Yesterday the Seattle Times reported a new promotion at Safeco Field this summer. That's the home of my beloved, yet struggling, Mariners baseball team, the team that just got swept by the Red Sox at home for the first time in 15 years. Sigh. Anyway, here's the story:
"The Seattle Mariners are declaring two sections of Safeco Field no-peanut zones for a couple of games this summer.
The AL club announced the move Wednesday to make the ballpark safer for children and grown-up fans with peanut allergies.
Special cleaning is planned in sections 311 and 312 down the right field line before the games, one on Aug. 5 against the Minnesota Twins and the other Sept. 9 against the Texas Rangers. Then signs will be posted to alert fans to the ban on peanut products in those sections.
Peanuts also will be banished from nearby concession stands.
A few other major and minor league teams have offered special seating to lower the risk for those who are allergic to peanuts. In May the entire minor league ballpark in Clinton, Iowa, went peanut-free."
I knew lots of folks have peanut allergies but did not realize that they were among the top eight most common food allergies, which are:
Milk
Eggs
Peanuts
Tree nuts, such as almonds, cashews, walnuts....
Fish, such as bass, cod, flounder..
Shellfish, such as crab, lobster, shrimp
Soy
Wheat.
By-the-way, that little list takes care of ninety percent of all documented food allergies.
I'm very lucky. I am not only not allergic to any foods, I am not allergic to anything that I know of, besides maybe hard work and Larry The Cable Guy. I've met lots of people who suffer allergies to everything from grass to novacaine and it sucks for them.
Question though. What is it about the peanut allergy that makes it so very deadly? People allergic to milk can sit next to a person drinking milk and they have no reaction. But I've heard stories of people smelling peanuts and getting ill. There was that one story not too long ago of a teenager that died after kissing someone who had had a peanut butter sandwich for lunch earlier that day. And are peanuts the only one that is so dangerous with so little contact or are there others?
It could be because peanuts have a dust that is given off when you break open a shell.
P.S. Why is it so hard to find regular salted peanuts in a jar. Everywhere I go they are Roasted Peanuts. Salted Peanuts only seem to come in little bags
Posted by: Raul | July 24, 2008 at 07:15 AM
"But that should be no surprise to anyone who has ever listened to the Savage Nation, as he calls his show "for" Michael Savage is the worst kind of "shock jock." " I was just re-reading this sentence from yesterday's post cause I remember it threw me off for some reason. I just made sense of it right now and have figured why it didn't make sense yesterday. You used the word "for" for "since". I guess that it makes sense in spoken English but reading it the the "since" sense is lost. Sorry I don't have anything to say about your peanut article. Except that there are way too many 'allergies' out there now. And if you are stupid enough to believe you are allergic to peanuts maybe you shouldn't be at a ball game.
Posted by: | July 24, 2008 at 07:55 AM
I am allergic to most grass...i should ask everyone that has grass to please remove it for me...allergies are part of life people deal with it...and sorry about your Mariners Bean...go Brewers eh?
Posted by: db | July 24, 2008 at 08:20 AM
Peanuts have a fungus on them (the dust) that can become airborne.
Posted by: Jennifer | July 24, 2008 at 08:29 AM
wow! bean, i am allergic to hard work, too!
Posted by: cathy g | July 24, 2008 at 09:06 AM
Yeah, it's been stated here, but I think it's because a peanut has dust or otherwise leaves a residue behind when you eat it (at least, the after taste is present for awhile). As for why people are so sensitive to peanuts, you've got me. I don't know of anyone personally who has that alergy, but it seems to be pretty deadly.
And man, if I couldn't eat peanuts I'd be super sad. =(((
Posted by: | July 24, 2008 at 09:14 AM
Please let me know when they open up the penicillin free zone at the ball park.
Posted by: Diane | July 24, 2008 at 09:36 AM
ill give you some nuts
Posted by: samE | July 24, 2008 at 11:14 AM
Silly Bean.
You're not allergic to Larry the Cable Guy, he's a toxin. Nobody can handle him, except similarly toxic people.
Posted by: Vic Rattler | July 24, 2008 at 11:34 AM
"...buy me some PEANUTS and Cracker Jack..." C'mon!
Posted by: Melvin | July 24, 2008 at 11:48 AM
i have a slight allergy to cheese and some nuts, but i love it! i get a rush through my face that's almost like getting high. ah, i think it's time for some almonds...
Posted by: juliette | July 24, 2008 at 11:48 AM
Everybody these days has some sort of syndrome, or disease, or allergy, or virus, or disorder, or whatever.
Another reason to take more MEDS I guess.
Posted by: The Secret | July 24, 2008 at 12:18 PM
i'm allergic to honey. i get the worse stomach ache EVER.
i predict peanut free flights are next, if they don't already exist
Posted by: Melika | July 24, 2008 at 12:18 PM
In the worst cases, if someone is allergic to peanuts there throat closes up and they stop breathing. A friend of mine from high school died because the plate he was using at a buffet had previously had a product with peanuts on it. Even after it was washed, it still had traces of peanut.
