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By Drew Olson Senior Editor E-mail author | Author bio More articles by Drew Olson

Published Oct. 31, 2007 at 7:35 a.m.

Tags: peanuts, allergies, halloween,

As a group of costumed kids headed out to trick or treat during a family gathering Sunday, Grandpa looked up from the football game and yelled to no one and everyone: "You better bring me all your peanut butter cups."

Laughter soon gave way to a question: Do people still hand out peanut butter cups?

If you've entered a child-care facility or school in the past few years, you've undoubtedly seen a warning sign about it being a "peanut free" zone. So many kids are bothered by peanut allergies that all forms of the food -- from candy bars to the classic PB&J sandwich -- are banned.

I've heard the horror stories. I understand the dangers of food allergies. I don't have any problem with the restrictions.

My question is: when did peanuts turn potentially lethal?

At the risk of sounding like an old guy ("I walked three miles through the snow uphill to get to school"), I have to say that I don't remember any kids in my grade school being so allergic to anything that being in the same room as the food in question presented a danger.

The peanut hasn't changed since I was a kid. Now, it seems as though the kids have.

12 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by TomSellecksMustache on Nov. 1, 2007 at 10:24 a.m. (report)

I've come up with an excellent idea. From now on I'm not giving candy away. I'm giving out peanuts. Maybe even cheese for the lactose intolerant folks. Prominently displayed on my porch will be a sign letting everyone know "Allergy Alert 2008: Only peanuts and cheese available for trick or treaters! Ring door bell at own risk!"

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Posted by jtolpin on Nov. 1, 2007 at 9:48 a.m. (report)

To those upset that their child cannot bring a peanut butter snack to school, on behalf of all those with peanut allergy, I apologize to you. To those fighting to keep their child safe in school, I applaud you. But there SHOULD be a happy medium. And there usually is. Just keep an open mind. All across the country, schools are coming up with ways to keep both sides happy. There are plenty of websites dedicated to discussions regarding this specific topic. http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org (a 501c3) is a good place to start. Our school came up with an emergency plan, that was based on a DOE's guidelines (Massachusetts). Good luck to both sides! jason

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Posted by sara on Oct. 31, 2007 at 6:20 p.m. (report)

I'm one of those Peanut allergic people, but I'm not a kid, I'm 31. And I get what almost everyone is saying. From experience I have seen awareness of food allergies grow. (a lot!!) No, I did not have a "peanut-free" zone in school. Although, I did get very sick many times from close-calls; I doubt that most of my classmates were aware of my allergy. I do think that lack of exposing kids these days to dirt, etc, is not good for their immune system, but I must note that it was not a factor in my allergy. I grew up playing outside, and I'm sure I ate some dirt at some point. One thing I'd like to point out: in children under the age of 6, diagnosed with a peanut allergy, have a good chance (50%) of outgrowing the allergy. The odds greatly decrease with each exposure to peanuts (eating, smelling, or touching peanuts in any form). I can understand a parent fighting to make sure their child has that chance. As an adult, I now understand how scary and heartbreaking it was for my parents to have a child with such a dangerous condition. I feel for any parent of a child with a severe allergy and for anyone that has the severe allergy themselves. But it's much easier for kids and parents to deal with the allergies, then it was 20 years ago. For that, I thank everyone who has taken the peanut allergy seriously.

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Posted by notaneastsider on Oct. 31, 2007 at 3:01 p.m. (report)

Funny. I read that entire Newsweek article and it didn't once mention that all of this was because of lawyers. But then again, they wasted alot of time citing scientists and various studies and other scholarly educated guesses. Nothing like the crack research done by those posting "talkback" on the article here. To think, that reporter could have saved himself a boat-load of time if he had just said it's all due to lawyers. Congrats to you two on solving this riddle.

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Posted by laurafern11 on Oct. 31, 2007 at 12:29 p.m. (report)

This topic is fascinating. I am amazed in the generational difference. I went to large public schools (I'm 28 now, so not THAT long ago) and am positive that no one ever collapsed from a peanut allergy, and there was no worry about peanuts etc. I know from friends who are teachers, a much younger sister and encountering scared parents while working in Asian restaurants that there must be a large increase in the number of kids with these allergies. No one in their late 20s that I have talked to can remember this being an issue 15 years ago, so why now? There are some theories that it's because many American kids now grow up in such sanitized environments that their immune systems are out of whack. Another is that it has to do with pollution or something in the food supply that wasn't there years ago. In any case, I don't think there is any point in arguing that there is some change. I'm going to go read that Newsweek article posted now.

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Show me the other 7 Talkbacks

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