Don't Ban Peanuts

By Christine Gorman

A school system in upstate New York faces a year 2000 problem that has nothing to do with computers. Last month a couple living in Grand Island gave their local elementary school two years in which to rid itself of peanuts. Why? So their three-year-old son, who suffers from a severe allergy to peanuts, won't be exposed to peanut butter, peanut oil or even "peanut dust" when he enters kindergarten in the fall of 2000. This demand for a peanut ban has divided the community and placed school officials in a tough spot. Can't they accommodate this child's disability without depriving everyone else of Planters and Jif?

It would be easy to dismiss this and similar stories popping up across the U.S. as overreactions by overwrought parents. Or to trash the recent federal policy requiring airlines to provide peanut-free zones to customers who request them. After all, most peanut allergies are more annoying than life threatening. You just learn what foods you can eat, never swap lunch bags and avoid certain restaurants.

But some folks are so sensitive to peanuts that eating them can trigger anaphylactic shock, in which the airway closes off and blood pressure can drop precipitously. In these people, even the smell of peanuts can provoke asthma-like reactions. Allergists estimate that 125 people die each year from food allergies, usually to peanuts, compared with about 50 deaths from allergic reactions to beestings.

Fortunately, no one is yet talking about banning bees (full disclosure here: I am fond of both peanuts and honey), and that's precisely my point. There is just no way to render the world absolutely safe for every child everywhere. Even if schools do institute a ban on peanuts, how do they enforce it? By posting a peanut-sniffing dog at every entrance? And since most children don't outgrow peanut allergies, what happens after graduation? The best way to deal with peanut allergies isn't by outlawing the crunchy little legumes--which are an excellent source of protein--but by doing some homework and taking a few crucial precautions to lessen the risk of injury.

You may be surprised to learn that the Food Allergy Network, a seven-year-old advocacy group based in Fairfax, Va., agrees. "Peanut bans don't work," says Ann Munoz-Furlong, founder of the network. "They're counterproductive, and they create a false sense of security." She favors teaching kids what to do in case of an allergic reaction (children with the most severe reactions need to carry emergency adrenaline shots with them) and to beware of peanut products hidden in such foods as home-baked cookies and Chinese takeout. Most of the major candy-bar manufacturers already label even trace amounts of peanuts.

That doesn't mean that schools should do nothing to accommodate students with allergies. A handful of institutions have designated peanut-free tables in their cafeterias and trained teachers and others to give adrenaline shots in an emergency. In the meantime, doctors are working on a vaccine-like treatment that might dampen the immune system's overreaction. Until then, all the peanut-free zones in the world can't diminish the need to teach children with allergies to take care of themselves.

For more on peanut allergies, see time.com/personal E-mail the Food Allergy Network at [email protected]