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[MetalSlimeHunt]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/06/22/ban.peanuts.planes/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Oh god, not the allergy thing again. Who even likes peanuts as a in-flight snack? Don't get me wrong, peanuts are alright, but they arn't that great of a food. Still, the Department of Transportation wants input.

[HideousBeing]

Peanuts are pretty meh and airplane peanuts manage to be even worse. I say we ban the things! Also every plane should have an eppy pen just in case. Allergies suck.

EDIT: although I would only ban them from being served. It's not so dangerous that we couldn't bring our own sometimes IMO. So this solution out of the three I guess:
"Banning service of peanuts and peanut products only on a flight where a passenger with a peanut allergy requests a peanut-free flight in advance"

[alway]

Airplane pretzels > airplane peanuts.

[G-Flex]

An epinephrine pen might not be enough when you're over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Peanut allergy is common enough that I can definitely understand this, provided there's likely to be danger to someone with a serious allergy.

[nenjin]

Nowak-Wegrzyn added that there hasn't been any systematic study on peanut allergic reactions on flights.

But by all means, let's freak out. Let's assume that even .0001 ppm of peanut dust is enough to trigger a reaction, and let's hold up a three-year-old child as an innocent victim before the fact.

As soon as I have a kid, I'm going to ask Congress to ban fat people from airplanes, because I'm afraid a fat person will inadvertently roll into the adjacent seat and crush my defenseless child.

And as someone who has had a life threatening allergic reaction, I can safety say that a needle full of adrenaline in the ass was enough to bring me back from the brink of almost choking to death. Would it be enough for a 3-year-old? I don't know. But I suspect the standard means of treatment would work. I don't really care that much about peanuts on airplanes, just the mentality that we should be afraid of the littlest things and ask the government to baby sit.

[Jackrabbit]

This is good, because they are a chocking hazard and also I love peanuts.

HAHA I TOTALLY MEANT TO DO THAT.

D:

[G-Flex]

Nowak-Wegrzyn added that there hasn't been any systematic study on peanut allergic reactions on flights.

But by all means, let's freak out. Let's assume that even .0001 ppm of peanut dust is enough to trigger a reaction, and let's hold up a three-year-old child as an innocent victim before the fact.

As soon as I have a kid, I'm going to ask Congress to ban fat people from airplanes, because I'm afraid a fat person will inadvertently roll into the adjacent seat and crush my defenseless child.

And as someone who has had a life threatening allergic reaction, I can safety say that a needle full of adrenaline in the ass was enough to bring me back from the brink of almost choking to death. Would it be enough for a 3-year-old? I don't know. But I suspect the standard means of treatment would work. I don't really care that much about peanuts on airplanes, just the mentality that we should be afraid of the littlest things and ask the government to baby sit.

"Standard means of treatment"? Dude, it's an airplane. I'm assuming that the needle full of adrenaline in the ass was administered to you when you weren't several hours from a possible source of adequate medical treatment should something go wrong.

I agree that research should be done, but a lot of people eating peanuts at once in a small space with recycled air (e.g. an airplane) definitely sounds like it might be trouble for someone with a severe allergy.

There's also the fact that not having peanuts on an airplane is not a big deal. Seriously, they're just peanuts. You can eat pretzels or something. Not having peanuts on an airplane doesn't really significantly inconvenience anyone.

This is good, because they are a chocking hazard

I know. It took a plane I was on two hours to clear the runway once because of that, before they noticed what the problem was. The plane just wouldn't move.

[Sensei]

As much as I hate airplane peanuts, this is ridiculous. And I know it's an overly pulled card, but it's also communism (the worse face of communism at that). If one or two people are allergic to peanuts, we ALL can't have peanuts. What the hell happened to majority rule?

Okay, that rant is going on a tangent, but still. WTF.

[Leafsnail]

Well, there are some people who can die due to exposure to peanuts.  An airplane is bad since it's miles from anywhere, and the air is constantly recycled along with any traces of peanuts.  I don't see how there's any element of communism here - it's aimed to prevent serious allergic attacks or death.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

The problem is, as the article points out, that airplanes are closed systems. Any peanut dust that gets in the air stays in the air. I guess they could find a way to filter it out, though. Still, I think this is mostly just a mother suffering from Precious Fragile Snowflake Syndrome. I get the feeling that this kid will grow up wearing armor whenever he goes outside and being given the latest trend of fake medicine. I might be wrong, but her comments mach the profile of a overprotective mother.

[nenjin]

"Standard means of treatment"? Dude, it's an airplane. I'm assuming that the needle full of adrenaline in the ass was administered to you when you weren't several hours from a possible source of adequate medical treatment should something go wrong.

And how hard is it to carry the treatment for an allergy that you fear is around you in huge, roaming clouds of death? On yourself or on the airplane? You don't need an EMT crew and a heart surgeon to effectively treat an allergic reaction. You need something the size of a pencil or smaller.

