By: Sahra Mohamed
Should schools ban common known allergies to avoid a life threatening scenario? Gone are the days when it comes to children sharing their peanut butter & jelly sandwiches in class.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “More than a quarter of U.S adults and children have at least one allergy”. In Western Countries, there’s an increasing rate of allergies and asthma. In fact, anaphylaxis cases are on the rise and more people are being allergic to a variety of food groups. With many children developing air borne allergies, teachers have to be mindful and be prepared to use an epipen if a child is anaphylactic.
In a article posted by the National Library of Medicine, physicians reported that most common food allergies in Canadian children were peanuts, tree nuts, cow’s milk, eggs, fruits, fish and shellfish. As someone who has a life threatening allergy and went into an anaphylactic shock as a child, it’s crucial that schools and companies take extra caution. Certain foods should not be allowed in classrooms because children may not understand the severity of their allergies. If a child has a nut allergy but loves chocolate and eats a chocolate peanut butter bar in class by accident, this can create a devastating outcome.Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) stated that 85 million Americans are living with life threatening food allergies. There’s been a 377% increase and a food allergy reaction is sending someone to the hospital every 3 minutes.Remember these statistics the next time you send your child to school. If your child doesn’t have allergies, you wouldn’t want anyone to suffer from their peanut butter & jelly sandwich.
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