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Banning Peanut Butter The Nanny State is at it again! The Department of Transportation, in a letter date August. 12, has demanded the airlines make a three row section of each plane "peanut free" if anyone requests. That, by the way, does not satisfy the Peanut Free proponents, because they contend that some even smaller number of people can have a reaction to peanut dust in the air and that might be spread by the air circulation system. Southwest Airlines has offered to make any particular flight Peanut Free upon specific request, and with 875,000 domestic flights yearly they get only 10 requests. The Department of Transportation, quizzed by Rep. Chambliss (R-Ala), could not cite a single instance where a person had an allergic reaction to peanuts. Nevertheless, the Law of Averages says that there have been such reaction -- as there have undoubtedly been to almost every natural and synthetic material in existence. The Department of Transportation uses the 1986 Air Carrier Access Act, requiring carriers to accommodate flyers with disabilities. All of this because a miniscule number of people in the population is allergic to peanuts. There is hardly anything in the world that someone, somewhere is not allergic to -- so what is the criteria we are establishing? Are we to ban everything that someone, somewhere is allergic to? Peanuts don't have the Mothers of America, United to defend them, but the campaign might just fall to the laughter factor. When there was a concerted campaign to ban perfume because of an occasional allergic reaction the Mothers of America, United put that campaign to rest immediately. They did the same to the radicals who wanted to take away their SUVs. They may yet be heard in the Peanut Debate -- and their voice is decisive in all debates, witness their support for President Clinton. The Peanut Debate will be settled by them also, and since they can be swayed by children most easily, their position is in the balance. Appropriately, the Food Allergy Network's Founder and president is the mother of a child who has a milk and egg allergy. The Food Allergy Network estimates that 1% to 2% of the population suffers from some food allergy -- probably an inflated estimate, as is normal for special interest groups. Homosexuals claim 10% of the population, while every study has shown the actual number to be closer to 3%. The Food Allergy Network does not support the banning of peanuts, but only because it would not help people with fish, wheat, milk of egg allergies -- but the organization does support the ruling by the Department of Transportation. One New York school district has banned peanuts in all forms. Many other school systems are considering banning peanuts. Will the next decade bring us the Risk Free Society? |
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