Now peanut butter is under attack at the schoolhouse door. Prodded by parents warning of lethal allergies, by the contentions of some researchers that peanut allergies are on the rise and, not least, by a fear of litigation, growing numbers of public and private schools across the country, including many of New York City's most selective independent schools, have banned peanut butter from their cafeterias. Others have declared peanut-free zones or set up committees to figure out what to do. School officials find themselves balancing the rare risk of death against the danger of being swept up in a faddish hysteria and of trying to anticipate potential legal repercussions of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. Even those who wonder if the bans have gone too far fear that if they do not act aggressively, they may face liability lawsuits and accusations of discrimination against children disabled by a peanut allergy.
Children are well aware of the debate.
I mean, if you kept it here, then they might eat like some kind of food with nuts in it, then something bad would happen, then the next thing you know there would be somebody in the cafeteria that's dead, that's all. The Centers for Disease Control report only 88 deaths among all Americans from food allergies, including peanut, in the 17 years from 1979 through 1995. But allergists supported by the food allergies network contend that fatalities are underreported, and that 0.5 to 1 percent of all Americans suffer from peanut allergies. The network estimates that 125 people die every year from all kinds of food allergies, the majority from peanuts. Dr. A. Wesley Burks, a pediatric allergist at the University of Arkansas who is supported by the network, said the centers' statistics understate the incidence of these reactions.