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Broadly – Under the ADA, most, if not all, Americans would be classified as having a disability. That’s unfortunate, because the language is so loose as to undermine those that actually do have disabilities.
More narrowly, the few good recent studies have shown that of those that self report having food allergies, less than 5% actually do. Many so-called allergies are based on immunoglobbulin response, though we know that that is a poor predictor of an actual allergy. Because few parents want to put their kids through the gold-standard of testing, a blind oral food challenge, we are now left with the current situation, where an overwhelming majority of supposed allergies are unfounded, a general public is tired of coddled masses, and the few but life-threatening cases are being minimized by a jaded populace.
Allergies (and other disabilities) need to be diagnosed using gold-standard testing and rigorous science.
What, exactly, are the results of peer-reviewed research on the incidence and severity of peanut allergies? Hourihane et al (1997. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Vol 100, p 596-600) conducted a gold-standard test (double blind, placebo controlled food challenge) with varying doses of peanut flour – on people previously identified as having strong peanut allergies. The results were ambiguous: some folks reacted with higher does (consistent with ingesting peanut products); none reacted at very low doses; some self-reported reactions to placebos (which they shouldn’t); and some known to have peanut allergies reported no reaction to high peanut doses. In another paper, (British Medical Journal 1997) the same author found that peanut oil poses little risk to patients with known peanut allergies. Many other papers have found (e.g. Perry et al 2004; Sampson et al 1997) have shown that those with positive reactions to the food challenge are significantly less than those with positive skin prick reactions (which other studies have shown is in turn less than those that self report peanut allergy). I don’t know of a single study that has shown that airborne peanut matter can cause a severe reaction (maybe one is out there; if so, can someone post the citation). In short, the available research shows that confirmed allergies are much less common than folks think, and even people with “known” allergies fail to respond to food challenges. I think the DOT needs to consider this very carefully when deciding whether to ban peanuts from flights. Do the data really support such a decision? It doesn’t appear so.
I appreciate your circumstance. But because you don’t like the smell of nuts, we can’t go instituting bans on foods. I don’t like the smell of fast food – does that mean there needs to be a ban on people bringing McD’s on board? As for food options, pack you own. I do. I bring my own snacks. People with severe metabolic conditions like PKU travel with their own food. Bring a bag of pretzels. Raisins. Whatever. It sounds like your “awful” experiences have not resulted in any allergic reactions. Bans on foods should be based exclusively on research. Not on people feeling uncomfortable around certain foods. Because if that’s what regulations are based on, then there will soon be nothing served on any flight – and I don’t think that’s what anyone wants. Again, I hope the DOT seriously considers actual research when making regulations.
The incidence of PKU is low – about 1 in 30,000. But when you combine all the inborn metabolic conditions that require special diets (including PKU, CF, aminoacidemias, etc.) the incidence is much higher. Consider also diabetes. Consider other conditions, such as hypertension (knocks out pretzels as potential snacks). The point is, there are a lot of people that have special dietary restrictions. Not being able to eat a specific food shouldn’t preclude that food from being served – it just means that those folks need to bring their own. The real issue is, how real is the threat of inhaled peanut dust. Again, I have seen no study that has shown it to be a real threat (but that doesn’t mean such a study doesn’t exist). That should be the main criteria for the DOT decision. As a side note – would such a decision mean I could not bring my own trail mix or PBJ sandwich on board? Could a passenger be prevented from bringing any food that potentially contains nuts? What the airlines do is meaningless if passengers start bringing their own on.
An estimated (by the medical profession) 125 to 150 deaths occur in the United States every year due to food-related anaphylaxis. About 2/3rds of those are thought to be caused by peanuts. Given that peanut allergy is by far the most prevalent of the food allergies, that proportion would make sense. The question is not if anyone has died from ingestion of peanuts. Clearly, the answer is yes, and that has been proven. The question at hand is whether that merits somehow banning peanuts from air travel. The greater question is, have there been proven cases of severe anaphylaxis from the inhalation of peanut dust? Though perhaps the ultimate question is, then should those few people that have legitimate concerns simply not fly?
Should peanuts also be banned from places of employment for the same reasons? Should peanuts be banned from public areas? And is it also reasonable to ban all peanut-containing products from being brought on-board by passengers? Finally, should the same accommodations be made for those suffering from other allergies? Because using the logic offered by the above commenters (and others), the answers to all these questions should be yes – yet we can see this quickly becomes absurd.
