Profile: angelagarnett
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What's Happening Now
This is a very good point and a lot of parallels can be drawn.
There is NO COMPARISON.
Tobacco smoke, unlike peanuts, not only affects EVERYBODY, it also affects the HVAC and electronics / avionics, on-board an aircraft. Anybody who had done a “C” or “D” check aboard aircraft in the 70′s and 80′s can tell the difference, especially with the tobacco gunk on the wires and avionics.
Peanuts does not have same health risks “to innocent passengers,” as tobacco smoke. This becomes especially true if there is knowledge and forewarning that the affected passenger assumes that peanuts are going to be served and efforts to mitigate the situation are employed.
How was your child diagnosed with a peanut allergy? Did they eat penuts while under medical observation and have their blood tested for IgE antibodies? If not, then you don’t know if they have an allergy, or even to what severity.
As for your claim that she could die if peanuts are ingested in her vicinity, that is utterly false. The only way to have any reaction (including death) is to have contact with the offending allergen. So anyone else can eat all they like in her vicinity; she just has to not come in contact with it.
Some people die from a severe reaction to peanuts, but not many, and I’ve yet to find a single instance of an airline passenger dying due to anaphylactic shock caused by peanuts.
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My 9 year old daughter is one of the “peanut people” you mentioned in your post. While no one has seemed to have died due to peanuts on Southwest, the threat is there. I feel confident if you had a loved one with this life threatening allergy, you would feel differently.
My daughter has been tested 4 times for her allergy to peanuts. She is in the highest category of reactivity which means if peanuts are being ingested in her vicnity, she could die. A buffer zone simply doesn’t work in a cinfined space such as an airline. I have to treat her with Benadryl before any flights as a precaution. There are many more food and snack options that don’t have the anaphylaxis potential to innocent human beings. I for one am ecstatic to hear about this initiative. It’s becoming news for a good reason. People- kids- are dying from this and it can be 100% prevented.
I agree. While my daughter is peanut allergic only, I would in no way be opposed to banning other foods that are common anaphylaxis causers on a plane.
Only problem is the recycled air. Buffer zones aren’t quite enough for those in the highest reactivity grouping.
Just as smoking was removed from flights due to the health risks to innocent travelers, this falls into the same category. The main difference is that a peanut reaction happens rather quickly and lung cancer/emphysema can take years. Hmmm….
When people start dying from the aroma of perfume and deodorant or cotton clothing, your comments will be taken seriously. Keep this in perspective.