Old Favorite Peanut Butter on More Schools’ Toxic List

Taking aim at a time-honored fixture of the school lunch box, a growing number of schools are outlawing the peanut butter sandwich in an effort to combat a steady increase in food-allergic reactions among children.

Experts estimate that about 5% of the nation’s children under 6 are allergic to peanuts, making it one of the leading food allergies for youngsters. In severe cases, exposure to the legume can be life-threatening.

Most of the peanut bans appear to be taking place in private schools. But public schools are also beginning to address the issue and have in some cases imposed voluntary bans on peanuts in the school.

The crackdown is far from universally supported--even among allergy awareness groups. The Food Allergy Network, a nonprofit organization based in Virginia, opposed such bans, saying they are unrealistic, difficult to enforce and require parents and teachers to scrutinize the ingredients of every lunch item.

Moreover, peanut growers point out that their products are healthy food choices for the vast majority of children. “Peanut butter is high in protein, has the right kind of fat . . . parents don’t have to worry about it spoiling, and it’s economical,” said Jeannette Anderson, president of the American Peanut Council.

But for a small number of children, such as second-grader Ariella Rams, peanut butter can be deadly--even if contained in cookies or soup.

Ariella’s school, Lomarena Elementary in Laguna Hills, is instituting a voluntary ban this fall, asking children in her grade to refrain from packing snacks and lunches with any peanut products.

“The bottom line is Ariella’s safety,” Principal Sharon Vestermark said. “It has in many cases been an inconvenience for the other parents, but we have to put the life of this child first.”

Added Ariella’s mother, Gay Yellen-Rams: “The right to life supersedes the right of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

A few private schools, including the Trinity School in New York City, are among those that don’t allow peanut butter. Several schools in Canada have also banned the product. A Minneapolis school now requires students munching on a PB&J; to sit at a separate table.

A private Huntington Beach school has banned lunch swapping after a student died at home after eating a protein bar with a trace of peanut butter.

And the Orange County Department of Education is planning to equip all public schools with injectable medications to counteract life-threatening allergic reactions by fall. A North Hollywood school already has the medications and has trained its staff to use them.

Allergists Say Threat Is Worsening

To the allergy-uninitiated, all this may sound like a great deal of fuss on the part of overprotective baby boomer parents and school officials terrified of liability. But allergists say the threat is real, and growing.

Childhood deaths in the United States, Canada and Europe due to extreme allergic reactions have increased, according to a report completed this month by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Those severe reactions, known as anaphylaxis, are characterized by a rapid drop in blood pressure and sudden swelling of the upper and lower respiratory tracts. For such children, even touching peanuts or inhaling their scent can set off a reaction.

Because the study has not been officially released, the academy would not release numbers or other details, but it is recommending that schools develop a system of identifying children with severe allergies and have a game plan for treating them in life-threatening situations.

Some physicians, such as pediatric allergist Robert Zeiger of San Diego, blame the higher number of serious peanut allergies on earlier exposure. Giving infants highly allergenic foods often affects the immune system’s response to the food, and many allergists recommend against introducing peanut products to children until age 3. Zeiger conducted a study showing that about 80% of infants had received some peanut butter by their second birthday.

Dr. Hugh Sampson, a food-allergy specialist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, said allergic reactions to peanuts among children have risen over the last 10 years, along with other types of food allergies. He attributes the jump in large part to the fact that children are exposed to more types of foods at an early age.

Allergic reactions to peanuts tend to be more severe and more long-lasting than other allergies; most allergies to milk, eggs, wheat and soy are outgrown by age 3. Not so with peanuts. The reactions tend to worsen with age, experts said.

The legume--despite the name, a peanut is not a nut--presents a special problem at schools, where it is a ubiquitous item in lunch boxes.

Away from the watchful eyes of parents and near “swap tables,” where unwanted food is traded, kids in school risk accidental ingestion of peanuts, said Dr. Scott Sicherer, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Mount Sinai medical school.

