01-02-2004 15:01									#1
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I can't stop thinking about this story, and I want the opinions of other poly members.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/0...y.ap/index.html

I think we were discussing a story similar to this a few months ago, I cannot remember.

But basically this kid is very allergic to peanuts and has asthma. They are trying to force the public schools to accomidate him.

I do feel for this kid. He has virtually no education his whole life.

But this story troubles me for some reason. I do care about those less fortunate than myself, but at what limit should I continue to care?

It can come to a point in which it would be cheaper to hire a private tutor for this kid rather than continue with the high legal costs and special changes that would have to be made to accomidate him. Or perhaps there should be a school for "special" children.

What troubles me is that other schools have stopped serving peanuts and peanut related products. Peanuts are an important source of protein and studies have shown that it is better than red meats in terms of health benefits.

I am saddened that the rate of peanut allergic children have doubled. Why are so many people becoming allergic? What is wrong with the children? What are we doing wrong to cause allergies to everything to increase so drastically?

But what also bothers me is how sensitive this kid is. If we have a kid who can die just by shaking hands with someone. Wouldn't it be dangerous for this kid to even be out in public. What if he shakes hands with somebody out in public. He could die? I think we head down the road in which peanuts are eventually banned in the U.S. And I love peanuts. I don't want that to happen.

well anyways, I'm tired, I may not be making any sense here. It is sad that people are so allergic. And I may sound selfish. But should we go about reconfiguring our entire society to accomidate the minority?

	01-02-2004 15:04									#2
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0/10

	01-02-2004 15:07									#3
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this is not a troll... for once

come on!! This kid can't even shake hands with someone!! I'm not saying to kill him. What kind of sicko do you think I am.

	01-02-2004 15:08									#4
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That evil commienazi!
We should shove him out of a helicopter!

	01-02-2004 15:09									#5
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He can't shake hands with others?



Are their hands peanuts?

	01-02-2004 15:11									#6
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no but they could have touched peanuts recently. The article states he had an allergic reaction after shaking hands with someone.

That's scary.

	01-02-2004 15:11									#7
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quote: Originally posted by Dissident I'm not saying to kill him. What kind of sicko do you think I am.

You live in Las Vegas. What does that tell you?

	01-02-2004 15:13									#8
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I like to live somewhere interesting that has many job opportunities.

Plus I like to live where I grew up.

	01-02-2004 15:18									#9
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I have to agree with Diss. Those unfortunate kids who can die from a brief exposure to the sun are in harm's way when going to public schools; they have special schools and camps of their own. If a kid is so sickly that anything resembling normal exposure could hurt them they shouldn't be accomidated inside of public schools. Instead, divert some public money from the school district's budget (or adequet tax breaks or other finacial help) to cover the costs of home schooling the child under conditions that wouldn't endanger him. I know schools estimate how much they spend per student in a fiscal year, so they should alot that much for such children enrolled in their district so that these children are enriched educationally like other children. They might never lead a normal life, but at least they can still learn about life.

	01-02-2004 15:21									#10
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It is sad yeah.

I don't eat peanuts. Don't like the bastards. I'm fit and healthy irregardless (yay. I've been trying to use that word in something all week ) of not having peanuts.

	01-02-2004 15:22									#11
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I hate people who use that word.

	01-02-2004 15:25									#12
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What word, Tass?

	01-02-2004 15:28									#13
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Irregardless

	01-02-2004 15:31									#14
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Oh, I was SO hoping it was "bastard."

	01-02-2004 15:33									#15
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Mormons really hate that word, along with "God" "Jesus" "Damn" "Hot" "Sex" "Porn" "Ungodly", amongst others.
It's ironic...Unless your inside a church, saying God can really get you in trouble...And yes, I'm referring to it in the context of god

	01-02-2004 15:41									#16
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quote: Originally posted by Flip McWho (yay. I've been trying to use that word in something all week )

* Urban Ranger puts Flip McWho on the * list.

	01-02-2004 16:32									#17
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Hahahaha all this over one word.

	01-02-2004 19:09									#18
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It's not a word.

	01-02-2004 20:38									#19
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if I had things my way, we'd be like the Romans and Greeks... leaving weak infants to the wolves.

