WOMAN WITH PEANUT ALLERGY FORCED OFF OF PLANE

I saw a news story today that sparked interest. It was about a woman who was forced to take another flight because of an allergy to peanuts. She'd asked the stewardesses not to serve peanuts for a snack and they refused and asked her to take another flight.

Normally I'd be enraged by this, because having a young daughter with a severe allergy to nuts automatically puts me on the side of the allergic. However, from the news article, this woman was a bit of an idiot. But obviously I don't know HER side of the story.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2010/02/26/calgary-woman-peanutallergy.html

Here are my comments regarding the article. I would say I was shocked at the other comments, but I'm not. People are STILL very ignorant regarding allergies. For my daughter, I will do my best to educate as many as I can as to WHY peanut allergies are more dangerous than other food allergies.

This woman needs to give her head a shake and make special arrangements BEFORE getting on a plane next time! To expect the airline to make changes last minute is absurd. What the airline did to her (though unfortunate) is exactly what she did to them in the first place!

Her stupidity aside, there are a lot of ignorant comments here. I was ignorant in regards to allergies once, too (and now I have a loved one with allergies and have been educated on the matter).

Peanuts are not your regular allergen. What makes peanuts different is that it takes A VERY SMALL AMOUNT OF PEANUT PROTEIN FOR A BIG BAD REACTION compared to other foods where you typically need a large amount of protein for a large reaction. Being in the same room is enough for some people to have a deathly reaction. Touching Something that someone who has eaten peanuts has touched can cause a fatal reaction in many peanut allergic people. With peanuts, it is not a matter of just don't eat them.

I can't imagine any of you (including the ignorant or self important) want to have a hand in somebody's suffering or death. It's not like they are suffering severe allergies because they made bad choices in life.

And lady, next time, call ahead, because YOU have to be responsible for your allergies BEFORE you expect others to be! I hope you were smart enough to have a couple of EpiPens with you, or did you expect the airline to deal with that, too?

There was an article I read a year or so ago about a severely peanut allergic woman who was trying to sue Starbucks because some tool behind the counter told her that a yogurt parfait (with granola) that they were selling didn't have nuts. The label did not indicate nuts. It's infuriating that the label did not have a warning, but any peanut allergic person SHOULD know NOT to eat something that MIGHT have been made in a plant that also uses peanuts. Any peanut allergic person should also know not to trust the high-school kid behind the counter at Starbucks OR trust labels! Anything with granola should be a big red flag! AND, and this is a BIG AND, any severely peanut allergic person SHOULD CARRY AN EPI PEN! She wasn't. Hey lady, I want to sue YOU because you're an idiot.

This article is 100% PEANUT & TREE NUT FREE! Written by a loony, but not a nut!