about giving us vegans a bad name !! you want to flout nut bans, posters on here are suggesting that as a vegan you give your kids egg or ham sandwiches [ffs, hope that was a joke and not said because the poster is totally stupid] as a vegan you should know that there are so many alternatives that you can put in kids lunch boxes that won't endanger other people's lives. you come across as trying to make a stand and be bloody awkward, stop acting so entitled, would you like it if your child was allergic ?

why are some so called vegans so hung up on the must have nuts arguement ? i went vegan at the start of this year but i do not have nuts every day as they can be fattening, and as for the 'restrictive' vegan diet that is a propganda issue in itself, i eat more fruit and veg than most meat eatters, have lost 3 stone of flab and it isn't a faddy diet because i'm not eatting lots of crap processed food now, i'm less likely to put the weight back on. so stop having a go at the likes of me, op has been flamed, is now educated and hopefully some posters on here are going to get a grip.

Our school have a no nut rule due to allergy, i've not found it a problem tbh. I'm sure you can manage not to send your child with nut products. Why complain to the school? They won't change the rule because nuts can kill a child thats allergic!

No one's saying they must have nuts.

but this thread I'd the perfect example of what the nut ban does.

It trivialises every other allergy. no one here is taking the fact that air born particles of other foods can be just as serious.

and that if every other food is permitted and the procedures in place to keep allergic children safe work to do that without banning the food then it its a reasonable question as to why it won't work with nuts.

no one is flouting rules. I'm not and the vegans everyone's laughing at aren't.

but it is a good question. and it is the perfect example of the attitude it creates. that only nut allergies matter.

There are far more people with cheese yogurt cake crisps containing the likes of egg and milk than there are with peanut butter.

I know gently I was illustrating to those who think nut allergy is more severe and dairy is only digested how easy it is for digested allergens to pass on.

Thread like this scare me how much people are ignorant about allergens, the potential for anaphylactic shock to a number of things and the fact a 'nut ban' will just keep a high number of society safe.

Anaphylaxis campaign help for schools

Generally speaking the Anaphylaxis Campaign would not necessarily support ‘peanut bans’ in all schools. Schools do however have a duty of care to all pupils, so need to have procedures in place to minimise the risk of a reaction occurring in a food-allergic child. Schools may wish to write to parents asking for their cooperation in making life safe for allergic children. Call our Helpline Tel: 01252 542029 for more advice.
Shared responsibilities
These may vary according to individual circumstances, but the following general guidance may apply.
What are the family’s responsibilities?
Tips on how the family can help the allergic child include:

• Notify the school of the child’s allergies. Ensure there is clear communication.
• Work with the school to develop a plan that accommodates the child’s needs throughout the school including in the classroom, in dining areas, in after-school programmes, during school sponsored activities and on the school bus. Ask your doctor, school nurse, allergy specialist or paediatrician to help.
• Provide written medical documentation, instructions and medications as directed by a doctor. Replace medications after use or upon expiry. Emergency kits in school should be checked termly to ensure they are stored correctly, are still in date, and ready for use.
• Educate the child in allergy self-management, including what foods are safe and unsafe, strategies for avoiding allergens, how to spot symptoms of allergy, how and when to tell an adult of any reaction, and how to read food labels.
• Provide a “stash” of safe snacks for special school events (to be stored in school) and periodically check its supply and freshness.
• Review policies and procedures with the school staff, school nurse, the child’s doctor and the child (if age appropriate) after a reaction has occurred.

But neolara the passengers could have had a bag of peanuts at the bar before the flight and not had the chance or the need to wash their hands again before the flight. What are airlines supposed to do? Or train operators?

We don't have any food 'bans' at our school but we do ask parents to be aware of the food they are sending if a child in their class has a serious allergy. Asking parents to avoid certain foods (whether that be nuts, dairy, eggs, seafood, etc) doesn't mean that we can guarantee a 100% safe environment, but if even 3/4 of the parents take heed and avoid certain foods then it is that much less risk within the classroom. We can't eradicate the risk, but we can minimise it.

Asking parents to not bring peanuts, but allow other nuts is too confusing for many people. You can have tree nuts, but not ground nuts is even worse. Most people have no idea about the difference between them. If you have a child with any form of nut allergy, then just asking other parents not to bring any nut product is much more straightforward than trying to clarify what is ok and and what isn't. Many people don't understand the distinction.

I'm very lucky. I have no food allergies, and DS doesn't either. And I know that I'm lucky. If I have to avoid having one particular food for the eight hours per day I'm at work, then I can live with that. Even 3 year old DS knows that on daycare days he has to have Vegemite instead of peanut butter. And if I went to a restaurant, and the waitstaff asked if I could avoid a particular food because the person at the next table had a significant airborne allergy, then I wouldn't argue either. I can eat what I like, when I like. I'm damned lucky. I can live without some particular ingredient for a few hours.

next table had a significant airborne allergy

peanut butter does not cause airborne allergy

A lot of people must be allergic to peanuts and all sorts of other things which I totally get, but are there genuinely that number of people out there who are SO allergic, that someone simply talking about peanuts within a 10 mile radius will potentially kill them?

Yes, obviously an exaggeration, but are there seriously enough people with allergies sufficiently severe as that to justify entire schools banning a product just in case particles migrate from somewhere to another?

Again, yes, of course I can understand a very tiny number of people falling under this category, but not one per school!

next table had a significant airborne allergy

peanut butter does not cause airborne allergy

the actual paper