Suppose I bring a bag of Planters Peanuts on a plane with me, and someone has an allergic reaction and dies. Can I be held responsible? (Of course, this could apply on any form of public transportation - train, bus, ferry, etc.)
You should check with the airline whether or not passengers are allowed to bring their own food and drink on board, and, if they are, whether or not there are any restrictions. ETA same for other transport; I certainly recall taking some buses with “no food/drink” clearly posted and some trains where it was allowed and snacks (including nuts) were sold on board.
In most, if not all commercial airlines I have never seen a prohibition on bringing your own food items on board.
I have never seen any criminal ordinances were I have a duty to protect others from their own food allergies. Now if suspected that someone was allergic to peanuts, and I pulled out my giant jar of Skippy and smeared peanut butter all over their face and forced it into their mouth making them ingest it, then that’s another story, but I don’t believe that’s what the OP is considering.
Casual airborne contamination, should be the concern of the person with the allergy and they should take the appropriate steps to not put themselves in the public where casual contact is likely.
I have twice flown on an airplane when they made a gate announcement that there would be a person with a peanut allergy on board and no one should eat peanut items on the plane. The first time I had brought a baggie of peanut cereal for my breakfast. I ate it quickly in the gate area and then went to the bathroom to wash my hands before boarding.
I would imagine that you might get in trouble if you deliberately brought peanuts on board after being told not to, especially if you argued with flight attendants about it. But as long as no food restrictions are posted or announced, you should be in the clear.
Me neither. It wouldn’t make sense to have places like Hudson News shops located past the security line and right next to the gates that sell peanuts, chips, candy, etc. and then be told you can’t bring them aboard.
… especially now that most airlines have cut back or eliminated in-flight meals and snacks.
Diabetics who use insulin should ALWAYS have snacks on them. It could be just as much a matter of living/dying as someone else’s allergy. Usually it’s something full of sugar rather than peanuts, though.
What possible good would that do? Thousands of bags of peanuts have already been opened on that plane, spreading peanut detritus throughout the cabin. Anyone with a peanut allergy that severe is taking their life in their hands, even if a temporary peanut ban is announced. If they don’t have a reaction anyway, it is all in their head.
There are probably lots of commercial planes still in service on which peanuts were served as snacks, and abundant traces of peanut still to be found on board despite the best efforts :dubious: of cabin cleaners. And plenty of passengers would have nut fragments or essence on their clothing even if they didn’t eat nut products on board.
If contact/inhalation of these micro-traces of peanut was a serious problem for the peanut-allergic, there’d be anaphylactic reactions and deaths on a daily basis.
That degree of ultra-sensitivity should be ultra-rare, and those who have it would be better off not flying.
Given this recent incident, I anticipate a day not too far off when all food will be prohibited in the passenger cabin, while a motley assortment of service animals runs amuck down the aisles.
This. People don’t have allergic reactions from being in a room with a peanut. They’ve, very understandably, become fearful of peanuts, and the sight/smell is causing a panic attack, which can mimic the symptoms of anaphylaxis to a degree. Of course, the airline may have a real interest in stopping that from happening too.
(A very similar panic is now spreading through police circles, with the idea that cops are being poisoned just by touching fentanyl or people who have used it. But they’re also just having panic attacks, and delaying treatment for actual OD victims in the process.)
My wife has severe nut allergies and we fly about 3-4 times per year. She doesn’t make mention of it to the airline and often they are serving peanuts on the flight. She just keeps clear of them and watches what she touches on the plane.
The only restaurants she really has to avoid completely are those that have the novelty complimentary peanuts everywhere. Five Guys and Texas Roadhouse are definitely out.
Who are y’all flying with? I haven’t been given anything but pretzels in years and years on United and AA.
Southwest recently decided to stop serving peanuts:
My daughter is, the tests say, highly allergic to peanuts, perhaps so much so that she’s the kid who theoretically needs the “nut-free table” at school. IRL, it’s not so serious. I keep peanuts in the house sometimes with no problems and have eaten peanuts around her with no problems. I’m not sure what the threshold would be for someone so sensitive that residual peanut dust would be an issue, but give the ubiquity of peanuts, how likely are people like this to be on a commercial flight?
When did the peanut allergy become so prevalent? As a kid growing up in the 70’s and 80’s, I never met a single person that had a peanut/tree nut allergy. My high school had 2,600 kids in it. No kids with nut allergies.
Today, you can’t swing a stick around in a classroom, without hitting at least 2-3 kids with nut allergies. None of our kids have nut allergies. We started feeding them peanut butter when they were toddlers, 18 months onward.
We have friends whose kid is very allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. The mother swore off nuts when she was pregnant, because, what if the fetus is allergic to nuts. The kid was never given any nuts as a baby or toddler. They had him tested at age 4 or 5 for allergies, and sure enough he was allergic.
I feel like I should know this by now, in one direction or another …
[deep breath]
For all intents and purposes, isn’t it true that a peanut-dust death from anaphylactic shock has never actually happened? I mean an absolutely established, all-non-crackpot authorities agree, death by stray airborne peanut protein molecules?
[/deep breath]
I know that anecdotes of extreme peanut allergies are legion. But in the scenario given in the OP – that specific scenario – is there any appreciable danger to a peanut-allergic person? Someone in the first row of first class opens a bag of peanuts … it’s a patent impossibility that a peanut-allergic person in the back of coach would have any physical effects at all, right?
For someone with the postulated severe reactions to peanut vapor, I doubt it would be safe to drive past a Texas Roadhouse with the car windows open.
Anecdotally: at least around here, peanut-free lunchrooms have never been a thing at either of my kids’ schools (ca. 2007 - present). I wonder if the diagnoses of peanut allergies has perhaps been decreasing since the early-2000s? Or else allergists are guiding parents of peanut-allergic children to combat the allergy differently in recent years.
For instance, my anecdotal understanding is that circa 20 years ago, if a small child had so much as a skin reaction to peanuts – but no anaphylaxis or anything like that – an allergist was likely to advise the parents to nuke peanuts from orbit – no peanut dust, no peanuts in their kid’s school, etc. Maybe these days, more is understood about peanut allergies and such extreme avoidance is suggested less often?
Peanut allergies are increasing:
https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/as-peanut-allergies-rise-trying-to-determine-a-cause/
That article cites information from 2010 – I wonder what is cutting-edge medical practice and advice regarding peanut allergies today?
Honey Roasted Peanuts anyone?