Nut-allergic child's mom demands oak trees be removed from schoolyard

[Owain Taggart]

There's also the fact that acorns aren't technically nuts, though there's a lot of debate surrounding that. I think they're classified more as seeds.

[bbailey861]

macloudt wrote:

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In a way, I think this is the worst part of all. Imagine what their kids are going through now that their mother has been outed as, shall we say, a wee bit overprotective.

I was thinking the same thing. Poor kid.

[Trekker4747]

Owain Taggart wrote:

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There's also the fact that acorns aren't technically nuts, though there's a lot of debate surrounding that. I think they're classified more as seeds.

To be fair, most of the things we think of as "nuts" are seeds, including peanuts.

[teacake]

macloudt wrote:

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I came across this article a few days ago. The comments are hilarious, including several links to medical articles stating exactly what M'Sharak said.

I knew a child who takes regular medication because simply being around oak trees at certain times of the year could trigger anaphylactic shock (this was several years ago and I can't remember exactly what triggers the allergy, only that she was "allergic to oak trees"). The child's mother, a nurse, made sure the child always took her medication, always had an epi-pen on her, and sent the child on her merry way outside to play with the other children. No way in hell did she expect a single tree that wasn't on her own property to be cut down, even though in this rare case being around an oak tree really could kill her child. The child was four years old when the allergy suddenly developed, and from that age she could recognise an oak tree and knew to stay away from it.

That's pretty interesting, what were her symptoms when she was around the trees? I'd be looking at moving somewhere where these trees were uncommon, though that might be counterproductive if slight exposure over the years build up the body's resistance to them. And I suppose there are whole countries where you'd be stuffed as far as no oaks went.

[Owain Taggart]

Trekker4747 wrote:

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To be fair, most of the things we think of as "nuts" are seeds, including peanuts.

True enough. I guess I mean nuts as we think them in the traditional sense. Seeds as things planted in the ground, nuts as food. But even then, there are exceptions where seeds are eaten.

[wissaboo]

Lets just assume the child is actually allergic to the trees and the information in the story may not be 100% complete

[Candlelight]

I'm allergic to Lion attacks.

Can someone please remove the Lion from the zoo next time I visit?

[Bob Karo]

Doesn't really change anything, though. This kid is or is nearly a teenager. She should have learned how to avoid the things that will kill her by now. If this kid really can't attend this school with proper preventive medicine and an Epi-pen, just let them go to another campus. If none are practical, I'm sure they have some sort of in home teaching for disabled students who are unable to attend a school.

[Kirby]

Both of my nephews have nut allergies severe enough that they have to carry epi-pens wherever they go. One has reactions even when he's around nuts. One time at school, a kid in the previous lunch hour are a peanut butter sandwich in the same seat where Adam sat and he reacted. The school established a nut-free table (insert your own joke here) but they didn't eliminate nuts, or chop down trees. Sometimes if you have an allergy you deal with it, you don't make the world conform to your needs.

[kythe]

My son's elementary school also has a nut-free table in the cafeteria, and I can understand the reasoning behind it. I'm not going to be the one making jokes about it. I assumed it was probably getting more common nowadays, due to the increase in severe peanut allergies.

I hope this woman doesn't get to chop down trees, because they aren't the same level of danger and I see trees as a precious resource. I know trees aren't an "endangered species" so to speak, but there are far fewer of them than there used to be due to housing and other expansion, as well as people using the wood. But why cut down more trees than what we need to?

[Deckerd]

I doubt very much whether the council involved will start cutting down park trees because one woman is over-protective.

I don't understand why nut allergies are on the increase. Mind you I live in a family where allergy (aside from one sister who's allergic to all earrings except gold (good call that woman)) just doesn't exist. Is asthma allergy?

[Kirby]

^^ From what I understand the increase in nut allergies in children corresponds to the beginning of genetically modifying nuts, specifically peanuts in the early 1980s. I think this is more circumstantial evidence than anything else but I've never gone looking for studies on it. Either way, I think GMO foods are kind of scary.

[Danny99]

macloudt wrote:

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I came across this article a few days ago. The comments are hilarious, including several links to medical articles stating exactly what M'Sharak said.

I knew a child who takes regular medication because simply being around oak trees at certain times of the year could trigger anaphylactic shock (this was several years ago and I can't remember exactly what triggers the allergy, only that she was "allergic to oak trees"). The child's mother, a nurse, made sure the child always took her medication, always had an epi-pen on her, and sent the child on her merry way outside to play with the other children. No way in hell did she expect a single tree that wasn't on her own property to be cut down, even though in this rare case being around an oak tree really could kill her child. The child was four years old when the allergy suddenly developed, and from that age she could recognise an oak tree and knew to stay away from it.

I'm glad the child and parent you mentioned went the sensible route I prefer.

This woman is a nut herself.

[StolenThunder]

Deckerd wrote:

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I doubt very much whether the council involved will start cutting down park trees because one woman is over-protective.

I don't understand why nut allergies are on the increase.

My understanding is that a rather simple explanation is a heightened response to non-threatening environmental substances due to less frequently encountered environmental pathogens in this age of hygeine and cleanliness.

So instead of being tuned to bacteria and that, the immune response becomes overactive to other allergens.

[teacake]

Nut free primary schools are now the norm here. You don't have any nuts or peanut butter at all.