Wrt to the 'nut free zones' at schools, did you know some children can go into anaphylactic shock and die if they even smell or touch a single microscopic nut particle? I can entirely understand and support why there would be nut free zones. I can't see how the nut free zones are contributing to allergies? We're not talking about a minor inconvenience that kids can't take peanut butter sandwiches to school. We're talking about the fact that other children can, and have died because of peanut butter sandwiches. And sure it was unheard of when we were kids ourselves, but things have changed, and sadly I doubt it will ever revert back to our childhood peanut freedom again?
Yes, very much aware of that hence my comment 'no offence to those parents with children with allergies'. I didn't mention once that it was an inconvenience that schools, day care centres, etc are now 'nut free', merely that it is 'strange' given the childhood I had. It just wasn't an issue so what has changed? You may be right, maybe it is that we now live on more processed foods than we once used to but in saying that, I remember nuts being a lot more readily availalble and affordable when I was a child and I would have thought that the 'pure' form of nut would have been more of an issue than the nuts traces in processed foods. But as I said, I'm no expert and simply sharing my thoughts.

As I said in one of my previous posts, I still find it odd that pregnant women are now cautioned against eating nuts (and I must state that I wasn't though and I was pregnant for most of 2009) given that one of the ways to treat allergies is to subject the patient to the thing they're actually allergic to. I was highly allergic to both dust mites and grass and was treated by an allergy specialists at one of Perth's leading hospitals for over two years. I was given weekly injections, one in each arm, of the allergens - pure allergenes - and the dose was gradually increased until I no longer reacted to either. The change in me was remarkable.

Given what I've just said, I'd like to say how much respect I have for allergy sufferers or those caring for allergy sufferers. It's horrendous and I'm grateful that my allergies were/are not life threatening, just awfully debilitating at times.

I forgot to mention, one of my best friends in high school had a severe peanut allergy and still does. Nuts weren't banned at our school. I'm not saying it's not necessary now but I do question why or how it is so much worse these days, IYKWIM