Quote:
Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos
Going by that, there are 3 kids in every elementary school in the country who could die in the scenario I described above with the handrails. That means hundreds of kids in Calgary alone could die from 4th or 5th hand contact with a tiny amount of peanut residue. 10s of thousands in of kids in Canada cheating death every day just by going to school.
Do you actually believe this? If so, what do you base it on?
I don't believe it for a second. You can wash all your hands and take all your precautions, but if this were true we'd have hundreds of deaths every year. We don't. We don't even know if there has been one.
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Its not 4th or 5th contact... its contact period. It doesn't matter how it got there, it's if it got there. You don't have it there, then your chances of running into it are not gone.. just less.
2 or 3 deathly allergic kids per school seems close. It could easily go from 1. something kids to 3.something kids on average but that range would seem to be a reasonable baseline number.
How many kids in school are alergic to grass, or milk, or some other substance?... I have no idea, I just have a limited experience with nut allergies in schools, so thats all I can go on.
Regarding the death rate and 100's of deaths per year, I have no idea how many deaths occour per year. I don't know who really would, I don't know how many heart attacks, flu, cancer, bee stings, overdoses, suicides, rollerblading, swimming, or falling out of windows accidents there were either. I'd hazzard to guess that all of them happen.
Schools are better prepared for allergies and I think this plays a big role in the number of kids who die. Schools have epi-pens belonging to the student. They have training, the are aware of the student and can watch for it. You have to keep in mind, that as the children get older they are more self aware and are more prepared to handle potential contact situatons. Most of the "No nuts" stuff is in the elementary schools right now where the children need help to protect themselves. By the time they are 8 or 9 they've been well conditioned and better able to protect themselves. It's not like its a clear cut, kids in, bodies out statistic.
What is clear cut is if there are rules to bringing nuts into schools, there is a significatian decrease in potential exposure.
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