	01-02-2004 22:21									#20
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In this child's instance, complying with his needs could be enough to disturb the regular education process for other students--depending upon how much you need to do to comply.

If it's merely a peanut ban, then that's acceptable, and he can go to school.

But if his case requires something more complicated than that, and other students' class time is interrupted on a regular basis, then the family must unfortunately start looking at other options than regular public school.

---

quote: But should we go about reconfiguring our entire society to accomidate the minority?

You're exaggerating. We aren't "reconfiguring our entire society" if we ban peanuts in a school, putz.

---

I feel sorry for these guys once they get older. If it's a very severe reaction or they're very sensitive, they won't even be able to go grocery shopping.

But I don't think all 600,000 of those are actually this kid's kind of life-threatening reactions to the mere existance of a single bit of peanut. Most of them are probably just non-life-threatening reactions to actually eating it.

If they all were like this kid's case, then this would be a lot bigger news story than it is now.

	01-02-2004 22:57									#21
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Why can't his teacher be trained to recognise the symptoms of anaphylaxis and to administer his medicine if he needs it? Come to think of it, since he's 11 years old, why can't he do it himself?
My daughter has two friends who are allergic to peanuts, one of whom had a reaction under circumstances similar to the episode which occured after shaking hands described in the article. My daughter's friend had a reaction after sitting on a chair that had some peanut butter candy on it! Despite this both kids live nearly normal lives.
It was once suggested that I be set back a grade because my asthmatic wheezing bothered the other kids in my class. The proposal went to the point where the school principal called my parents in for a meeting to explain how my breathing was disturbing the class. Dad called her bluff by asking for tangible proof that those around me had suffered academically. Unable to provide such proof an agreement was struck that I would attempt to wheeze less obtrusively. Boy, things sure were better in the good ol' days weren't they?

	01-02-2004 23:06									#22
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One aspect of the peanut allergy problem that we could do something about is to reverse the FDA ruling allowing food manufacturers to switch vegetable oils in their products without identifying the specific oil used in the product on the label. Years ago FDA rules required manufacturers to identify each ingredient in a product specifically. If a manufqacturer wanted to change an ingredient he would have to change the label also. Manufacturers discovered that they could often change oils in their product taking advantage of the cheapest oil available without compromising the taste. They asked for and got the right to be able put on the label of their product the generic term "vegetable oils".

	01-02-2004 23:09									#23
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quote: Originally posted by Guynemer It's not a word.

Irregardless of what you believe, irregardless is a word. It's in many dictionaries.

	01-02-2004 23:13									#24
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Let's see I have:

A messed up lung from surgery have it collasped (IE: PAIN)
A right lung that's heading the same way (PAIN)
Three hurneated discs (PAIN)
Due to the pain I barely move, and muscles are contracted from lack of use (PAIN)

I also have allergies to anything that grows outside basicly and have SinuSides.

Oh and ADD.

FUN!

	01-02-2004 23:15									#25
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Dude,
do not breed.

	01-02-2004 23:26									#26
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AFAIK, all of those could be treated with Genetic Engineering.

	01-02-2004 23:37									#27
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ir·re·gard·less ( P ) Pronunciation Key (r-gärdls)
adv. Nonstandard
Regardless.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Probably blend of irrespective, and regardless.]
Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.

	01-02-2004 23:39									#28
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quote: Originally posted by Dr Strangelove It was once suggested that I be set back a grade because my asthmatic wheezing bothered the other kids in my class.

I found this funny. Assuming your wheezing WAS bothersome, how does moving you back a grade help?? Wouldn'y you just be bothering some different people??

	01-02-2004 23:39									#29
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quote: Originally posted by chegitz guevara Dude, do not breed.

Dude,
do not breed either.


And besides, it was the doc that screwed up. So my DNA is just fine.

	01-02-2004 23:41									#30
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Oh and while some people are too weak to live . . . by definition, they die.

Peanut allergies are prevalent enough that I see no issue with some forms of peanut bans. Heck they advise new parents not to expose their babies to nuts , again for the fear of an allergy. AS DR Strangelove points out, most of these allegic folks live pretty normal lives with maybe an occasional worrisome incident