Schools are advised not to forbid allergenic foods by an Israeli medical organization with expertise in allergic responses.
The Israel Association of Allergy and Clinical Immunology is encouraging the educational system to alter a long-standing policy that forbade meals that might cause an allergic reaction in pupils by allowing allergenic foods in classrooms.
The organisation, a division of the Israel Medical Organisation, indicated that the ban was founded on two presumptions, that they now deem to be unfounded, according to an article in the Times of Israel.
The first is, that an allergic youngster, who smells or touches the food, they are allergic to, may experience severe or anaphylactic reactions.
The second is that removing foods that cause allergies from the classroom will lessen the likelihood of allergic reactions.
In a paper published by the organization, it was noted that “international allergy associations (in the US, Europe, and Australia) have published position papers in recent years advising against banning allergenic foods from kindergartens and schools, with the exception of very young children or kids with developmental delays.”
The statement stated, ‘The Israel Association of Allergy and Clinical Immunology recommends adopting the international approach and refraining from enforcing blanket prohibitions on allergenic foods in all schools and kindergartens.“
Unless they are sensitive to fish, children with food allergies are not at risk of a severe or systemic reaction just by smelling or touching the food. Dr. Arnon Elizur, the association’s leader, said in a recorded statement to the media that the paper was produced to inform parents and kids about what they should be fearful of and what they shouldn’t be afraid of, as the new school year approaches.
‘Children who consume a food, to which they are allergic, may experience a severe reaction. This may result in understandable and valid anxieties. As the parent of two kids who have food allergies, I completely comprehend this anxiety.
In other words, whether it happens at home or away from it, it doesn’t matter, if someone eats an allergic item close to them. The Youngster will be OK, if they avoid the food they are allergic to.
They will be able to control their allergies and feel more confident thanks to this knowledge, he claimed. The group Yahel, which advocates for parents and children with food allergies, is against the new guideline. „If someone thinks that we will abandon our children to the jungle, known as school and kindergarten in the Israeli educational system, they are either naive or dangerously disconnected from what’s going on“, a Yahel spokesperson was reported as saying.
According to The Times of Israel, Dr. Mona Kidon, director of the pediatric allergy clinic at Safra Children’s Hospital at Sheba Medical Center, agrees with the findings of the paper by the Israel Association of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
However, Kidon cautioned, „like with anything in medicine, there may be extremely rare instances when children could get a serious systemic allergic reaction to a minor exposure from, for instance, playing with a ball or toy that had previously been touched by an allergen.” “However, these are extremely uncommon people who can be identified and counseled by an Allergist.
It shouldn’t change the generally advised course of action, she insisted. According to the article’s conclusion, parents must continue to play a role in keeping a child with food allergies healthy in all situations.
It entails scheduling routine appointments with an allergy specialist and sending a formal letter describing the child’s food allergy and how to identify it to the child’s school.
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