Should peanuts be banned from planes?

[techboy]

It's safe enough for the FDA to approve and allow doc's to prescribe for average americans to self administer as needed.

They are prescribed for situations where the alternative (dying) is worse. It doesn't make them particularly safe. I carry one with me when I travel, but I wouldn't use it unless there was a desperate emergency.

Although, I'm sure the FAA/TSA doesn't want them on board. Something that occured to me as I typed this.

If you have a prescription, they'll let you on with it.

[bcl05]

No, you said a substantial portion of the population, which is defined as "a part of a whole." In other words, a percentage of a whole. Nowhere is .06-1.5% considered substantial anything.

If its ~1%, and there are around 100 people on any given flight, then there is at least one person with a significant peanut allergy on most flights. Sounds like a substantial issue to me.

[techboy]

You and I both know pretzels suck compared to peanuts, so don't even try it.

No way. Pretzels rule!

Fact: Pretzels are carb-heavy, peanuts are protein-y goodness.

Fact: Only sissies and girly-men count carbs. Taste is king, and pretzels rule.

Fact: Pretzels make you thirsty, peanuts make you manly.

Fact: Peanuts, as we have seen, are for sissy girly-men. Pretzels may make you thirsty, but this just gives you more reason to drink beer.

Fact: Both can be honey roasted, but honey-roasted peanuts rule, so back the hell off.:pfft:

Fact: Peanuts require honey-roasting to hide their inferiority. Pretzels stand alone in their tasty goodness, and can do so soft or hard, cold or warm.

Bonus fact: You can't order a warm soft peanut (circus peanuts don't count).

Fact: What snack is mentioned in the classic baseball song, Take me Out to the Ballgame?

Fact: Baseball is lame. Football rocks. Football is so tied in with pretzels that the owner of your team is named Snyder.

Bonus Fact: Peanuts cause allergic reactions not because of any chemical content, but because they suck so much that certain sensitive souls, properly attuned to the state of the universe, are repulsed by them.

[Rocky21]

This is about a small but real subset that are so allergic that they can have a reaction triggered by breathing it in.

Or like an airplane with recirculated air?

It appears you selectively quoted from the link about how likely someone with peanut allergies is to have a reaction from someone else opening a bag of peanuts.

Although a small amount of peanut protein can set off a severe reaction, it is rare that people get an allergic reaction just from breathing in small particles of nuts or peanuts.

Most foods with peanuts in them don't allow enough of the protein to escape into the air to cause a reaction. And just the smell of foods containing peanuts won't produce a reaction because the scent does not contain the protein.

In the few cases when people do react to airborne particles, it's usually in an enclosed area (like a restaurant or bar) where lots of peanuts are being cracked from their shells.

http://kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitn...t_allergy.html

Peanuts are not being cracked from their shells in an airplane with recirculated air. C'mon techboy.

[techboy]

It appears you selectively quoted from the link about how likely someone with peanut allergies is to have a reaction from someone else opening a bag of peanuts.

No, I just pointed out the part you were selectively ignoring. Airplanes are far more enclosed than restaurants, and the air is recirculated. It probably won't be a problem, but why take the risk when there are many fine alternatives?

[Forehead]

If its ~1%, and there are around 100 people on any given flight, then there is at least one person with a significant peanut allergy on most flights. Sounds like a substantial issue to me.

A "substantial issue" is a different phrase from a "substantial portion," which .05% - 1.5% of the population is most certainly not. Frankly, I'm sick of society always catering to the one person who complains the loudest. I'm allergic to magnolias, but I don't insist that every one of them be chopped down. I'm also allergic to cats, but I don't insist cat owners have their clothes washed and vacuumed before they get on board with me, or that every person in my neighborhood who lets their cat run around have their cat taken away from them. It's ridiculous.

Yeah, I feel for people who have potentially fatal allergies, but really...you're going to piss and moan until everyone gets their snack taken away from them? Take the Amtrak and get your own sleeping car or something. Give me my damn peanuts!:pfft:

[MurrayH81]

I have a solution, and it is a government sponsored one in which everyone wins...

Use those planes that Congress has its sole disposal to ferry around, certified card-carrying, life-threating peanut alergists. Carry only pretzels on board. Sure service may be somewhat limited in terms of how many places the planes can reasonably get to in a day, but I think it's a grand idea.

I certainly like it more than I support the idea of free Congressional travel on non-commercial aircraft.

[Forehead]

No way. Pretzels rule!:blahblah::blahblah::blahblah::blahblah:

Fact: Peanut is broken into two syllables. Pea, which rhymes with pee, which you do with your dick, and nut, a common synonym for testicle. So peanuts by their very name are linked to men and manliness. That or they're gay, but this was a stream-of-conciousness sort of fact.