I don’t believe that is feasible or necessary, for 4 reasons. First, studies have shown that the majority of self-reported allergies are in fact not allergies. Thus there would be unnecessary bans on many flights. Second, this would place a burden on airlines – someone would essentially need to keep track for every flight whether peanuts can be served or not. This would effectively remove peanuts from all flights. Third, this does not answer questions about passengers being able to bring peanut products on flights. As long as passengers can, airline regulations are meaningless. And in my opinion, it is not reasonable or legal to ban passengers from bringing on board any peanut containing product. Lastly, does either the ADA or the medical literature warrant such a ban? No – neither does. Until it can be shown that there is either a medically or legally warranted reason for a peanut ban, this issue should come to an end.
Ed – I got peanuts served on 2 flights this summer. But the substance of the debate goes far beyond simple bags of peanuts. Many of the commenters indicate they want full bans on any peanut-containing products, including those brought on board by passengers. Which means this not puts the onus on the passenger to check the label of any food they bring on board, and eliminate any food that contains peanuts, is made with peanut oil, or was manufactured in a plant that also processes peanuts. Does this really reasonable to anyone? Because banning airlines from distributing peanuts doesn’t address the issue – only a full ban on any peanut product would suffice. Clearly, you can’t ban passengers from bringing energy bars that may contain trace amounts of peanuts. Given that, why then even institute an airline ban, if it doesn’t fully address the issue?
dwein003 – The problem is when I pull out a Clif Bar to eat as a snack, or a PBJ sandwich I made at home, or a turkey sandwich on oatnut bread, or a snickers bar…Can I then not eat food that I packed to bring on board? Do I then need to change seats? This is where the holes in the plan becomes apparent. Eliminating bags of peanuts is not the issue – that’s easy. It’s how do you then deal with every potential peanut product passengers bring on board? Because to truly eliminate any potential for airborne peanut (for the moment, let’s ignore whether that poses a real risk or not), passengers would not be able to bring any food on-board, because even home-made sandwiches could contain nuts. And personally, I don’t think you can go that far. And so far on this comment board, no one has been able to address that issue. So, what good is banning airlines from serving bags of peanuts if a passenger brings on a PBJ sandwich, or opens an energy bar that contains nuts? If we re-seat, who moves? The family of 4 with the allergy, or the family of 4 that wants to eat the food they brought on board? How do you easily move those folks around? Do you see how something that sounds so easy in sentence format becomes a nightmare when you actually try to implement it?
Broadly – Under the ADA, most, if not all, Americans would be classified as having a disability. That’s unfortunate, because the language is so loose as to undermine those that actually do have disabilities.
More narrowly, the few good recent studies have shown that of those that self report having food allergies, less than 5% actually do. Many so-called allergies are based on immunoglobbulin response, though we know that that is a poor predictor of an actual allergy. Because few parents want to put their kids through the gold-standard of testing, a blind oral food challenge, we are now left with the current situation, where an overwhelming majority of supposed allergies are unfounded, a general public is tired of coddled masses, and the few but life-threatening cases are being minimized by a jaded populace.
Allergies (and other disabilities) need to be diagnosed using gold-standard testing and rigorous science.
What, exactly, are the results of peer-reviewed research on the incidence and severity of peanut allergies? Hourihane et al (1997. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Vol 100, p 596-600) conducted a gold-standard test (double blind, placebo controlled food challenge) with varying doses of peanut flour – on people previously identified as having strong peanut allergies. The results were ambiguous: some folks reacted with higher does (consistent with ingesting peanut products); none reacted at very low doses; some self-reported reactions to placebos (which they shouldn’t); and some known to have peanut allergies reported no reaction to high peanut doses. In another paper, (British Medical Journal 1997) the same author found that peanut oil poses little risk to patients with known peanut allergies. Many other papers have found (e.g. Perry et al 2004; Sampson et al 1997) have shown that those with positive reactions to the food challenge are significantly less than those with positive skin prick reactions (which other studies have shown is in turn less than those that self report peanut allergy). I don’t know of a single study that has shown that airborne peanut matter can cause a severe reaction (maybe one is out there; if so, can someone post the citation). In short, the available research shows that confirmed allergies are much less common than folks think, and even people with “known” allergies fail to respond to food challenges. I think the DOT needs to consider this very carefully when deciding whether to ban peanuts from flights. Do the data really support such a decision? It doesn’t appear so.
I appreciate your circumstance. But because you don’t like the smell of nuts, we can’t go instituting bans on foods. I don’t like the smell of fast food – does that mean there needs to be a ban on people bringing McD’s on board? As for food options, pack you own. I do. I bring my own snacks. People with severe metabolic conditions like PKU travel with their own food. Bring a bag of pretzels. Raisins. Whatever. It sounds like your “awful” experiences have not resulted in any allergic reactions. Bans on foods should be based exclusively on research. Not on people feeling uncomfortable around certain foods. Because if that’s what regulations are based on, then there will soon be nothing served on any flight – and I don’t think that’s what anyone wants. Again, I hope the DOT seriously considers actual research when making regulations.
