To think they should just ban nuts on all flights

[Ijustwantaquietlife]

Just reading this and it's heartbreaking, seems like such a simple change to ban nuts on all flights to help protect people.

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4809148/Former-ITV-producer-reveals-shocking-effect-nut-allergy.html

I've heard several people on mn saying they've been on flights where they were banned, seams to make sense as nut allergies are so widespread to just ban all together imo.

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4809148/Former-ITV-producer-reveals-shocking-effect-nut-allergy.html

I don't think they should be banned. I've been on planes before where the 'no nuts' announcement is made, that works doesn't it? Also I would want to add to the workload of the security staff having to look for nuts.

I have heard allergies have increased since we have cleared our bodies of worms and are much less common in the developing world were they still have lots of worms.

Absolutely Trixksy. My daughter can eat pizza and food with baked milk in. We had to administer the epipen last year after she drank milk. The nature of the protein is changed by heating and slips under the radar of her faulty immune system.

Every allergic person is different. Every reaction is different.

Eggs, milk, treenuts, fish, soy etc can all cause anaphylactic reactions. The difference being that they don't tend to cause airborne reactions. Therefore, the people crying 'where does it stop' - a ban on the sale and service of peanuts on planes will be fine, thanks.

The point being that she exaggerated

She may not have. I think quite often children can grow out of allergy.

User144 etc. Maybe she exaggerated it. Maybe, like me, she had a baby that had formula for the first time, swelled up, vomited and had to go to A&E. Maybe her boy grew out of his allergy. Maybe she didn't want the foods she wasn't confident he could tolerate being given to him while she wasn't there. Who knows? Lots of kids grow out of dairy allergy, my daughter is unlucky and hasnt so far.

As a parent of a nut allergic child I would like to see a ban. An epi pen doesn't always work.
If we fly they usually make a cabin announcement but there is always the risk of someone not taking any notice.

flight home from italy, told by pilot of ryan air while on board not to consume nuts, even though we had been on plane for long enough for snacks to come out, felt so sorry for allergy victim and agree nuts banned on flights

what you're essentially saying is that anyone with a severe allergy shouldn't fly. Why should people have to miss out because they have an allergy when there are ways of accommodating them

I don't think there is. Yes you can stop people from eating nuts on a plane.

But you can't stop them from having a bowl of eg Crunchy Nut cornflakes before they leave for the airport. If you don't have a serious nut allergy yourself, or have a friend or relative with one, it really is not going to occur to you that something you eat/handle at home could seriously affect someone on the plane next to you. As I said above, it's not about people being horrible, it's simply not thinking/knowing. And I suppose the numbers of people that seriously affected are very low - there may well be people who are fine as long as they don't eat nuts or peanuts themselves, but there are clearly some who can be affected by touching a surface someone else has touched after eating a nut product or by breathing in something.

given those "facts" you posted, how come people have had severe reactions on planes and other closely confined spaces?
I have looked around Dr Google and cant find any studies that confirm airborne nut dust can cause allergic reactions. However I can find many that show it can't. Nut allergies do exist and those having severe reactions (on aeroplanes) must have come into direct contact/eaten them.

Given around 1% of people have nut allergies (not all severe). Then given how many people fly every day and 'open' a packet of nuts on an aeroplane, we would surly be hearing of people reacting/dying of nut allergies every day. We don't.

Will banning nuts help this? Well without any evidence to show it will, how do we know it wont make the problem worse? Could it lead to less people eating nuts and more people becoming allergic to them. Could bans means less money is spent researching a 'cure' to the problem. Could bans mean any food made in factories that also make nuts also be banned? Could bans mean more nuts are eaten/disposed of in the airport and the risk of direct contact with nuts be increased?

And what about food that people bring on board that 'might' contain nuts. What about fish allergies, which are four times more common and can also cause anaphylaxis, will we ban that as well? Will all food be banned?

Are you terrified when on a flight that someone would open and eat nuts. I cannot get my head around that. I would be so scared for someone with a life threatening allergy that others might not either know nor care.

Even with a ban on sales of nuts on aircraft, surely others could still bring them on board. Yikes.

What about fish allergies, which are four times more common and can also cause anaphylaxis, will we ban that as well? Will all food be banned?

You're really, really not getting it, are you? Fish allergies can cause anaphalaxysis, yes. It doesn't have a dust though which packaged nuts does.
So it's not comparable, because fish wouldn't need to be banned as it isn't airborne.

I have looked around Dr Google

Did you read this thread?