Supporters are acting as though people are eating peanuts and spewing dust into the air like it's second hand smoke. There are filters on those airplanes, after all, and last I checked peanut dust isn't microbial.

It's pointless arguing though as no one has done the study, and shockingly, no one has done the study since Congress requested it over a decade ago before being pressured to pass this exact same legislation. Still, I err on the side of "you people are being alarmists", regardless of how sensational the image of a child choking to death on an airplane might be.

There was an article about 3 months ago about your shower head spewing deadly microbes all over you every time you turn in on, because shower heads never get cleaned. Same story. No research, children as the human interest piece and calls for drastic action.

[G-Flex]

As much as I hate airplane peanuts, this is ridiculous. And I know it's an overly pulled card, but it's also communism (the worse face of communism at that).

You can stop there. Seriously. I can tell you right now that you have absolutely no fucking idea what "Communism" even means, if you think it's that. Just. Seriously. Don't go there. You're wrong, and it's disingenuous.

If one or two people are allergic to peanuts, we ALL can't have peanuts. What the hell happened to majority rule?

Holy shit, that's how you think things actually work? "Majority rule" has never been the case in the US under almost all circumstances, and rarely is anywhere else. And there's a good reason for that: The rights of minorities have to be protected as well. If you don't think this is true, you have some severely fucked-up ideas about how politics works, and need to read up.


And it's not about "one or two people". Peanut allergy is right up there as one of the most common food allergies, if not the most common.

Well, there are some people who can die due to exposure to peanuts.  An airplane is bad since it's miles from anywhere, and the air is constantly recycled along with any traces of peanuts.  I don't see how there's any element of communism here - it's aimed to prevent serious allergic attacks or death.

Any government regulation is Communism. Didn't you get that memo? It's filed under "GODDAMN TERRORISTS", under "M" for "Misinformation".

The problem is, as the article points out, that airplanes are closed systems. Any peanut dust that gets in the air stays in the air. I guess they could find a way to filter it out, though. Still, I think this is mostly just a mother suffering from Precious Fragile Snowflake Syndrome. I get the feeling that this kid will grow up wearing armor whenever he goes outside and being given the latest trend of fake medicine. I might be wrong, but her comments mach the profile of a overprotective mother.

She could easily be one of those types, yeah, but it's not really relevant since it's not her anybody is trying to judge here.

Filtration is a good idea, but it's not as easy as it sounds, especially not for very fine-particle stuff, like say, peanut oil (which isn't even really particulate).

And how hard is it to carry the treatment for an allergy that you fear is around you in huge, roaming clouds of death? On yourself or on the airplane? You don't need an EMT crew and a heart surgeon to effectively treat an allergic reaction. You need something the size of a pencil or smaller.

To treat it for how long? The person is still in the presence of allergens, so any treatment would need to not only function for potentially many, many hours, but also continue to do so in the face of continued exposure to the allergen.

[HideousBeing]

Here are the proposed solutions:

The Proposed Solutions:

DOT thinks perhaps the time has come to address again the problems of travelers with severe peanut allergies. It is considering the following options:

    * An outright ban on airlines serving peanuts and peanut products
    * Banning service of peanuts and peanut products only on a flight where a passenger with a peanut allergy requests a peanut-free flight in advance
    * Requiring the airline to provide a peanut-free buffer zone around a passenger with a medically-documented severe peanut allergy if the passenger makes a request in advance.

But DOT Department of Transportation is open to other solutions, as well as to not adopting any regulation on this issue. See next section.

It doesn't have to be an outright ban on peanuts. The third option is totally reasonable and the second is fine with me.

[Pathos]

Clearly we should be banning SNAKES on these PLANES because SNAKES are a HEALTH HAZARD and some PEOPLE may be ALLERGIC to THEM.

Oh, and don't forget that SNAKE DUST will get stuck in the PLANES' CLOSED ENVIROMENT because it is a CLOSED ENVIRONMENT.

[nenjin]

To treat it for how long? The person is still in the presence of allergens, so any treatment would need to not only function for potentially many, many hours, but also continue to do so in the face of continued exposure to the allergen.

Again, we just don't know. If someone were in a closed 100 sq ft. space with clouds of peanut dust being pumped in for two hours, yeah, I can imagine all the adrenaline in the world isn't going to save them. Having a single spec of peanut dust be absorbed through their eye every, say, 5 minutes, which still assumes a high volume of peanut dust in the air to even be that frequent?

I doubt it. I get the same impression from the second hand smoke debate that I do from this one. It's strength comes from arguing the worse case scenario, and it's weakness lies in the everyday reality of exposure.

As ****ed as the airlines are and have been for the last 10 years, I don't think they need any more nuisances that make scheduling or logistics more problematic. While I don't think anyone would truly care about peanut service being lost on a flight per flight basis...this just opens the door to more and more niche circumstances getting special treatment, and that does bug me.