Even so, peanut bans are unpopular with most parents, who can find packing a school lunch tough even without them. Even fussy eaters tend to like a PB&J;, which has the added advantage of not spoiling quickly in unrefrigerated lunch boxes.

Ariella, the allergic student at Lomarena Elementary, is philosophical about her dangerous condition. “My sister says that it’s good I’m allergic to peanut butter because it doesn’t taste so good anyways,” she said good-naturedly.

But while her school was supportive, her mother caught some flak from parents who said she was being overprotective.

“They have to think if it was their child who could possibly die from an allergy,” she said.

That fear became reality for Barbara Flanagan of Fountain Valley, who is preparing for the two-year anniversary of her son’s death from a peanut allergy.

Joey Flanagan, 12, nibbled on a supposedly peanut-free protein bar and complained of itchy hands and painful ears. Seven minutes after biting into the bar, which turned out to have trace amounts of peanuts, Joey was dead.

After Joey was diagnosed at 18 months with a severe peanut allergy, Flanagan had talked to teachers and students in her son’s private school, Sts. Simon and Jude in Huntington Beach, about her son’s allergy.

“I don’t think anyone at his school really knew that he could die from this,” she said. “I heard later through the grapevine that some parents thought I was overdramatizing Joey’s condition.”

Tragedy Sparks a Drastic Step

Though Joey’s death occurred at home, it prompted Sts. Simon and Jude to outlaw all food swapping and enforce the ban rigidly.

“Our kids don’t swap food due to various food allergies,” said administrative assistant Kathy Unverferth. “We have lunch monitors who make sure that the kids don’t throw any food out but put it in their lunch bags and bring it home.”

Sherrill Remba of Studio City first learned about her daughter’s allergy after a kindergarten project last year.

Rachel Remba joined her class in making bird feeders by spreading peanut butter on a pine cone and rolling it in birdseed.

“She developed hives around her eyes just from touching the peanut butter,” said Remba, who is a dietitian. “I didn’t even know how serious peanut allergies can be.”

The Los Angeles Unified School District will provide parents with a full list of ingredients and a nutritional breakdown of a school hot lunch, said Carol Noelting, deputy director for the Los Angeles district’s food services branch.

“If a doctor writes a note about a child’s allergy and gives it to the cafeteria manager, the school is required to provide alternative entrees,” she said.

Any steps beyond that are handled on an individual basis by each campus, said Suzanne Rue, a nurse with the district.

Rachel is among three students at the Carpenter Avenue School in North Hollywood who have severe peanut allergies. The school has stocked adrenaline kits and taught teachers and staff how to use them.

“We are trained to give the shot into an orange, so we can actually practice and feel the kickback” of the shot, Principal Joan Marks said.

Among the upper grades, the problem hasn’t been swapping so much as deliberate pranksterism.

Ryan Morgan, 10, was happily eating a peanut-free lunch at a cafeteria table at Hope View Elementary School in Huntington Beach last year when he got up to fetch some napkins. A fellow student, who often teased Ryan about his allergies, plucked a muffin from Ryan’s lunch box and smeared it with peanut butter. Luckily, another boy saw the prank and warned Ryan, who is deathly allergic to nuts, not to touch his lunch.

“People don’t believe you when you say the allergy is fatal,” said his mother, Patty Morgan of Huntington Beach. “They think you’re being paranoid about it.”

That paranoia is familiar to Susie and Alan Zack of Yorba Linda, who are worried about their son Darren, 16, who just entered Esperanza High School in Anaheim.

“Kids in junior high threw peanuts at him every once in a while,” Alan Zack said.

The Orange County Department of Education is preparing an effort to put in every public school by fall kits with needles and adrenaline to treat anaphylaxis. It is working with school PTAs and soliciting donations to pay for the kits.

“If a child has a reaction to peanuts, we’ll have the means to save their lives,” said Sandy Landry, administrator for health and wellness programs. “I know peanut butter should be a friend of every kid . . . but when you have a kid who is truly allergic, it’s a killer.”