School acts to ban peanut products

NATASHA MARTIN/Timaru Herald

LIFE OR DEATH: Harriet Duffield, 5, is fatally allergic to peanuts and carries an EpiPen with her at all times in case of any reaction.

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A MOVE to ban nut products from children's lunch boxes is nothing to joke about, one Timaru family knows most of all.

Five-year-old Harriet Duffield has been at Sacred Heart School only a week but already a policy has been put in place and a notice gone in the newsletter asking parents not to send peanut products to school.

Mother Janine Duffield said Harriet had never eaten peanuts. As a baby she had needed only to touch peanut butter to go into anaphylactic shock and swell so severely the doctors warned any future contact could mean death.

So far Mrs Duffield has had two supportive education centres for her daughter's requirements.

At a Montessori-based Timaru pre-school, procedures were put in place and it was made a peanut-free childcare centre.

When she started at Sacred Heart Mrs Duffield was surprised to find Harriet was a sole case.

"I thought Harriet wouldn't be the first because it's quite common now."

However, she said the school had been excellent putting up peanut-free signs and checking lunch boxes around Harriet.

Other parents have also been very understanding, she said.

"I just think if you put yourself in the position. I wouldn't want to send something to school if it was going to harm someone else's child.

`It's different to an intolerance, it's different to an allergy, it will kill her. She won't just get sick for a few days, she will actually die."

Mrs Duffield said some people didn't realise the severity. Harriet carries an EpiPen on her at all times and wears a medic-alert bracelet.

The EpiPen costs $163, not subsidised by the Government, contains one shot and has a shelf life of just one year.

The peanut ban does not exclude too many items, while products that say "contains nuts" are out, products that say "may contain a trace of nuts" are fine.

The move "to eliminate nut products from all snacks and lunches" was made this week by a Porirua primary school as one of its pupils could also die if exposed to nuts.

While Timaru schools spoken to yesterday had various nut awareness plans, Sacred Heart was the only school to place a blanket ban on other students bringing nut foods in their lunches.

Bluestone School principal Ian Poulter said while they did have children at risk he felt a blanket ban was not achievable with the variety of nut products available.

Instead he said both students and staff had a high state of awareness, particularly in classes where there was a child at risk, and they were treated just the same as a diabetic or other medical case.

While the school kept EpiPens for three students he said they had not yet had to use them.

"We just take all the precautions we can."

Gleniti and Grantlea Downs Schools also did not have specific policies or bans in place.

Principal Paul Gill said if they had a child with that condition they would deal with it on an individual basis.

Principal Dave Hawkey said they did have a student that was allergic but both the parents and the school were fully aware and he would not consider a blanket ban on nut foods

An Allergy New Zealand spokeswoman said food allergies affected between six and eight per cent of young children.

For the period from July 2007 to June 2008 Timaru Hospital recorded four attendances to the Emergency Department and two admissions to hospital for food-related adverse reactions. However, none of these events were related to nuts.

- © Fairfax NZ News