Fact: You can go to those restaurants and eat peanuts, cracking the shells and leaving them all over the floor for some poor, underpaid restaurant sap to clean up after you. What does this have to do with anything? Well, you hippies want to inconvenience everyone over your stupid allergy, so you should in fact like peanuts, because it allows you to further inconvenience people by making them clean up after you. In certain restaurants.

Fact: Peanuts can be made into 100 different products; this was research done by George Washington Carver, a noted black american scientist. Pretzels were invented in lily-white medieval Germany. So basically, supporting pretzels over peanuts makes every one of you a filthy dirty racist. I'm calling Al Sharpton.

[Kilmer17]

1) Didn't we have this argument about a year ago with an ES member whose child had an allergy to peanuts and they banned it at the school? Nothing was solved in that argument.

2) Why do you HAVE to eat on a plane for a 2 hour flight? Eat before you leave in the morning. This is why this country is obese. We EXPECT to be fed everytime we go somewhere.

That was me.

Im going to have to try and split the middle on this one.

NO, peanuts shouldnt be "banned", but there also isnt any reason for airlines to serve them. There are plenty of alternatives.

And FWIW, my kids school doesnt have the allergy kid anymore. SO it's not an issue, but while he was there, they simply had him eat in a different room with some kids that didnt have PBJs for lunch.

[Destino]

From reading this thread it is clear many here don't know how severe peanut allergies are.

Exposure to peanuts can occur in different ways:

* Direct contact. The most common cause of peanut allergy is eating peanuts or peanut-containing foods. Sometimes direct skin contact with peanuts can trigger an allergic reaction.

* Cross-contact. This is the unintended introduction of peanuts into a product. It's generally the result of a food being exposed to peanuts during processing or handling.

* Inhalation. An allergic reaction may occur if you inhale dust or aerosols containing peanuts, such as that of peanut flour or peanut oil cooking spray.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/peanut-allergy/ds00710/dsection=causes

You ever seen people wipe their hands on the seat? I have. Ever seen them drop pieces of food onto the seat or floor? Ever seen them put trash in the little pocket in front of them?

If there are peanuts on the plane those with severe allergies can't get on and feel safe.

[techboy]

Fact: Peanut is broken into two syllables. Pea, which rhymes with pee, which you do with your dick, and nut, a common synonym for testicle. So peanuts by their very name are linked to men and manliness. That or they're gay, but this was a stream-of-conciousness sort of fact.

Fact: The "pea" is not used here as a homonymn for "pee". It is, rather, an abbreviation for puny. You're right about the "nuts" part.

In other words, the very name supports their usage by sissy girly-men. Thanks for bringing that up.

Fact: You can go to those restaurants and eat peanuts, cracking the shells and leaving them all over the floor for some poor, underpaid restaurant sap to clean up after you. What does this have to do with anything?

Fact: This is the behavior of upper-class snobs, expecting servants to clean up after them. America is the land of the working man. We do things for ourselves.

We kicked the Limeys butts out of this country over things like this.

Peanuts are the food of sissy girly-man baronets (even the title is sissyfying).

Fact: Peanuts can be made into 100 different products; this was research done by George Washington Carver, a noted black american scientist.

Fact: He only tried this because the base product sucked. So did all the other ideas.

Bonus Fact: Jimmy Carter was a peanut farmer. Jimmy Carter is the wussiest president in U.S. history. QED.

Pretzels were invented in lily-white medieval Germany. So basically, supporting pretzels over peanuts makes every one of you a filthy dirty racist. I'm calling Al Sharpton.

Fact, so were Frankfurters and Hamburgers, but we made them our own. This is America. We steal good ideas and claim them.

USA! USA!

[MurrayH81]

Hey, I am highly allergic to crashing. Can the airlines fix that first please?

hint: it impacts everyone on board.

[Forehead]

Fact: Peanuts, as we have seen, are for sissy girly-men. Pretzels may make you thirsty, but this just gives you more reason to drink beer.

FACT: For those of you who have been to ES tailgates, I submit the following fact. Techboy does not drink alcohol. Not a drop. How can a man who doesn't drink know whether pretzels cause you to want more beer? He knows not this feeling, it is a lie that escapes his lips. Pretzels may make him thirsty, but thirsty for water. I have it on good authority that he does in fact drink water, out of a teacup, with his pinky finger extended.

It seems only appropriate considering how many times he's brought up the word sissy in this argument.:owned:

[Predicto]

From reading this thread it is clear many here don't know how severe peanut allergies are.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/peanut-allergy/ds00710/dsection=causes

You ever seen people wipe their hands on the seat? I have. Ever seen them drop pieces of food onto the seat or floor? Ever seen them put trash in the little pocket in front of them?