Will banning nuts help this? Well without any evidence to show it will, how do we know it wont make the problem worse? Could it lead to less people eating nuts and more people becoming allergic to them.

You think that banning nuts on flights and making people not eat them for a few hours out of one day will make more people allergic to them? Really?

As I said above: we are talking about not selling or serving nuts on aircraft. This tiny proportion of people's lives will not increase the prevalence of nut allergy.

As I also said above; fish, dairy, eggs etc are far less likely to cause an airborne reaction than nuts.

There have been countless reports of children and adults having reactions to nuts on planes. Not having eaten them - being near people that are. Swelling, vomiting and passing out. Planes have been diverted, people have spent time in hospital. Were all these people duped by allergic people exaggerating? The doctors? The pilots?

The suggestion is to minimise one specific risk. All the nonsense about traces in other foods or risks at the airport (which is not an enclosed space 30,000 ft above the ground and a significant time away from medical assistance) are irrelevant.

It's not about removing all risk it is about minimising one risk when the person with the allergy Is in a very vulnerable position a long way from medical assistance.

Absolutely Soupdragon. I fear these people are missing the point so that they can shout about the nanny state and 'where will it all end'???
I, like countless others dealing with food allergy pack safe food for my daughter, usually 3 or 4 meals as she can't eat any airline food as it isn't guaranteed safe. That's fine. I am not expecting airlines to cater for her very specific needs, as I don't expect school to, other parents or even family members. We give her food that we know is safe. But it would be lovely if the risk from airborne particles wasn't there.

An example a child in secondary school had a 'milk allergy' apparently meant he would struggle to breathe but ate pizza most days for lunch containing cheese. When questioned boy say oh cheese is ok it is only milk! Seriously.

I really wish people would do some research before embarrassing themselves with these ridiculous, ill informed comments.

My son (although now outgrown his milk allergy) could eat cheese but react to unprocessed milk. The protein is broken down when the milk is heated.

Same for his egg allergy.

But it's not just giving up your dry roasted with your G&T. How does it work with peanut or groundnut oil?

We flew round the US a few years ago and lots of people brought their own food on board. I was sitting next to a man eating a huge noodle salad. Possibly had peanut oil in the dressing.

Would that need to be confiscated too? He was a very messy eater!

A much earlier PP mentioned a chickpea allergy which also cuts out hummus which was one of the few things my DC would eat when little. Again would his hummus and falafel in pitta need to be confiscated?

Maybe if these things are to be banned we need to go back to free food on flights to stop people bringing potentiality dangerous foods on board. Otherwise how do you police everything?

The ad hoc 'no nuts' announcement on planes doesn't work. It was made on a flight we were on last year as there was a man with an allergy on the flight. A man then decided to tuck into his snickers bar and the affected guy had an anaphylactic reaction and had to have his epipen administered. They should be banned on all flights-severe allergy to nuts is relatively common and it's no skin off my nose if I don't have them for a few hours.

My cousin died of anaphylaxis outside a restaurant as she ate something which had been cooked in peanut oil despite her telling them she had nut allergy. This is really not something that should be taken lightly.

The oils and chickpeas in hummus are far less likely to cause an airborne reaction than 300+ people tucking into complementary nuts.

Of course why not no one is going to become ill through lack of having a few nuts

I love to have a little bag with my virgin Bloody Mary but I can do without them as can everyone else

I'm a little confused. There are countless stories of people eating nuts despite announcements asking them not to do so. How can we be so sure if nuts were banned that they wouldn't do the same?

The most recent campaign is asking for complementary nuts not to be served - and on budget airlines nuts not to be sold.

There are also countless occasions where people ignore the ban on drink driving but no one proposes just getting rid of it.

Milk allergy can be airborne too. My DS used to react to milk being steamed in coffee shops and also reacted when DH was making a protein shake and some of the protein powder became airborne when he poured it out.

He also reacted once to almond flour in a cake that was baking even though he wasn't even in the kitchen.

Thankfully he has outgrown that level of sensitivity as he has got older.

You think that banning nuts on flights ...will make more people allergic to them?
Ban on flights, then maybe trains, buses, schools, public places... Yes I can see a cumulative effect might increase intolerance to a product.

fish wouldn't need to be banned as it isn't airborne
Only where is the actual evidence that 'airborne' nut dust is causing the reactions, as opposed to direct contact, which would be exactly the same as fish?

There have been countless reports of children and adults having reactions to nuts on planes I agree but it has never been proved that this came from 'airborne' dust rather than direct contact. There are countless reports of people having reactions from direct contact not on planes. Correlation is not causation.