Posted by: IHeartBean | July 24, 2008 at 01:03 PM
I have a relative who goes into anaphylactic shock if she so much as smells fish. Though obviously dangerous and inconvenient and nothing to joke about, it's also handy for getting out of attending weddings and jer kid's aquarium field trips.
@anon: The use of "for" was correct, although it would have been better if there had been a comma before it. If I had been editing the entry, I would have suggested "because" before "since". But I wasn't editing it, because it's a personal blog, which is supposed to be fun -- and if you can't make a less-conventional word choice or leave out a comma on your personal blog then it's not fun anymore.
Posted by: Rose | July 24, 2008 at 01:32 PM
I'm allergic to pine nuts but I don't mind because they taste pretty gross. I hate peanuts too...I guess I'm just not a nut loving kind of girl. Oh well. I'm curious if the ballpark has a good reason like every time they have a peanut incident it can become a big problem and a distraction, possibly costing the ballpark more money than just roping off a couple sections. Maybe they are just being considerate. Who knows? I like how most people assume that one person with a peanut allergy ruined it for everyone. That may be the case but you never know.
Posted by: bean2 | July 24, 2008 at 03:14 PM
This "dust/fungus" from the peanut doesn't explain how eating a peanut butter sandwich and then kissing someone later could be fatal. I think it is most deadly (and so quickly) because the allergy will specifically cause pulmonary issues (i.e. breathing). Can't breathe, you can't live.
As a baseball fan myself, I've never known it to be an issue until you shared that story. One would think people with peanut allergy would avoide ballgames.
Posted by: Kelly | July 24, 2008 at 03:20 PM
I am not allergic to anything, thank the heavens!! But I know someone who is highly allergic to wheat and can only eat special foods her parents make at home. Her sister also has some random allergy. I can't understand exactly how and why allergies exist, but it's insensitive to say they should just get over it. Especially when they start getting hives or whatever else happens. That means you, you nameless jerk that posted at 7:55 am.
Posted by: Suzy | July 24, 2008 at 03:26 PM
My son is 3 years old and allergic to peanuts and milk. The milk allergy is one that he can potentially grow out of. The Peanut allergy on the other hand is tricky because it can cause death. My outlook on allergies has completely changed now that I have a child that can potentially die because someone is stupid.
Posted by: Bons | July 24, 2008 at 04:36 PM
Re: for/since controversy from anon.
Thank you Rose!! You took the words right out of my mouth.
Posted by: Nicole | July 24, 2008 at 05:33 PM
If the ball parks stop selling peanuts and Cracker Jacks, then I wonder what the people will insert in the 7th inning stretch when they sing "take me out to the ball game." What should they insert in "Get me some _________ and _____________, I don't care if I never get back"?
Posted by: Lynne_T | July 24, 2008 at 07:02 PM
Wax paper and Wesson oil?
Posted by: Ken | July 24, 2008 at 07:32 PM
What I want to know is; were people not allergic to peanuts 15-20 years ago? I mean seriously, what is with this huge uprising of people against peanuts... especially in any kind of parenting group! Maybe I'm like this because I'm not allergic to anything either, but it still seems excessive.
Posted by: Shannon | July 25, 2008 at 09:02 AM
Wesson oil and paper wax would rhyme better.
Posted by: Marilyn | July 25, 2008 at 09:22 AM
Back when I was growing up in the '70's, I knew one person who was allergic to milk, and one person allergic to chocolate. That was it. We all ate PB&J's made with Wonder Bread from our rusty metal lunch boxes and glass thermoses, and sometimes we sat on picnic tables that was made with splinter-prone wood and covered with several layers of peeling paint (which probably contained lead).
So what the hell happened? How is it that we now all have to live in plastic bubbles just to go out and enjoy a ball game or any other pursuit that gets us out of the house? Is it the same thing that's causing all the asthma, autism and obesity?
Posted by: Stacey | July 25, 2008 at 02:33 PM
STOP BLOGGING BEAN!!!!!
WE DON'T NEED TO SEE YOUR PIG, DOG AND CLOSE UP OF YOUR BELLY BUTTON!!!!!!!!!
YOU OBLIVIOUSLY HAVE WAY TOO MUCH TIME ON YOUR HANDS AND THAT SHOULD BE USED TO PUT TIME IN ANOTHER ACTIVITY THAT IS GOING TO BE PRODUCTIVE.
STOP BLOGGING BEAN.
EVERYTHING YOU PUT ON THIS WEBSITE IS MEANINGLESS AND IS RANDOM CRAP THAT NO ONE ELSE NEEDS TO KNOW.
Posted by: KJ Krumbach | August 06, 2008 at 09:32 PM