The incidence of PKU is low – about 1 in 30,000. But when you combine all the inborn metabolic conditions that require special diets (including PKU, CF, aminoacidemias, etc.) the incidence is much higher. Consider also diabetes. Consider other conditions, such as hypertension (knocks out pretzels as potential snacks). The point is, there are a lot of people that have special dietary restrictions. Not being able to eat a specific food shouldn’t preclude that food from being served – it just means that those folks need to bring their own. The real issue is, how real is the threat of inhaled peanut dust. Again, I have seen no study that has shown it to be a real threat (but that doesn’t mean such a study doesn’t exist). That should be the main criteria for the DOT decision. As a side note – would such a decision mean I could not bring my own trail mix or PBJ sandwich on board? Could a passenger be prevented from bringing any food that potentially contains nuts? What the airlines do is meaningless if passengers start bringing their own on.
An estimated (by the medical profession) 125 to 150 deaths occur in the United States every year due to food-related anaphylaxis. About 2/3rds of those are thought to be caused by peanuts. Given that peanut allergy is by far the most prevalent of the food allergies, that proportion would make sense. The question is not if anyone has died from ingestion of peanuts. Clearly, the answer is yes, and that has been proven. The question at hand is whether that merits somehow banning peanuts from air travel. The greater question is, have there been proven cases of severe anaphylaxis from the inhalation of peanut dust? Though perhaps the ultimate question is, then should those few people that have legitimate concerns simply not fly?
Should peanuts also be banned from places of employment for the same reasons? Should peanuts be banned from public areas? And is it also reasonable to ban all peanut-containing products from being brought on-board by passengers? Finally, should the same accommodations be made for those suffering from other allergies? Because using the logic offered by the above commenters (and others), the answers to all these questions should be yes – yet we can see this quickly becomes absurd.
I don’t believe that is feasible or necessary, for 4 reasons. First, studies have shown that the majority of self-reported allergies are in fact not allergies. Thus there would be unnecessary bans on many flights. Second, this would place a burden on airlines – someone would essentially need to keep track for every flight whether peanuts can be served or not. This would effectively remove peanuts from all flights. Third, this does not answer questions about passengers being able to bring peanut products on flights. As long as passengers can, airline regulations are meaningless. And in my opinion, it is not reasonable or legal to ban passengers from bringing on board any peanut containing product. Lastly, does either the ADA or the medical literature warrant such a ban? No – neither does. Until it can be shown that there is either a medically or legally warranted reason for a peanut ban, this issue should come to an end.
Ed – I got peanuts served on 2 flights this summer. But the substance of the debate goes far beyond simple bags of peanuts. Many of the commenters indicate they want full bans on any peanut-containing products, including those brought on board by passengers. Which means this not puts the onus on the passenger to check the label of any food they bring on board, and eliminate any food that contains peanuts, is made with peanut oil, or was manufactured in a plant that also processes peanuts. Does this really reasonable to anyone? Because banning airlines from distributing peanuts doesn’t address the issue – only a full ban on any peanut product would suffice. Clearly, you can’t ban passengers from bringing energy bars that may contain trace amounts of peanuts. Given that, why then even institute an airline ban, if it doesn’t fully address the issue?
dwein003 – The problem is when I pull out a Clif Bar to eat as a snack, or a PBJ sandwich I made at home, or a turkey sandwich on oatnut bread, or a snickers bar…Can I then not eat food that I packed to bring on board? Do I then need to change seats? This is where the holes in the plan becomes apparent. Eliminating bags of peanuts is not the issue – that’s easy. It’s how do you then deal with every potential peanut product passengers bring on board? Because to truly eliminate any potential for airborne peanut (for the moment, let’s ignore whether that poses a real risk or not), passengers would not be able to bring any food on-board, because even home-made sandwiches could contain nuts. And personally, I don’t think you can go that far. And so far on this comment board, no one has been able to address that issue. So, what good is banning airlines from serving bags of peanuts if a passenger brings on a PBJ sandwich, or opens an energy bar that contains nuts? If we re-seat, who moves? The family of 4 with the allergy, or the family of 4 that wants to eat the food they brought on board? How do you easily move those folks around? Do you see how something that sounds so easy in sentence format becomes a nightmare when you actually try to implement it?