If there are peanuts on the plane those with severe allergies can't get on and feel safe.

I'm SICK of the way we cater to every little whiner in this country just because they might have a fatal allergic reaction. Waaah waaah waahh I might die waahh waaah waaah.

It's a disgusting lack of personal responsibility. I blame Obama.

[Forehead]

I'm SICK of the way we cater to every little whiner in this country just because they might have a fatal allergic reaction. Waaah waaah waahh I might die waahh waaah waaah.

It's a disgusting lack of personal responsibility. I blame Obama.

Well I blame pretzels, one of them almost killed Bush, after all. Yet for some reason, I remember some of you wanting to build a pretzel monument when that happened.

[mcsluggo]

no way!!!!

[Rocky21]

No, I just pointed out the part you were selectively ignoring. Airplanes are far more enclosed than restaurants, and the air is recirculated. It probably won't be a problem, but why take the risk when there are many fine alternatives?

This is the part I'm selectively ignoring?

In the few cases when people do react to airborne particles, it's usually in an enclosed area (like a restaurant or bar) where lots of peanuts are being cracked from their shells.

[GhostofSparta]

Should it also be against the rules for people to bring their own bag of peanuts on the plane? After all if we're worried about such a severe reaction that a person in row 1 will die because a person in row 42 opened a bag of peanuts shouldn't the airlines strip-search each passenger boarding the plane to be sure that nobody is sneaking their own supply onto the plane (because I probably would, being that I like honey-roasted peanuts)?

[pjfootballer]

NoBonus fact: You can't order a warm soft peanut (circus peanuts don't count).

You must not be from the south or visited the south. Boiled peanuts are delicious.

That was me.

Im going to have to try and split the middle on this one.

NO, peanuts shouldnt be "banned", but there also isnt any reason for airlines to serve them. There are plenty of alternatives.

And FWIW, my kids school doesnt have the allergy kid anymore. SO it's not an issue, but while he was there, they simply had him eat in a different room with some kids that didnt have PBJs for lunch.

I'm glad they were able to come to a resolution with the child and the parents.

[techboy]

FACT: For those of you who have been to ES tailgates, I submit the following fact. Techboy does not drink alcohol. Not a drop. How can a man who doesn't drink know whether pretzels cause you to want more beer? He knows not this feeling, it is a lie that escapes his lips.

A geologist doesn't need to be a rock in order to study one. I submit to the jury that Forehead has not denied that pretzels make a person want to drink beer, probably because he knows it to be true and devastating to his case. Don't let him get away with it!

FACT: Forehead talks about lies, but the peanut's very name is itself a lie! A peanut is not a nut at all. It is a legume. A bean!

It lies to you, just like Forehead, because it wants to deny its nature: A wimpy little bean that sissy, girlyman, weak, indecisive, elitists eat because they are watching their figures before the next yoga class.

Conclusive video for the win:

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The Duke has spoken.

[Forehead]

I can't view video at work, but I have a feeling I'm about to throw in the towel on this one.

[Special K]

No, I don't think they need to ban peanuts.

I think parents and people who are that worried about an allergic reaction should be proactive and carry an Epipen with them...like lots of people who have severe allergies to things do.

Or maybe the concerned citizen could call the airline and see what its "peanut protocol" is. Most airlines don't even carry peanuts anymore as a CYA measure.

[Special K]

I believe magazine/books should be required as well. At the very least some type of crossword or video game. I hate the random people that want to have conversations with me on the plane.

I'll take that any day over sitting next to a morbidly obese person taking up their's as well as 3/4's of my seat space for 10 hours. I am personally very much for mandating overweight people to buy two seats.

[Teller]

AFAIK, peanut allergies are not like, say, latex allergies, where even touching something that has come into contact with latex can cause a severe allergic reaction.

So to me, the solution here is simple if you have a peanut allergy:

Flight attendant: "Would you like some peanuts?"

Person with peanut allergy: "No thank you, I'm allergic."

But knowing the reverse evolution our country seems to be experiencing right now, I think I know how this will be decided.

(Oh, and no dastardly Happy Meals in airport concourses either! Damned domestic terrorists!)

[MissU28]

Should it also be against the rules for people to bring their own bag of peanuts on the plane? After all if we're worried about such a severe reaction that a person in row 1 will die because a person in row 42 opened a bag of peanuts shouldn't the airlines strip-search each passenger boarding the plane to be sure that nobody is sneaking their own supply onto the plane (because I probably would, being that I like honey-roasted peanuts)?

This is what I have been thinking while reading this thread- who's to stop the other passengers from bringing trail mix or bags of peanuts on the plane??? Sure, you can ban the airlines from serving peanuts, but are you going to ban peanuts from planes PERIOD? That would really suck. I love me some trail mix on my long flights across the country.