Peanut Allergies

[Megan Frazer <mfrazer@COMMSCHOOL.ORG>]

While I do not want to belittle the fears of parents, there has never been
a case of a child dying from atmospheric exposure to peanuts.  That is,
Johnny has peanut allergies.  Sally sitting next to Johnny is eating
something with peanuts in it.  By virtue of proximity, Johnny gets ill.
It has never happened.  So banning all peanut foods seems extreme to me.

However, allergies are an interesting illness in that they get more and
more serious over time and people grow more and more sensitive over
generations.  It might seem that there are more kids with peanut allergies
today.  It's not merely that detection methods are better.  There really
are more kids.  It is a disease of prosperous nations.  Our bodies are
trained to fight.  When we are babies, we fight off all kinds of diseases
and develop immunities.  In America, our world is so sanitized, that we
start to fight off things that really aren't a problem.  Like peanuts.
Given that, it is possible that someday maybe some kids will develop
allergies so severe that the trace amounts of peanuts that he or she might
get from touching a table, say, and then putting his or her fingers in the
mouth would be enough to cause serious damage.

So, that leads us to precautions.  In about 2 minutes on PubMed
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed) I found an
article about cleaning agents and trace amounts of peanuts.  We are
librarians, and I think it makes sense to do research rather than be
reactionary.  (By the way, the article said that normal household cleaning
products were enough.  Don't use bleach, especially if the kids wipe down
their own tables).  The child's doctor should provide a list of protocols
(not the mother).  I think it would be wise for schools to enlist the help
of an allergist in developing their own policy to deal with allergy issues.

An allergist's daughter's 2 cents on the topic.

- Meg
******************************************************************************************************************
Megan Frazer
Librarian
Commonwealth School
151 Commonwealth Ave.
Boston, MA  02116
mfrazer@commschool.org

--------------------------------------------------------------------
All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law.
To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu
In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET  2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL
3) SET LM_NET MAIL  4) SET LM_NET DIGEST  * Allow for confirmation.
LM_NET Help & Information: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/
Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/
EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://elann.biglist.com/el-announce/
LM_NET Supporters: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ven.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------