Should Schools Ban Peanut Butter? Finding a Solution

Recently, schools have been debating about banning peanut butter. Here are the pros and cons of doing so, as well as my take on steps to a possible solution.
Why The Ban Could Be Positive

less peanut allergy incidents

less confusion during lunch and snacks

less probability of children accidentally sharing these items with the wrong classmate

less worry for the children

less chance of death - peanut allergies can kill

Why The Ban Could Be Negative

students who truly love peanut butter would be missing out

doesn't allow children to have a particular healthy food

singles children out

creates a false sense of security, as there is still the potential of students sneaking in items

sends the wrong message - Out in the world, children need to learn how to avoid the things that affect their health. In the banned scenario, they wouldn't learn how to do that.

Getting To The Solution

Instead of completely banning peanut butter, schools could ban outside peanuts and peanut butter. That simply means that students could not bring peanuts or peanut butter to school with them. The cafeteria could still contain these items. However, it would be more controlled because the staff would know which children received the peanut and peanut butter items. Then, the students with peanut allergies can be seated at a seperate allergy table, as some schools already do.

To make this effective, the staff would have to restrict the peanut butter use to only individuals without the allergy. Also, they would need to make sure these items did not leave their designated areas or come in contact with the wrong child.

For instance, the waste receptacles (trash cans) for the children with allergies will need to be seperate from those that may contain peanuts. Either that, or the staff would need to clean up after the kids with the allergies so that they would not touch the same areas as the children who just touched touched peanut items.

The students may even need to have seperate washing areas for after lunch because of possible peanut contamination. I am sure there are many other precautions that would need to take place, which is likely the reason that some schools would rather ban peanut butter. They may not want to deal with all these extra precautions or take the risk that could be deadly.

Whether the ban takes place or not, I do think that all students with allergies need to wear medical bracelets saying so and the staff as well as parents need to let the children know what they are and what they mean, even including why they cannot touch someone with one of those bracelets if they have eaten anything with peanut butter in the last 24 hours. As with everything, the best prevention of an accident is often proper education. With an ingredient so widely used, though, that may not even possible.

This is a very difficult thing to consider because even if a ban were to be imposed, that would not stop students from eating the peanut butter or products containing it at their homes. Many people, even when trying to avoid it, will not always know if it is contained in something they consume.

In the end, I do suggest it is best to go ahead and ban to be safer, but, as I stated above, there are still possibilities of outside contamination that cannot always be avoided, no matter how careful everyone is.

Sources:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/377701/more_schools_ban_peanut_butter.html

To read more from this author, please click on her avatar picture above.