I think it’s mostly people in the thread are over exaggerating how common it actually is to ban them for a humorous effect. Maybe overly litigious society, schools don’t want to be sued because some dumb bully throws a peanut at a kid who can die from it. Peanut bans are becoming a thing in Europe though. A quick googling will show that. I found a proposal in European parliament. Here’s the BBC talking about banning them on all public transport:
But all that aside, the increasing allergies across the industrialized world is really interesting though, and not a United States specific thing. A lot probably has to do with eradication of parasites. Much of the immune system parts responsible for allergies don’t have any role in response to bacteria or virus, but are intended to fight off parasites. And this is a gross over simplification, but the basics are without any parasites to fight off (since they’ve been eradicated in the industrialized world) it gets dysregulated and starts reacting to benign targets.
Cool, why peanuts are not banned in European schools then?
/shrug
I think it’s mostly people in the thread are over exaggerating how common it actually is to ban them for a humorous effect. Maybe overly litigious society, schools don’t want to be sued because some dumb bully throws a peanut at a kid who can die from it. Peanut bans are becoming a thing in Europe though. A quick googling will show that. I found a proposal in European parliament. Here’s the BBC talking about banning them on all public transport:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-41017657
That seems a bit aggressive to me.
But all that aside, the increasing allergies across the industrialized world is really interesting though, and not a United States specific thing. A lot probably has to do with eradication of parasites. Much of the immune system parts responsible for allergies don’t have any role in response to bacteria or virus, but are intended to fight off parasites. And this is a gross over simplification, but the basics are without any parasites to fight off (since they’ve been eradicated in the industrialized world) it gets dysregulated and starts reacting to benign targets.