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Air Canada Ordered To Provide Nut-Free Zone
JamJam writes "Air Canada has been told to create a special 'buffer zone' on flights for people who are allergic to nuts. The Canadian Transportation Agency has ruled that passengers who have nut allergies should be considered disabled and accommodated by the airline. Air Canada has a month to come up with an appropriate section of seats where passengers with nut allergies would be seated. The ruling involved a complaint from Sophia Huyer, who has a severe nut allergy and travels frequently. Ms. Huyer once spent 40 minutes in the washroom during a flight while snacks were being served."
In some cases, if the allergy is severe enough, it's enough to be in the same room/space as whatever you are allergic to.
CBC story about Air Canada having to provide nut-free zones on account of allergies...
...and another CBC story about Air Canada allowing pets in their cabins starting in July. Err...
Many people with severe nut allergies can suffer serious allergic reactions on contact with nuts, even things that come in contact with nuts. Your skin is quite happy to absorb many things that get on it.
Platform advocacy is like choosing a favorite severely developmentally disabled child.
The potential for cross-contamination with nuts is surprisingly high. Just a little bit of peanut in the wrong place can be deadly. For this reason, entire school districts are "nut-free" with kids actually getting in trouble for bringing peanut butter sandwiches to school. I'm not sure if it's a good thing (protect the small population that has a severe nut allergy) or a bad thing (inconvenience everyone else), but apparently a lot of people do care about this issue.
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Well, Air Canada didn't allow pets in the cabin until recently. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090617/cabin_pets_090617/20090617
Funny Story:
My sister was flying somewhere for a class trip. Stupid kids being stupid kids someone started a food fight and she ended up getting decked with a peanut butter cookie. My sister is severely allergic to nuts. The only thing that saved her life and everyone else getting diverted was the fact she had an emergency epi pen in pocket and was able to use it.
While I find this story a bit silly, I can understand this woman's plight. I think I would be rather upset if an airline told my sister to piss off because she was allergic to nuts. Breathing in the smell of peanuts is enough to make it hard for her to breath. We could never use peanut oil at home for this reason. I just don't really see a good solution other then not serving nuts on a flight with an allergic. Which is reasonable on a case by case basis in my opinion. There just isn't a real good solution to make everyone happy.
Flying with Air Canada it helps if you are nuts.
Those nut allergic people should be forced to watch the movie Gattaca whilst flying and thank god that fiction hasn't become reality (yet)
From the TFA "She wants all nuts banned from all airlines."
- Peace
Free as in "the Truth shall set you..."
Really, not a joke, serious proposal: can't we just force everyone to eat peanuts, lots of peanuts, and let Nature take its course? In one generation just get rid of these allergies once and for all. I prefer that to altering everyone's lives to accomodate an allergy that a tiny percentage of the population has.
Speaking as someone whom your proposal would kill, I'm gonna say... no.
Besides, you're assuming that allergies are 100% genetic in origin, while current research seems to indicate a combination of genetic and environmental factors. A single generation isn't going to do it.
Plenty of U.S. carriers at least allow small animals in the cabin in pet carriers.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Fortunately, aircraft generally carry hydrocortisone, chlorpheniramine, and epinephrine for just such emergencies, and probably even a scalpel for an emergency in-flight tracheostomy if necessary. You're probably a heck of a lot safer on an airplane than you are on a bus in that regard.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
There are surgical treatments that can get rid of the extreme obesity. Usually, when you lose enough weight, type II diabetes basically goes away on its own. The obesity is not caused by the diabetes. The diabetes is caused by the obesity. Admittedly, this is not always true (about 15% of people with type II diabetes are not obese), but it's usually a pretty safe bet. At a minimum, losing the weight will reduce the frequency of needing insulin injections, will make the diabetes more likely to be controllable through diet alone, and will reduce the risk of heart disease and numerous other health problems caused by inactivity brought on by severe obesity.
Seriously, if you're in the morbidly obese range, diabetic or not, you should look into gastric bypass surgery or other similar treatments. You might also consider eating more frequently, but eating smaller portions. This can significantly reduce weight without making you feel bad.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
It's actually a form of therapy for some allergies. Whether it works for Peanuts I don't know. I'd guess if the allergy is potentially life threatening, it would require a lot of medical attention, if tried at all.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Sure, if the lack of leg room causes you to swell up and die.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller's_thrombosis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_vein_thrombosis
I realize this is Slashdot, dammit but peanuts are not nuts; they are legumes. However, the tendency amongst us is to lump these legumes in with actual nuts, gonads and any unrelated item that can produce a snicker. Please continue.
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
Peanuts are not nuts, they are a legume (bean). I'm not trying to be pedantic. This actually makes a difference as far as allergies are concerned, specifically that peanut allergies and general nut allergies are completely independent. My mom has nut allergies, and eating something with nuts, or cooked with nuts, will cause her to swell up. Conversely, my uncle can eat nuts, but peanuts may require him to take a trip to the hospital.
What kind of airlines do you fly on? All the major U.S. domestic carriers do, as far as I can tell. Just now spot-checked Continental, Delta, United, and Southwest.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Pulled that out of your ass did you!
Number of deaths due to allergic reactions to nuts in US last year according to cdc 0
Number in last 10 years 0
Danger is from nuts in the seats not nuts in a bag!
The problem is compounded that as you get exposed to things your are allergic to you gain a tolerance. Parents get there children tested for allergies at an early age and act like any exposure will kill them. Now my son was tested and was allergic to peanuts, through small exposures he now enjoys the stuff at age 5, and had all of a slight tummy ache and rash when he first ate it. This is not a disability it's people living in bubbles and trying to enforce those bubbles on everybody else.
No sir I dont like it.
So you feel the needs of the one, outweigh the needs of the many? The masks are not uncomfortable. I wear one when doing the lawn to control my allergies.
Same principal.
Total number of food allergy deaths per year in the US appears to be about 11. That's all foods though, not just nuts.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/meredith-broussard/food-allergy-deaths-less_b_151462.html
A secondary source, I know, but it sums things up reasonably well.
there are two adjectives and two nouns:
private place, private property - your house
public place, private property - an aircraft
private place, public property - the mayor's office (the actual room)
public place, public property - the street
A place can be public, despite being privately owned. I assumed that I'd made that pretty abundantly clear by using all four words in that sentence, but obviously I hadn't. The airline will sell a ticket to anyone who has the money on a non-preferential basis, this means that the plane is open to the public, and is a public place.
Just think about a law which applies to behaviour in a public place, and ask yourself "does this apply on an aircraft?"
FGD 135