Douglas et al., I think everyone understands the seriousness of peanut and other anaphylactic food allergies. However, the initial response to this by the airlines and others -- to stop serving peanuts on flights -- was misguided. This is because the airline cannot guarantee a peanut-free flight -- airliners will continue to contain peanut fragments and dust for a long time after peanuts are no longer served, and, more importantly, an airline cannot effectively prevent passengers from bringing their own peanuts. In addition to the usual snack bags of salted peanuts, thousands of processed foods, including cookies, cakes, breakfast and energy bars, sandwiches, fried foods, etc. contain peanuts or peanut oil. There is no possible way for an airline to provide a peanut-free environment, so it is, from a liability standpoint, a bad idea to try, since if an allergic passenger is told that peanuts are not served on a particular flight, and then he/she suffers an allergic attack due to some other passenger's carry-on food, the airline may be liable. Therefore, if I were an airline's legal counsel, I would recommend that airlines disclose that any flight may contain peanuts and other anaphylactic food allergens, whether they are served by the airline or not, and I would further require than any passenger disclosing a peanut or other anaphylactic food allergy sign an informed waiver of liability and assumption of risk before they could get on my aircraft. -- Michael C. Berch mcb@postmodern.com On Thursday, February 14, 2002, at 09:22 AM, Douglas Schnell wrote: > Come on, Dennis, you're really making too much out of this. Peanut > allergies tend to be some of the more severe of the food-based > allergies, in that if someone is allergic to peanuts and they eat them > (or, for some people, even come in contact with peanut dust), their > airway constricts and they will die without prompt treatment. I > personally have a friend who is allergic to peanuts and has to carry a > loaded syringe everywhere she goes in case she accidentally eats > peanuts. This is not exactly a great thing to happen at 31,000 feet. > Airlines recognize this and are unwilling to deal with the liability--it > is easier to switch to a different snack. > > I realize this greatly incontinences your life and makes your travels > less enjoyable, but occasionally we have to think about people other > than ourselves.